Abstract
Purpose :
There is a significant gender disparity in ophthalmology, with 22.7% of the workforce consisting of women. Differences in research funding and support may contribute to the disparities, so we sought to identify factors where these disparities in research support and productivity currently exist within the field of neuro-ophthalmology. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate sex differences in scholarly productivity, academic rank, and NIH funding among neuro-ophthalmologists.
Methods :
This study was a cross-sectional study of academic neuro-ophthalmologists of all 113 US ophthalmology programs. Using institutional websites, data on sex, residency graduation year, and academic rank were collected. Scopus database was used to obtain each faculty’s h-index, and m-quotient was calculated based on each faculty members h-index/career duration. 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 210 academic neuro-ophthalmologists were identified, of whom 64 (30.5%) were female and 146 (69.5%) were male. A significantly greater proportion of females vs. males were assistant professors [37 (57.8%) vs. 48 (32.9%); p=0.008]. Although not statistically significant, a smaller proportion of females were full professors [14 (21.9%) vs. 62 (69.5%); p=0.051]. No significance difference was found among associate professors [female: 13 (20.3%) vs. male: 35 (24.0%); p=1.000]. One female neuro-ophthalmologist held the departmental chair position, while nine positions were held by male counterparts [1 (1.6%) vs. 9 (6.5%); p = 1.000]. Females had similar median h-indices compared to their male counterparts (6.0 vs. 10.5; p=0.124) as well as similar median m-quotients (0.5 vs 0.6; p=1.000). Females had a shorter median career duration based on their residency graduation year compared to males (15.0 vs 28.0 years; p <0.001). Among the 43 neuro-ophthalmologists who received NIH funding for research, of whom 13 (30.2%) were female and 30 (69.8%) were male, females had a median grant funding of $1.1M compared to $574K for males (p=1.000).
Conclusions :
Females had similar h-indices compared to males. There was no difference in m-quotients between sexes, which controlled for the specialists’ career durations.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.