R. C. Wright1, C. Mueller1 1Stanford University,Pediatric Surgery,Palo Alto, CA, USA
Introduction: Terms such as “glass ceiling” and “sticky floor” are still commonly used to describe the role of women in academic surgery, and multiple studies have documented disparities between men and women in the field. In spite of the awareness and continued efforts to alleviate this gap within surgery, gender inequalities remain.
Methods: In this investigation the researchers examined the differences in published literature by male and female academic surgeons according to amount and impact. Websites for departments of surgery of three large academic centers were reviewed. Only full-time faculty were included in the analysis. Surgeons’ gender and academic rank were determined by their online biographies. Over a two week span all H-indexes, number of articles published, and other bibliometrics were determined using the Web of Science database.
Results: A one-way ANOVA showed a significantly higher H-index for men than women (p<.05). In addition, one-way ANOVA showed significantly more articles published by men than women (p<.05). These differences are most dramatic at the rank of associate professor where the H-index for men is three times that of the women. The rank of full professor showed men had double the number of articles published.
Conclusion: These findings align with previous research which shows a disparity between males and females as they climb the academic ladder. Since publishing research articles is a vital part of advancement in academic medicine, gender disparities in this realm may have major effects on the promotion process. Future investigations may focus on the reasons behind this publication disparity.