women in science poster

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Women	
  in	
  Science:	
  A	
  retrospec0ve	
  gender	
  analysis	
  through	
  publica0on	
  
	
  
Fernanda	
  Zamboni1,2	
  and	
  Maurice	
  N	
  Collins1,2	
  
1Bernal	
  Ins9tute,	
  School	
  of	
  Engineering,	
  University	
  of	
  Limerick,	
  Ireland.	
  
2Health	
  Research	
  Ins9tute,	
  University	
  of	
  Limerick,	
  Ireland.	
  
INTRODUCTION	
  
	
  
Science,	
  Technology,	
  Engineering	
  and	
  Mathema9cs	
   (STEM)	
  are	
  
male-­‐dominant	
  fields	
  where	
  women	
  are	
  s9ll	
  underrepresented	
  
in	
   the	
   present	
   day.	
   Thus,	
   it	
   is	
   important	
   to	
   quan9fy	
   the	
  
representa9on	
   of	
   women	
   in	
   science	
   in	
   order	
   to	
   track	
   any	
  
advances	
   over	
   9me	
   and	
   put	
   in	
   strategic	
   plans	
   to	
   promote	
  
gender-­‐balance	
  in	
  STEM	
  fields.	
  	
  
	
  
AIM	
  
	
  
Herein,	
  the	
  gender	
  disparity	
  is	
  inves9gated	
  through	
  the	
  analysis	
  
of	
  gender	
  of	
   the	
  first	
  and	
   last	
  authors	
   in	
  scien9fic	
  publica9ons	
  
in	
   the	
   areas	
   of	
   biomedical	
   engineering	
   and	
   biomaterials.	
   The	
  
authors	
   acknowledge	
   that	
   this	
   is	
   not	
   an	
   exhaus9ve	
   approach	
  
but	
   it	
   does	
   give	
   an	
   indica9on	
  on	
   female	
  par9cipa9on	
   in	
   these	
  
areas	
   and	
   provides	
   an	
   indica9on	
   on	
   the	
   role	
   of	
   the	
   female	
  
par9cipant.	
  	
  
	
  
METHODS	
  
	
  
This	
   study	
   evaluates	
   the	
   representa9on	
   of	
   women	
   by	
  
quan9fying	
   first	
   and	
   last	
   authors	
   from	
   scien9fic	
   publica9ons	
  
cited	
   in	
   two	
   previous	
   literature	
   reviews	
   in	
   the	
   STEM	
   field	
  
published	
   by	
   our	
   research	
   group	
   [1,2].	
   The	
   literature	
   reviews	
  
contain	
  323	
  references	
  in	
  total.	
  The	
  gender	
  analysis	
  was	
  carried	
  
out	
   within	
   3	
   year	
   of	
   publica9on	
   ranges:	
   publica9ons	
   ≤	
   2007,	
  
2008	
  ≤	
  publica9ons	
  ≤	
  2013	
  and	
  publica9ons	
  ≥	
  2014.	
  
	
  
The	
  determina9on	
  of	
   gender	
   of	
   the	
  first	
   and	
   last	
   authors	
  was	
  
performed	
  by	
  inspec9on	
  as	
  detailed	
  by	
  Filardo	
  et	
  al.	
  [3].	
  Single	
  
gender	
  names	
  such	
  as	
  ‘Mary’	
  or	
  ‘John’	
  were	
  classified	
  as	
  female	
  
and	
  male,	
  respec9vely.	
   If	
  an	
  author’s	
  gender	
  was	
  unclear	
  from	
  
their	
   name	
   (ie.	
   ‘Andrea’	
   typically	
   a	
   male	
   name	
   in	
   Italy	
   but	
   a	
  
female	
  name	
  elsewhere,	
  and	
  androgenous	
  names	
  such	
  as	
  Joey),	
  
we	
  used	
  ins9tu9onal	
  websites,	
  social	
  media	
  accounts	
  that	
  listed	
  
their	
   publica9ons	
   (Research	
   Gate	
   and	
   LinkedIn),	
   and	
   internet	
  
search	
   engines	
   (such	
   as	
   Google)	
   to	
   find	
   photographs	
   and/or	
  
biographical	
   paragraphs.	
   Any	
   authors	
   whose	
   gender	
   was	
  
unclearly	
   iden9fiable	
   aaer	
   exhaus9ng	
   these	
   searching	
   sources	
  
was	
  marked	
   as	
   “unknown”	
   [3].	
   	
   Names	
   from	
   Asian	
   countries	
  
were	
  more	
  difficult	
  to	
  genderize.	
  	
