Carolin Lerchenmüller, Marc Lerchenmueller, and Olav Sorenson

This study examines gender differences in the relative rates of men versus of women being listed in the prestigious first and last author positions on papers, changes in those rates over time, and differences in those rates across groups of articles. The probability of a woman being the first author on an article has risen over time to the point where she has better odds than a man of earning that position. But this advantage only exists for articles in less prominent journals. Women still have lower odds of receiving first authorships in the most prestigious journals. Progress in the rates at which women appear in the last author position, moreover, appears to have stalled, with women being named to these positions at nearly half the rate of men.

Circulation,137 (2018): 880-882 (OPEN ACCESS)