Gender of authors and editors in top-ranked infectious diseases journals: A longitudinal trend analysis

<h2>Abstract</h2><h3>Objectives</h3> Gender disparity among authors of scientific articles, but also among editors in scientific journals, is still highly prevalent, despite multiple initiatives. Long-term data to assess changes over the years are largely lacking. <h3>Methods</h3> We performed gender prediction based on the names of first and last authors of articles published between 2012 and 2021 in five selected top-ranked infectious diseases journals. In addition, we predicted the gender of all editors and editors-in-chief (EiCs) of the same journals. <h3>Results</h3> Overall, 5371 of 12 055 (44.6%) of first authors were women, and 6684 of 12 055 (55.4%) were men. Among the last authors, we identified 3664 of 12 443 (29.4%) women and 8779 of 12 443 (70.6%) men. We analysed a total of 653 editors, 162 of whom (24.8%) were women and 491 (75.2%) men. The proportion of women editors was significantly higher during journal-years under a woman EiC compared with those under a man EiC (40.0% vs. 23.0%; p 0.0018; odds ratio [OR], 2.23 [95% CI, 1.32–3.73]), whereas there were no differences regarding the proportion of women first authors (42.9% vs. 44.6%; p 0.40; OR, 0.93 [ 95% CI, 0.79–1.10]) and last authors (27.8% vs. 29.5%; p 0.36; OR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.77–1.10]). Trend analysis yielded an increase of both women first and last authors, projecting a gender balance to be reached in 2028 for first authors and in 2043 for last authors. The proportion of women editors was projected to remain at a low level. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Despite the favourable trend for women's first authorship, there is still a need for improvement for women's last authorship and women's representation among editors. An increase in women EiCs may help to facilitate a higher representation of women among editors.