Women continue to operate at a disadvantage in academic radiology, despite increased awareness of the issue, according to a new analysis.
Female physicians have been able to increase their contributions to radiology literature in recent years. But they have not seen a corresponding uptick in senior authorships or faculty positions, noted researchers with Johns Hopkins.
This trend warrants increased attention from radiology leaders, argued Rozita Jalilianhasanpour, MD, with the Department of Radiology and Radiological Science at the Baltimore-based institution.
“This gender gap in radiology is an important issue because it may reflect a lost chance for career advancement among female physicians,” she and co-authors wrote Nov. 4 in Academic Radiology. “Institutions and departments may wish to examine the reasons for this discrepancy as well as considering strategies that may expeditiously close the gap in radiology to ensure all faculty have the opportunity to thrive professionally.”
For their study, Jalilianhasanpour et al. analyzed authors listed for manuscripts published in nine “high-impact” American radiology journals between 2002 and 2017. They looked at the first and last authors listed in 3,702 such studies, while also querying gender composition of academic faculty and ranks using Association of American Medical Colleges data.
The research team determined that first authorship by women leapt from 26.9% to 37.4% during the 16-year study period. And senior authorship swung upward from 15.7% to 23.9% by 2017. However, women stayed underrepresented in senior radiology faculty positions, despite having a roughly equal productivity rate over the study period.
Interventions to address this gender gap may include providing equal funding opportunities and resources, clarifying promotion criteria in research and other ranks, and implementing policies that recognize work-life balance.
“Future studies should be conducted at the institutional and/or national level to further explore the existence of unconscious or conscious gender bias in the advancement of women in academic radiology,” the authors noted. “Lastly, strategies should be considered to help foster equal research opportunities and advancement of women toward more senior faculty and leadership positions.”
Read more of the analysis in Academic Radiology here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.