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Gastroenterology academia remains a male-dominated field
PHILADELPHIA — The number of male faculty members in academic gastroenterology programs, their career rank and career duration were higher compared with female faculty members, creating a gender gap, according to data presented at the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting.
“This study informs us of the position of women in a male-dominated subspecialty field and it quantifies the gender differences in gastroenterology,” Sarah J. Diamond, MD, of Oregon Health and Science University, said during the presentation. “We’re hopeful that efforts to promote early career development among young women will continue to improve trends in female representation in academic gastroenterology.”
Data was collected from 2,486 faculty members across 114 academic programs affiliated with a medical school or university hospital and evaluated to determine individual career duration, involvement in publications, H-index and m-index. This recorded data was used to conclude the number of men and women prevalent in the academic gastroenterology field.
“We used H-index because of shortcomings of alternative metrics of research productivity,” Diamond said. “M-index allows for comparison of productivity of researchers with different career duration. The m-index is equal to the H-index, divided by career duration.”
The researchers observed more male faculty than female (1,894 vs. 592) and of the male, 50% were either a full or associate professor compared with just 29% of females (P<.001). Compared with the female faculty, the male members had a longer median career duration (20 years vs. 8 years; P<.001), were involved in more publications (median 23 vs. 9; P<.001) and had higher H-index (8 vs. 4; P<.001). A higher H-index score correlated with a higher academic rank among both male and female faculty members (P<.001) and no difference was observed between male and female members of the same academic rank and H-index. In addition, no differences were found between m-index for male and female members (0.5 vs 0.46).
A gender gap in female representation and research productivity exists in academic gastroenterology and efforts should be made to close it, Diamond said.
For more information:
Enestvedt BK. Abstract 3. Presented at: Annual ACG Scientific Meeting, Oct. 17-22, 2014; Philadelphia, PA.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.