323 - COVID-19 Effects on Authorship in the Journal of Perinatology

Poster Number: 323
Publication Number: 323.439

Lauren Gadek, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Christiane E. Dammann, Tufts Childrens Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; Renate D. Savich, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States; Christiana Oji-Mmuo, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States; Leonardo Barrera, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Patricia Z. Labellarte, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Patrick G. Gallagher, YALE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MED, NEW HAVEN, CT, United States; Kerri Machut, Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine, Evanston, IL, United States

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed clinical workloads in neonatology less than other subspecialities, though the effects on scholarly work in neonatology are not clear. Additionally, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected women, amplifying well-documented gender disparities in many facets of medical careers, including scholarly work. At baseline, women are underrepresented as authors in pediatric-focused journals, though 70% of neonatologists < 75 years are women.

Objective: To examine authorship gender distributions before and during COVID-19 in the Journal of Perinatology, the journal for the Section of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.

Design/Methods: We collected data from the Journal of Perinatology; variables included name of first and last author, publication date, country and institution of first author, and if the article was listed as supported by funding. Gender (female, male, nonbinary, or undetermined) was determined using Genderize.io, institutional websites, ResearchGate, social media outlets including LinkedIn and Doximity, or a general Google search. Our primary outcome was the difference between the number of published articles authored by women during the pandemic period (March 2020-May 2021, period two), compared with the preceding 15 month period (December 2018-February 2020, period one). We analyzed the data using chi-square test.

Results: Manuscripts increased from period one to two by 18%. Author characteristics are presented in Table 1. Of the 1,230 first and last authors from the combined periods, we were unable to determine binary gender for 24 authors (1.9%). Less than half (42.6%) of articles were supported by funding, with more funded articles having a female in either the first or last author position. Table 2 demonstrates the change in authorship by gender and time period. There were slightly fewer female authors overall (47.7%), especially as last author (38.7%) for the combined time periods, compared with non-female authors. There was no significant difference in the proportion of female authors to non-female authors from time period one to two in overall, first, or last authorship.Conclusion(s): Though manuscripts increased overall, the distribution of author gender in the Journal of Perinatology did not change significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Female authors still remain underrepresented overall and specifically as last author, which raises concerns about under-attainment in career advancement. As the majority of the neonatology workforce is female, this trend warrants further investigation.
CVCV.PAS.pdf
Table 2 Differences in Authorship by Gender and Time Period