Document Type : Research paper
Authors
1 Department of Psychiatry, Bangladesh Specialized Hospital Limited, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh.
2 King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India
3 Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Lucknow-226003, Uttar Pradesh, India
4 Indonesia
Abstract
Background: It has been noted that females lag behind their male counterparts in scientific contributions in various aspects, such as research outputs, editorial positions, and grant achievement. However, the proportion and trend of female authors in mental health journals have not yet been studied.
Objectives: We aimed to see the proportions and trends of female authorships in mental health journals during the last two decades (2023-2003).
Methods: Data was extracted from Scimago Journal & Country Rank. Journal titles, their SJR ranking, their different ranking quartiles (Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4), and the percentage of female authors at five year intervals i.e. 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2023 were collected. In addition, our aim was to compile data from the top 100 psychiatric journals for each ranking quartile totalling 400 journals.
Results: The proportion of female authors was 54.6% (95% confidence interval 49.7-59.8) in 2023, 51.9% (95% confidence interval 46.8-57.1) in 2018, and 48.8% (95% confidence interval 43.1-55.4) in 2013 in all journals. There was an increasing trend in the proportion of female authors from 2003 (42.5%) to 2023 (54.6%). The regression analysis demonstrates a statistically significant positive trend in the percentage of female authors in mental health journals over the years across all quartiles.
Conclusions: This analysis noted female authorship dominance in mental health journals has steadily increased in the last two decades. However, a cautious consideration is warranted as the analysis only includes Scimago-listed journals which may exclude a good proportion of journals from low and middle-income countries.
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