Faculty Collaboration Database

Scholarly activity in academic plastic surgery: the gender difference. J Surg Res 2018 Sep;229:332-336

Date

06/26/2018

Pubmed ID

29937010

DOI

10.1016/j.jss.2018.04.031

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85046824860 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   41 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The number of women in medicine has grown rapidly in recent years. Women constitute over 50% of medical school graduates and hold 38% of faculty positions at United States medical schools. Despite this, gender disparities remain prevalent in most surgical subspecialties, including plastic surgery. The purpose of this study was to analyze gender authorship trends.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study of academic plastic surgeons was performed. Data were collected from departmental websites and online resources. National Institute of Health (NIH) funding was determined using the Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools database. Number of published articles and h-index were obtained from Scopus (Elsevier Inc, New York, NY). Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL).

RESULTS: A total of 814 plastic surgeons were identified in the United States. Compared to men, women had significantly fewer years in practice (P <0.001), lower academic ranks (P <0.001), and published less (P <0.001). There was no difference in the number of PhD degrees between genders; women with PhDs published less than men with PhDs (P = 0.04). 5.1% of women and 6.9% of men received NIH funding during their career (P = 0.57). There was no gender difference in scholarly output among NIH-funded surgeons. Overall, years in practice, academic rank, chief/program director title, advanced degrees, and NIH funding all positively correlated with academic productivity.

CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies significant gender disparities in scholarly productivity among plastic surgeons in academia. Future efforts should focus on improving gender equality and eliminating barriers to academic development.

Author List

Sasor SE, Cook JA, Duquette SP, Loewenstein SN, Gallagher S, Tholpady SS, Chu MW, Koniaris LG

Author

Sarah E. Sasor MD Assistant Professor in the Plastic Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Academic Medical Centers
Biomedical Research
Cross-Sectional Studies
Efficiency
Faculty, Medical
Female
Humans
Male
Publishing
Sex Factors
Surgeons
Surgery, Plastic
Time Factors
United States