Authorship diversity in Gastroenterology-related Cochrane systematic reviews: Inequities in global representation

Ref ID 863
First Author A. Dhali
Journal FRONTIERS IN MEDICINE
Year Of Publishing 2022
URL https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2022.982664/full
Keywords • Equity
• Team
• Cochrane
• Author
• Gastroenterology
Problem(s) • Weaknesses identified in some Cochrane reviews
• Failure to consider equity, different socioeconomic groups or disadvantaged populations
• Lack of diversity in review authorship teams
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country India
Aim To determine the sex and country diversity in authorship representation in the authorship of Cochrane systematic reviews related to Gastroenterology.
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings From 106 included Cochrane reviews in Gastroenterology collected from the Cochrane Library up to 23 April 2022. One hundred and six publications with a total of 545 authors were included. There were far more male authors than female authors. In terms of author positions, women were underrepresented in dominant author positions (first authors and corresponding authors).The leading five represented nations 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%). India was 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 was 2.26:1 and thirty-nine (36.7%) studies didn't have any female representation in any lead author (corresponding or first author) position. Twenty (18.8%) studies didn't have any female authors at all.
Number of systematic reviews included 106
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 106
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description