Factors associated with women authorship over 25 years in high-impact critical care randomized controlled trials: the pipeline is still leaking
Authors' conclusion
Although the proportion of women in authorship has risen over 25 years, women are still widely underrepresented in the authors of high-impact RCTs, especially as first and senior authors.
Study context
- Population
- Authors of adult critical care randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published 1999–2023 in the six highest-impact general and critical care journals
- Participants
- 1,203 RCTs
- Outcome
- Proportion of women among the authors
Methodological detailsgeneralized linear mixed models, Sex assessed by authors' biographies, photographs, the gender R package and a native Chinese speaker's assistance
- Generalized linear mixed models
- Sex assessed by authors' biographies, photographs, the gender R package and a native Chinese speaker's assistance
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Proportion of women among authors
- Women among all authors
- 4,335 out of 16,057 authors (27%)
- Women as first authors
- 247/1,199 [21%], p < 0.001
- Women as senior authors
- 174/1,199 [15%], p < 0.001
- Change rate per year
- 0.7% per year ([0.5%-0.9%])
- Proportion in 1999 vs 2023
- 18% in 1999 to 32% in 2023
Further findings
| Outcome | OR (95% CI) | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Factors associated with proportion of women (multivariable analysis)Year of publication (per year) | 1.05 (1.02–1.09) | P < 0.01 | |
| Factors associated with proportion of women (multivariable analysis)Sample size (per 100 patients increase) | 1.007 (1.003–1.012) | P = 0.01 | |
| 0.512Odds ratio (log scale) |
Factors associated with proportion of women (multivariable analysis)
| OR (95% CI) | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| European RCTs | 0.53 (0.33–0.85) | P < 0.01 | |
| RCTs on ventilation | 0.50 (0.25–0.97) | P = 0.04 | |
| RCTs on sepsis | 0.74 (0.37–1.46) | P = 0.39 | |
| Mortality as primary outcome | 0.36 (0.14–0.92) | P = 0.03 | |
| Endorsement by a study group | 0.36 (0.18–0.69) | P < 0.01 | |
| 0.10.31310Odds ratio (log scale) |
Original publication
Factors associated with women authorship over 25 years in high-impact critical care randomized controlled trials: the pipeline is still leaking. Crit Care. Published 28 August 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →