Gender inequities in dental research publications: Findings from 20 years

Dandara Gabriela Haag; Helena Silveira Schuch; Sonia Nath; Sarah R Baker; Roger Keller Celeste; W Murray Thomson; Lisa M Jamieson

doi:10.1111/cdoe.12831

Gender inequities in dental research publications: Findings from 20 years

Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2023 Oct;51(5):1045-1055. doi: 10.1111/cdoe.12831. Epub 2022 Dec 22.

Authors

Dandara Gabriela Haag¹, Helena Silveira Schuch^{1

2}, Sonia Nath¹, Sarah R Baker³, Roger Keller Celeste⁴, W Murray Thomson⁵, Lisa M Jamieson¹

Affiliations

¹ Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
² Postgraduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
³ School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
⁴ Department of Preventive and Social Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Farroupilha, Brazil.
⁵ Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

PMID: 36546530
DOI: 10.1111/cdoe.12831

Abstract

Background: The first steps towards gender equity in science are measuring the magnitude of inequity and increasing awareness of the problem.

Objectives: To describe trends in gender disparities in first and last authorship in the most cited dental publications and general dental literature over a 20-year period.

Methods: Articles and bibliometric data were retrieved from the Scopus database for the period 1996 to 2015. Two groups of 1000 articles each were retrieved: a random sample and another sample of top-cited articles for each year. The gender of the first and last author of each publication was manually identified. When this was not possible, we used an online software platform (https://genderize.io/). Descriptive analyses identified the proportion of women first and last authors in both samples, stratifying by dental discipline and geographic region. Trends were ascertained by frequency metrics across years. Gender disparity was observed in both first and last authorship, with a larger gap being observed in the top-cited sample.

Results: Women led 28.4% and 20.3% of articles in the random and top-cited samples, respectively. A similar pattern was observed for the last authorship group (22.1% and 16.1%, respectively). An increasing trend in the proportion of articles led by women over time was observed in both samples. This increase was larger in the top-cited sample (from 15.0% in 1996-2000 to 25.1% in 2015) than in the random sample (from 26.3% in 1996-2000 to 33.2% in 2011).

Conclusions: Clear gender disparities in dental research publications in the last 20 years were identified in both general and top-cited manuscripts, across dental disciplines, across countries, across first and last authorship, and over time. It is paramount that actions are taken to attract, retain and promote women in science, as well as to monitor and ensure progress towards gender equity.

Keywords: gender differences; inequalities; oral medicine; publishing; social determinants.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Authorship
Bibliometrics
Dental Research*
Female
Gender Equity*
Humans
Male