Patterns Of Authorship In Allergy/Immunology By Women: 1997-2017

We reviewed authors’ gender in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) and Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (Annals) from 1997-2007 to determine frequency and patterns of publication by gender. Data were collected in five-year intervals for articles from the USA and Canada, and analyzed by journal (JACI or Annals), article type (review, original investigation, guideline, editorial, case report), and year of publication. Logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with first authors being women. We compared these patterns with frequencies of women in AAAAI and as fellows-in-training. Women were first authors in 36.5% of publications, increasing from 26.6% in 1997 to 48.1% in 2017 (p<0.001). Original articles had the highest percentage of women as first authors (42.5%); editorials had the lowest (17.1%). Women as last authors increased from 18.1% in 1997 to 30.9% in 2017 (p=0.001). Males were more frequently (82.8%) sole authors (p<0.001). Articles with women as first authors were associated with women being last authors (OR = 3.1, p<0.0001), original investigations (OR=2.1, p<0.001) and more recent publication (OR=1.7, p<0.001). The increasing frequency of women first authors was correlated with increasing proportions of women as AAAAI members and fellows-in-training (Pearson correlation=0.96, p=0.01). Our data demonstrate that authorship by women has become more frequent in JACI and Annals. The probability of women being first authors is statistically significantly more likely in articles with women as last authors — implying that mentorship of women by women may encourage women to become more active in research and publication.