IDDF2022-ABS-0056 Authorship diversity in gastroenterology-related cochrane systematic reviews: inequities in global representation. (2nd September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dhali, Arkadeep; D'Souza, Christopher; Biswas, Jyotirmoy; Rathna, Roger B; Ray, Sukanta
• Is Part Of: Gut. Volume 71(2022)Supplement 2
• Page Start: A119
• Page End: A120
• Publication Date: 2022-09-02
• Subjects: Gastroenterology -- Periodicals; 616.33
• DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2022-IDDF.159
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0017-5749

Abstract

Abstract : Background: Cochrane systematic reviews are amongst the highest quality of evidence available, thereby, its conclusions often impact policy and practice globally. This study sought to determine the gender and country diversity in authorship representation in the authorship of Gastroenterology-related Cochrane systematic reviews. Methods: We searched and extracted data from the Cochrane Library on 23 April 2022 using 'topic: Gastroenterology', and included published reviews, protocols, and withdrawn publications. We extracted authors' details and searched online to determine their gender, attempting to capture at least one webpage demonstrating it. Authors whose gender could not be ascertained were excluded from gender-based analyses. For graphical representation, we used a chloropleth-style map. Results: One hundred and six publications with a total of 545 authors were included in the current study. The leading five represented nations (IDDF2022-ABS-0056 Figure 1. Chloropleth style map showing nation wise author contribution in gastroenterology related Cochrane systematic reviews) in authorship were Canada (n=195, 35.9%), United Kingdom (n=119, 21.9%), Chile (n=69, 12.7%), Germany (n=42, 7.7%), and United States of America (n=30, 5.5%). First authors were mostly represented by Canada (n=41, 38.6%), followed by United Kingdom (n=26, 24.5%), Chile (n=14, 13.2%), Germany (n=6, 5.6%), and Denmark (n=6, 5.6%). India is the only country among all the low and low-middle-income countries which had authorship representation and constituted 1.1% (n=6) of all the authors. Male (n=381) to female (n=168) ratio in this study was 2.26:1 (IDDF2022-ABS-0056 Figure 2. Bar chart demonstrating gender representation in authorship). There were 78 (73.6%) male and 28 (26.4%) female first authors. Women (n=22) constituted 20.8% of all the corresponding authors. Thirty-nine (36.7%) studies had no female representation in any lead author (corresponding or first author) position. Twenty (18.8%) studies didn't have any female authors at all. Conclusions: Authors from high-income countries continue to be the largest contributors to Cochrane systematic reviews in Gastroenterology, a source of one of the highest quality evidence. There is extremely poor participation/representation of authors from low and low-middle-income countries. Gender bias is also noted, with women poorly represented both as contributors as well as lead authors.