What is the gender representation in authorship in later phase systemic clinical trials in biliary tract cancer (BTC)? - a retrospective review of the published literature
David Goldstein,
Richard Hubner,
Angela Lamarca,
Lipika Goyal,
Junji Furuse,
Tanios Bekaii-Saab,
Jennifer Knox,
Mairéad G McNamara,
Juan Valle,
Rachna Shroff,
Chigusa Morizane,
Lorenza Rimassa,
John Bridgewater,
Timothy Jacobs,
Anna D Wagner,
Markus Moehler,
Maeve Lowery,
Robin K Kelley
Affiliations
David Goldstein
Department of Medical Oncology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Richard Hubner
Department of Medical Oncology, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Angela Lamarca
Medical Oncology, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, Manchester, UK
Lipika Goyal
Department of Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Junji Furuse
Kyorin University Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
Tanios Bekaii-Saab
Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Jennifer Knox
Princess Margaret Hospital Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Mairéad G McNamara
Department of Medical Oncology, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Juan Valle
Department of Medical Oncology, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Rachna Shroff
Medical Oncology, The University of Arizona Cancer Center—North Campus, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Chigusa Morizane
Medical Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
Lorenza Rimassa
Department of Medical Oncology, Humanitas Cancer Center, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy
John Bridgewater
Medical Oncology, UCL Cancer Institute, London, UK
Timothy Jacobs
Medical Library, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
Anna D Wagner
Department of Medical Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland
Markus Moehler
Department of Medical Oncology, Universitatsmedizin der Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz, Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
Maeve Lowery
Department of Medical Oncology, TCD, Dublin, Ireland
Robin K Kelley
Department of Medical Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
Objectives Female physicians in medicine are increasing, but disparities in female authorship exist. The aim of this study was to characterise factors associated with female first (FF) and female senior (SF) authorship in later phase systemic oncological clinical trials in biliary tract cancer (BTC) and identify any changes over time.Setting Embase/Medline identified trial publications in BTC (2000–2020) were included. χ2 tests and log regression were used (assessed factors associated with FF and SF authorship, including changes over time (STATA V.16)).Primary outcome measure FF and SF authorship in later phase systemic oncological clinical trials in BTC.Secondary outcome measure Any changes over time?Results Of 501 publications, 163 met inclusion criteria. The median percentage of female author representation in publications was 25%; there were no female authors in 13% of publications. Geographic location of the home institution of the first and senior authors was Asia (42%/42%), Europe (29%/29%), USA (24%/22%) and other (4%/6%), respectively. Overall, FF and SF author representation was 20% and 10%, respectively. The median position of the first female author was second in all the publication author lists. The phase of trial, journal-impact factor, industry funding or whether the study met its primary endpoint did not impact FF/SF author representation. More SF authors had home institutions in ‘other’ geographic locations (40% in 10 trials) (p=0.02) versus Asia (6%), Europe (8%) and USA (14%). There were no significant changes in FF/SF representation over time (p=0.61 and p=0.33 respectively).Conclusions FF and SF author representation in later phase systemic clinical trial publications in BTC is low and has not changed significantly over time. The underlying reasons for this imbalance need to be better understood and addressed.
