Gender and first authorship of papers in family medicine journals 2006--2008.

Background: Despite increasing numbers of women attending medical school and completing residencies, women continue to lag behind men in academic achievement. Other specialties have found that women publish fewer journal articles than men. While family medicine is becoming increasingly gender balanced, the aim of this study was to evaluate the gender balance of published material within family medicine journals.
Methods: All original articles were reviewed in five family medicine journals published in the United States (Family Medicine, Journal of Family Practice, Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, Annals of Family Medicine, and American Family Physician) between 2006-2008. The articles were categorized based on type of publication and gender of first author. The editorial boards of each of the journals were examined to determine gender breakdown.
Results: A total of 2,126 articles were included in the study. Females were first author on 712 (33.5%) of the articles, and males authored 1,414 (66.5%). There was no significant difference between years. More female authors wrote original research, and fewer wrote letters to the editor. Only Family Medicine had gender parity on its editorial board.
Conclusions: Female authors wrote about a third of all original publications in family medicine journals between 2006-2009 even though they comprise 44% of the faculty. Further research can evaluate reasons for this gender disparity.