Author gender differences in Japanese and American orthoptic journals

Abstract

【Purpose】To investigate the gender differences in the authors of Japanese and American orthoptic journals.

【Methods】Through the databases of Ichushi Web and PubMed (Medline), we obtained the author information for articles that had been published in Japanese Orthoptic Journal (JOJ) and American Orthoptic Journal (AOJ) between 1991 and 2020. The gender of the AOJ authors was determined using gender identification software and an internet image search engine.

【Results】Of 922 JOJ original articles, 627 (68.0%) and 243 (35.8%) first and last authors were females, respectively. The percentages were 60% to 80% for both female first and last authors in the 1990s and decreased to 58% for the first author and 16% for the last author in the late 2010s. Of 940 AOJ articles, 454 (48.3%) and 120 (32.4%) first and last authors were females, respectively. Virtually no changes over the 30 years studied were observed. While JOJ showed a higher percentage of female first authors than AOJ, no significant difference in the percentage of female last authors was observed between the two journals. whereas no gender imbalance was observed in AOJ. The gender imbalance in JOJ fluctuated over time.

【Conclusion】While JOJ showed a higher percentage of female first authors, both journals showed a low percentage of female last authors. The gender difference was not observed in the authors of AOJ. However, a marked gender difference was observed over time in the authors of JOJ.