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Visibility and representation of women in multiple sclerosis research

OBJECTIVE: To establish the gender distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) researchers across high-impact neurologic publications, MS-specific journals, and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ECTRIMS). METHODS: Journal editorial boards and contents were retrieved online to asse...

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Autores principales: Thomson, Alison, Horne, Rachel, Chung, Christine, Marta, Monica, Giovannoni, Gavin, Palace, Jacqueline, Dobson, Ruth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6511087/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30894447
http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000007276
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author Thomson, Alison
Horne, Rachel
Chung, Christine
Marta, Monica
Giovannoni, Gavin
Palace, Jacqueline
Dobson, Ruth
author_facet Thomson, Alison
Horne, Rachel
Chung, Christine
Marta, Monica
Giovannoni, Gavin
Palace, Jacqueline
Dobson, Ruth
author_sort Thomson, Alison
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: To establish the gender distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) researchers across high-impact neurologic publications, MS-specific journals, and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ECTRIMS). METHODS: Journal editorial boards and contents were retrieved online to assess first-named and senior authors. Published tables of contents for each journal from 2017 were reviewed. Congrex, the ECTRIMS organizers, were contacted and speaker names were obtained from online abstracts to assess visible opinion leaders. RESULTS: A total of 2,080 articles were analyzed across 4 general neurology journals, and 452 across 2 MS journals. Overall, 36% of general neurology articles had a female first name author and 25% had a female senior author. In MS-specific journals, 44% of first authors and 35% of senior authors were female, with similar proportions of unique authors. There is limited female representation on the ECTRIMS executive board, but reasonable balance on Council. Almost 50% of attendees in 2017 were female, but only 35% of invited speakers. CONCLUSIONS: There is substantial female drop-off between junior and senior research level across multiple areas. Strategies to support gender balance are urgently required, including developing mentorship schemes, ensuring gender balance in conferences, and thorough examination of the barriers facing female academics with direct challenges to address unconscious bias.
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spelling pubmed-65110872019-06-03 Visibility and representation of women in multiple sclerosis research Thomson, Alison Horne, Rachel Chung, Christine Marta, Monica Giovannoni, Gavin Palace, Jacqueline Dobson, Ruth Neurology Views & Reviews OBJECTIVE: To establish the gender distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) researchers across high-impact neurologic publications, MS-specific journals, and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ECTRIMS). METHODS: Journal editorial boards and contents were retrieved online to assess first-named and senior authors. Published tables of contents for each journal from 2017 were reviewed. Congrex, the ECTRIMS organizers, were contacted and speaker names were obtained from online abstracts to assess visible opinion leaders. RESULTS: A total of 2,080 articles were analyzed across 4 general neurology journals, and 452 across 2 MS journals. Overall, 36% of general neurology articles had a female first name author and 25% had a female senior author. In MS-specific journals, 44% of first authors and 35% of senior authors were female, with similar proportions of unique authors. There is limited female representation on the ECTRIMS executive board, but reasonable balance on Council. Almost 50% of attendees in 2017 were female, but only 35% of invited speakers. CONCLUSIONS: There is substantial female drop-off between junior and senior research level across multiple areas. Strategies to support gender balance are urgently required, including developing mentorship schemes, ensuring gender balance in conferences, and thorough examination of the barriers facing female academics with direct challenges to address unconscious bias. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2019-04-09 /pmc/articles/PMC6511087/ /pubmed/30894447 http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000007276 Text en Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) , which permits downloading and sharing the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.
spellingShingle Views & Reviews
Thomson, Alison
Horne, Rachel
Chung, Christine
Marta, Monica
Giovannoni, Gavin
Palace, Jacqueline
Dobson, Ruth
Visibility and representation of women in multiple sclerosis research
title Visibility and representation of women in multiple sclerosis research
title_full Visibility and representation of women in multiple sclerosis research
title_fullStr Visibility and representation of women in multiple sclerosis research
title_full_unstemmed Visibility and representation of women in multiple sclerosis research
title_short Visibility and representation of women in multiple sclerosis research
title_sort visibility and representation of women in multiple sclerosis research
topic Views & Reviews
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6511087/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30894447
http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000007276
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