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. 2021 Oct 26;16(10):e0258925.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258925. eCollection 2021.

Knowledge syntheses in medical education: Meta-research examining author gender, geographic location, and institutional affiliation

Lauren A Maggio  1 , Anton Ninkov  2 , Joseph A Costello  3 , Erik W Driessen  4 , Anthony R Artino Jr  5
Affiliations

Knowledge syntheses in medical education: Meta-research examining author gender, geographic location, and institutional affiliation

Lauren A Maggio et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: Authors of knowledge syntheses make many subjective decisions during their review process. Those decisions, which are guided in part by author characteristics, can impact the conduct and conclusions of knowledge syntheses, which assimilate much of the evidence base in medical education. To better understand the evidence base, this study describes the characteristics of knowledge synthesis authors, focusing on gender, geography, and institution.

Methods: In 2020, the authors conducted meta-research to examine authors of 963 knowledge syntheses published between 1999 and 2019 in 14 core medical education journals.

Results: The authors identified 4,110 manuscript authors across all authorship positions. On average there were 4.3 authors per knowledge synthesis (SD = 2.51, Median = 4, Range = 1-22); 79 knowledge syntheses (8%) were single-author publications. Over time, the average number of authors per synthesis increased (M = 1.80 in 1999; M = 5.34 in 2019). Knowledge syntheses were authored by slightly more females (n = 2047; 50.5%) than males (n = 2005; 49.5%) across all author positions. Authors listed affiliations in 58 countries, and 58 knowledge syntheses (6%) included authors from low- or middle-income countries. Authors from the United States (n = 366; 38%), Canada (n = 233; 24%), and the United Kingdom (n = 180; 19%) published the most knowledge syntheses. Authors listed affiliation at 617 unique institutions, and first authors represented 362 unique institutions with greatest representation from University of Toronto (n = 55, 6%). Across all authorship positions, the large majority of knowledge syntheses (n = 753; 78%) included authors from institutions ranked in the top 200 globally.

Conclusion: Knowledge synthesis author teams have grown over the past 20 years, and while there is near gender parity across all author positions, authorship has been dominated by North American researchers located at highly ranked institutions. This suggests a potential overrepresentation of certain authors with particular characteristics, which may impact the conduct and conclusions of medical education knowledge syntheses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The median number of authors per knowledge synthesis (10th and 90th percentiles also shown) published in 14 core medical education journals published between 1999–2019.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Author order by gender for knowledge syntheses in 14 core medical education journals published between 1999–2019.
We were unable to determine the gender of 59 author names, which are excluded from this figure.
Fig 3
Fig 3. The ratio of female authors in all authorship positions for knowledge syntheses published in 14 core medical education journals published between 1999–2019.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Map highlighting the 42 countries listed as affiliations of first authors of knowledge syntheses published in 14 core medical education journals published between 1999–2019.
Contains information from OpenStreetMap and OpenStreetMap Foundation, which is made available under the Open Database License.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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