Gender disparity in academic emergency radiology

• Published in: Emergency radiology 2019-02, Vol.26 (1), p.21-28
• Main Authors: Battaglia, Frank, Shah, Samad, Jalal, Sabeena, Khurshid, Kiran, Verma, Nupur, Nicolaou, Savvas, Reddy, Sravanthi, John, Susan, Khosa, Faisal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Emergencies; Emergency Medicine; Gender; Hirsch index; Imaging; Leadership; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Men; Original Article; Productivity; Radiology; Scientific papers; Women
• ISSN: 1070-3004; 1438-1435
• DOI: 10.1007/s10140-018-1642-7

Objective This study is intended to better understand how academic productivity and career advancement differs between men and women emergency radiologists in academic practices. Materials and methods Parameters of academic achievement were measured, including number of citations, number of publications, and h-index, while also collecting information on academic and leadership ranking among emergency radiologists in North America. Results In emergency radiology, there are significantly fewer women than men (22.2% vs 77.8%). Of these women, the greatest proportion of women held the lower academic rank of assistant professor (95.4%). Female assistant professors had a higher h-index than men at the same rank (4 vs 2), but it was not statistically significantly higher. There was no significant difference between gender and academic ( p  = 0.089) or leadership ( p  = 0.586) rankings. Conclusion This study provides further evidence that gender disparity persists in emergency radiology, with women achieving less upward academic career mobility than men, despite better academic productivity in the earlier stages of their careers. The academic productivity of emergency radiologists at the rank of assistant professor is significantly higher for women than men.