Abstract
Purpose :
Glaucoma specialists represent the fourth largest subspecialty within academia. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate sex differences in scholarly productivity, academic promotion, and NIH funding within this sub-group.
Methods :
This was a cross-sectional study of glaucoma specialists employed across 113 US academic institutions. Using institutional websites, data on gender, residency graduation year, and academic rank were collected between January-March 2019. The Scopus database was used to obtain each faculty member’s h-index, which is a measurement of publication productivity, and m-quotient, which adjusts for an individual’s career length. The NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool database was queried for data on NIH funding. Chi-square testing was used to analyze categorical values and Wilcoxon Rank Sum testing was used for continuous variables.
Results :
A total of 431 glaucoma specialists were identified, of whom 157 (36.4%) were female and 274 (63.6%) were male. A greater proportion of females vs. males were assistant professors [101 (64.3%) vs. 126 (46.0%); p=0.003] and a smaller proportion of females were full professors [20 (12.7%) vs. 80 (29.2%); p=0.001]. No difference was found among associate professor positions [female: 36 (22.9%) vs. male: 66 (24.1%); p=1.000] and department chair positions [3 (1.9%) vs. 22 (8.2%); p = 0.103]. Females had lower median h-indices compared to their male counterparts (4.0 vs. 8.0; p<0.001), but similar median m-quotients (0.4 vs 0.5; p=1.000). Females had a shorter median career length based on their residency graduation year compared to males (13.0 vs 21.0 years; p<0.001). Among NIH-funded investigators, females had a median grant funding of $1.1M compared to $1.4M for males (p=1.000).
Conclusions :
Shorter career length among female glaucoma specialists likely contributes to the difference seen in scholarly productivity and composition of senior academic ranks between sexes. Career length should be considered when comparing scholarly productivity between sexes.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.