Is gender associated with success in academic oral and maxillofacial surgery?

Publication date: Available online 19 July 2018

Source: Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Author(s): Andrea B. Burke, Kristie L. Cheng, Jesse T. Han, Jasjit K. Dillon, Thomas B. Dodson, Srinivas M. Susarla

Abstract

Purpose

Several studies of surgical specialties have demonstrated disparities in measures of research productivity and academic rank between female and male surgeons. The purpose of this work was to measure the role of surgeon gender on academic success in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study of full-time academic oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMSs) in the United States, as of June 2017. The primary study variable was surgeon gender (male or female). The primary outcome variable was research productivity assessed using two different parameters: 1) H-index (number of publications h with >h citations each) and 2) academic rank. Other study variables were demographic characteristics potentially related to the outcome measures. Descriptive, bivariate, and regression statistics were computed.

Results

The study sample was comprised of 306 full-time academic OMSs, 53 (17.3%) of whom were female. On average, female OMSs had shorter academic careers (mean time since completion of training (11.0 + 8.2 years versus 22.0 + 14.1 years for male OMSs, p < 0.001). There were no other significant differences between male and female OMSs with regard to the secondary measures (p > 0.23). Male OMSs had a higher mean H-index compared to female OMS (7.1 + 8.6 versus 5.1 + 7.9, p = 0.01). Academic rank was statistically significantly different between female and male OMSs, with a greater proportion of higher ranks seen in male OMSs (p = 0.001). After adjusting for career length and other confounders/effect modifiers, gender was not an independent predictor of the H-index or academic rank (p > 0.22).

Conclusion

While female surgeons represent a minority of full-time academic OMSs, academic success measured using research productivity and academic rank was not associated with gender.

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