Authorship by gender in anesthesiology journals: a retrospective cross-sectional study for Japan

PURPOSE: Although it is important to recognize gender disparities in publishing to achieve gender diversity, women's authorship in Japan remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the percentage and analyze the trends of articles authored and published in anesthesiology journals by Japanese female authors. METHODS: The genders of the first and last authors affiliated with Japanese institutions were surveyed in the Journal of Anesthesia (JA) (1990, 1995, and 2000–2022) and 11 international anesthesiology journals (2010–2022). RESULTS: We included 845 and 819 original research articles from JA in the analyses of the first and last authors, respectively. The proportion of female first authors significantly increased from 41 (11.7%) out of 351 before 2009 to 119 (24.1%) out of 494 after 2010 (p < 0.001). The proportion of female last authors was 11 (3.3%) out of 335 before 2009 and 22 (4.5%) out of 484 after 2010, respectively, with no significant difference (p = 0.470). We included 624 and 572 original research articles from international anesthesiology journals in the analyses of first and last authors, respectively. Among these, there were 134 (21.5%) and 23 (4.0%) female first and last authors, respectively. These proportions in international anesthesiology journals did not significantly differ from those in JA (p = 0.334, p = 0.789, respectively). CONCLUSION: The percentage of female first authors has increased, commensurate with the percentage of female anesthesiologists. However, the percentage of female last authors has not increased and remains low in Japan. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00540-023-03165-9.