PS6-08: THE GENDER GAP IN SURGICAL EDUCATION RESEARCH
Jennifer Tseng; University of Chicago Medicine

BACKGROUND: Although there is an increasing number of women pursuing careers in general surgery, women remain in the minority of academic leadership positions and of first and senior authors in general-interest surgical publications.  This study was designed to describe the gender distribution of authors in surgical education research to determine any disparity represented in peer-reviewed surgical education publications. 

METHODS: The following eight prominent journals were reviewed for surgical education scholarship within the year-long time span between November 2017 to October 2018: American Journal of Surgery, JAMA Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Journal of Graduate Medical Education, Journal of Surgical Education, Journal of Surgical Research, MedEdPORTAL, and Surgery.  Each article was categorized according to the gender of both the first and the senior (last listed) author.

RESULTS: Gender was determined for 1962 authors featured in 326 peer-reviewed surgical education research publications.  Women made up 38.5% (755/1962) of all the authors listed.  The proportion of first authors who were women was 45.7% (149/326) and the proportion of senior authors who were women was 28.2% (92/326).  

CONCLUSIONS: Women are in the minority of authorship in peer-reviewed surgical education research. Although women still trail men in authorship, first authorship in surgical education publications is closer to parity than senior or total authorship and is an encouraging finding for the career advancement of women in surgical education. Further research should be conducted for more longitudinal comparisons and to elicit the qualitative factors related to women pursuing research in surgical education.