The Issue of Gender Bias Represented in Authorship in the Fields of Exercise and Rehabilitation: A 5-Year Research in Indexed Journals
Despite progress made in recent decades, gender bias is still present in scientific publication authorship. The underrepresentation of women and overrepresentation of men has already been reported in the medical fields but little is known in the fields of exercise sciences and rehabilitation. This s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5142/8/1/18 |
| _version_ | 1827749334714679296 |
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| author | Natascia Rinaldo Giovanni Piva Suzanne Ryder Anna Crepaldi Alba Pasini Lorenzo Caruso Roberto Manfredini Sofia Straudi Fabio Manfredini Nicola Lamberti |
| author_facet | Natascia Rinaldo Giovanni Piva Suzanne Ryder Anna Crepaldi Alba Pasini Lorenzo Caruso Roberto Manfredini Sofia Straudi Fabio Manfredini Nicola Lamberti |
| author_sort | Natascia Rinaldo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite progress made in recent decades, gender bias is still present in scientific publication authorship. The underrepresentation of women and overrepresentation of men has already been reported in the medical fields but little is known in the fields of exercise sciences and rehabilitation. This study examines trends in authorship by gender in this field in the last 5 years. All randomized controlled trials published in indexed journals from April 2017 to March 2022 through the widely inclusive Medline dataset using the MeSH term “exercise therapy” were collected, and the gender of the first and last authors was identified through names, pronouns and photographs. Year of publication, country of affiliation of the first author, and ranking of the journal were also collected. A chi-squared test for trends and logistic regression models were performed to analyze the odds of a woman being a first or last author. The analysis was performed on a total of 5259 articles. Overall, 47% had a woman as the first author and 33% had a woman as the last author, with a similar trend over five years. The trend in women’s authorship varied by geographical area, with the higher representation of women authors in Oceania (first: 53.1%; last: 38.8%), North-Central America (first: 45.3%; last: 37.2%), and Europe (first: 47.2%; last: 33.3%). The logistic regression models (<i>p</i> < 0.001) indicated that women have lower odds of being authors in prominent authorship positions in higher-ranked journals. In conclusion, over the last five years, in the field of exercise and rehabilitation research, women and men are almost equally represented as first authors, in contrast with other medical areas. However, gender bias, unfavoring women, still exists, especially in the last authorship position, regardless of geographical area and journal ranking. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:20:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2bdbf9dd99864c4f914bb2b7b55baece |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2411-5142 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:20:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2bdbf9dd99864c4f914bb2b7b55baece2023-11-17T11:54:50ZengMDPI AGJournal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology2411-51422023-01-01811810.3390/jfmk8010018The Issue of Gender Bias Represented in Authorship in the Fields of Exercise and Rehabilitation: A 5-Year Research in Indexed JournalsNatascia Rinaldo0Giovanni Piva1Suzanne Ryder2Anna Crepaldi3Alba Pasini4Lorenzo Caruso5Roberto Manfredini6Sofia Straudi7Fabio Manfredini8Nicola Lamberti9Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, ItalyPhD Program in Environmental Sustainability and Wellbeing, Department of Humanities, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, ItalyDepartment of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, ItalyInstituto Maimonides de Investigation Biomedica, 14005 Cordoba, SpainDepartment of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, ItalyDepartment of Environment and Prevention Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, ItalyDepartment of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, ItalyDepartment of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, ItalyDepartment of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, ItalyDepartment of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, ItalyDespite progress made in recent decades, gender bias is still present in scientific publication authorship. The underrepresentation of women and overrepresentation of men has already been reported in the medical fields but little is known in the fields of exercise sciences and rehabilitation. This study examines trends in authorship by gender in this field in the last 5 years. All randomized controlled trials published in indexed journals from April 2017 to March 2022 through the widely inclusive Medline dataset using the MeSH term “exercise therapy” were collected, and the gender of the first and last authors was identified through names, pronouns and photographs. Year of publication, country of affiliation of the first author, and ranking of the journal were also collected. A chi-squared test for trends and logistic regression models were performed to analyze the odds of a woman being a first or last author. The analysis was performed on a total of 5259 articles. Overall, 47% had a woman as the first author and 33% had a woman as the last author, with a similar trend over five years. The trend in women’s authorship varied by geographical area, with the higher representation of women authors in Oceania (first: 53.1%; last: 38.8%), North-Central America (first: 45.3%; last: 37.2%), and Europe (first: 47.2%; last: 33.3%). The logistic regression models (<i>p</i> < 0.001) indicated that women have lower odds of being authors in prominent authorship positions in higher-ranked journals. In conclusion, over the last five years, in the field of exercise and rehabilitation research, women and men are almost equally represented as first authors, in contrast with other medical areas. However, gender bias, unfavoring women, still exists, especially in the last authorship position, regardless of geographical area and journal ranking.https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5142/8/1/18gender biasauthorship positionexercise therapyjournal rankingrehabilitationexercise |
| spellingShingle | Natascia Rinaldo Giovanni Piva Suzanne Ryder Anna Crepaldi Alba Pasini Lorenzo Caruso Roberto Manfredini Sofia Straudi Fabio Manfredini Nicola Lamberti The Issue of Gender Bias Represented in Authorship in the Fields of Exercise and Rehabilitation: A 5-Year Research in Indexed Journals Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology gender bias authorship position exercise therapy journal ranking rehabilitation exercise |
| title | The Issue of Gender Bias Represented in Authorship in the Fields of Exercise and Rehabilitation: A 5-Year Research in Indexed Journals |
| title_full | The Issue of Gender Bias Represented in Authorship in the Fields of Exercise and Rehabilitation: A 5-Year Research in Indexed Journals |
| title_fullStr | The Issue of Gender Bias Represented in Authorship in the Fields of Exercise and Rehabilitation: A 5-Year Research in Indexed Journals |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Issue of Gender Bias Represented in Authorship in the Fields of Exercise and Rehabilitation: A 5-Year Research in Indexed Journals |
| title_short | The Issue of Gender Bias Represented in Authorship in the Fields of Exercise and Rehabilitation: A 5-Year Research in Indexed Journals |
| title_sort | issue of gender bias represented in authorship in the fields of exercise and rehabilitation a 5 year research in indexed journals |
| topic | gender bias authorship position exercise therapy journal ranking rehabilitation exercise |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5142/8/1/18 |
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