Gender differences in scholarly productivity within academic gynecologic oncology departments

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate whether there is a gender difference in scholarly productivity among academic gynecologic oncologists. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the academic rank and gender of gynecologic oncology faculty in the United States were determined from online residency and fellowship directories and departmental web sites. Each individual's h-index and years of publication were determined from Scopus (a citation database of peer-reviewed literature). The h-index is a quantification of an author's scholarly productivity that combines the number of publications with the number of times the publications have been cited. We generated descriptive statistics and compared rank, gender, and productivity scores. RESULTS: Five hundred seven academic faculty within 137 U.S. Teaching programs were identified. Of these, 215 (42%) were female and 292 (58%) were male. Men had significantly higher median h-indices than women, 16 compared with 8, respectively (P