BJPsych Open. 2025 Dec 15;12(1):e17. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2025.10931.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is ample evidence that women do not progress in mental health publishing as quickly as men. The movement from first to last (senior) author is one indicator of progression.
AIMS: To understand whether there are changes in women’s authorship position following our academic institution’s introduction of support mechanisms to reduce the gender gap in career development.
METHOD: Data from publicly held databases in three cohorts (2016, 2018 and 2020) were assessed for gender and authorship position at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. Regression analyses included authorship gender and change over time in authorship roles, by school and topic.
RESULTS: We found substantial, statistically significant differences in gender between author roles (χ2(2) = 29.18, P < 0.0001), with women being mainly first authors (marginal mean 62.2:40.1%, respectively, odds ratio 2.463, 95% CI 1.807 to 3.357). The three schools differed (χ2(2) = 14.06, P < 0.001) and, although men were predominant as last authors in all topics in both 2016 and 2020, women did show a modest increase. The trend for an interaction between gender and first-author publications on the likelihood of last-author publications in 2018 (incidence rate ratio 1.839, 95% CI 0.914 to 3.698) had disappeared by 2020.
CONCLUSIONS: Although women were represented as first and corresponding authors, there was still a gender gap for last-author positions. Over time, women have increased their representation in many of the topic areas. The disappearance of any gender-moderating effect suggests that institutional policies may have had an effect, in addition to sector-wide changes.
PMID:41392762 | DOI:10.1192/bjo.2025.10931