  
	
  
RESULTS	
  
	
  
The	
  two	
  literature	
  reviews	
  combined	
  contained	
  323	
  references	
  
ranging	
   from	
  1955	
   to	
  2018.	
   Literature	
  below	
   the	
  year	
  of	
  2007	
  
accounted	
  for	
  7.4%	
  of	
  the	
  references,	
  literature	
  within	
  the	
  last	
  
10	
   years	
   accounted	
   for	
   29.6%	
   and	
   literature	
  within	
   the	
   last	
   5	
  
years	
   accounted	
   for	
   63%	
   of	
   all	
   references	
   u9lized	
   in	
   the	
  
reviews.	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
RESULTS	
  
	
  
Data	
   shows	
   that	
   for	
  first	
   authors	
   there	
   is	
   a	
   2-­‐fold	
  discrepancy	
  
between	
   male	
   and	
   female,	
   but	
   this	
   comparison	
   increases	
   to	
  
3.5-­‐fold	
  between	
  the	
  last	
  authors.	
  	
  
	
  
Table	
  1.	
  	
  Gender	
  representa9on	
  within	
  3	
  	
  different	
  year	
  of	
  publica9on	
  ranges.	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
DISCUSSION	
  
	
  
Our	
  figures	
   show	
   lower	
  women	
   representa9on,	
   in	
   comparison	
  
to	
  other	
  reports	
  focused	
  on	
  the	
  gender	
  analysis	
  of	
  publica9ons	
  
within	
   the	
   European	
   countries.	
   They	
   showed	
   that	
   between	
  
1996	
  and	
  2000	
  up	
  to	
  32%	
  of	
  the	
  authors	
  were	
  women,	
  but	
  this	
  
number	
   increased	
   to	
   41%	
   between	
   2011	
   and	
   2015	
   [4].	
   This	
  
could	
  be	
  due	
  to	
  the	
  fact	
   that	
   in	
  this	
  study	
  the	
  sample	
  number	
  
was	
   very	
   small.	
   For	
   future	
   work,	
   we	
   envisage	
   to	
   extend	
   the	
  
analysis	
  beyond	
  these	
  two	
  literature	
  reviews	
  and	
  include	
  other	
  
fields	
   to	
   give	
   a	
   more	
   comprehensive	
   analysis	
   of	
   women	
  
representa9on	
  in	
  STEM.	
  
	
  
CONCLUSION	
  
	
  
In	
   our	
   preliminary	
   findings,	
   it	
   can	
   be	
   no9ced	
   that	
   up	
   to	
   date	
  
women	
  are	
  s9ll	
  underrepresented	
  in	
  STEM	
  fields,	
  but	
  over	
  the	
  
last	
  couple	
  of	
  years	
  the	
  gender	
  gap	
  has	
  been	
  decreasing.	
  
Nowadays,	
  policies	
  and	
  ac9ons	
  are	
  being	
  put	
  in	
  place	
  to	
  tackle	
  
the	
  gender	
  gap	
  in	
  STEM	
  at	
  secondary	
  and	
  third	
  educa9on	
  level,	
  
from	
   student	
   recruitment	
   to	
   the	
   advancement	
   of	
   female	
   staff	
  
within	
  the	
  universi9es,	
  and	
  in	
  governmental	
  level,	
  by	
  promo9ng	
  
unbiased	
  funding	
  panels	
  [5].	
  
	
  
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS	
  
	
  
Irish	
  Research	
  Council	
  GOIPG/2015/3577	
  
	
  
REFERENCES	
  
	
  
1.	
   Zamboni,	
   F.,	
   et	
   al.,	
   The	
   poten,al	
   of	
   hyaluronic	
   acid	
   in	
  
immunoprotec,on	
   and	
   immunomodula,on:	
   Chemistry,	
  
processing	
   and	
   func,on.	
   Progress	
   in	
   Materials	
   Science,	
   2018.	
  
97:	
  p.	
  25.	
  
2.	
  Zamboni,	
  F.	
  and	
  M.N.	
  Collins,	
  Cell	
  based	
  therapeu,cs	
  in	
  type	
  
1	
  diabetes	
  mellitus.	
  Int	
  J	
  Pharm,	
  2017.	
  521(1-­‐2):	
  p.	
  346-­‐356.	
  
3.	
   Filardo,	
   G.	
   et	
   al.	
   Trends	
   and	
   comparison	
   of	
   female	
   first	
  
authorship	
  in	
  high	
  impact	
  medical	
  journals:	
  observa,onal	
  study	
  
(1994-­‐2014)	
  BMJ,	
  2016,	
  352(i847).	
  
4.	
   Elsevier,	
   Gender	
   in	
   the	
   Global	
   Research	
   Landscape.	
   2017,	
  
Elsevirer.	
  
5.	
  Smith,	
  K.A.,	
  et	
  al.,	
  Seven	
  Ac,onable	
  Strategies	
  for	
  Advancing	
  
Women	
   in	
   Science,	
   Engineering,	
   and	
  Medicine.	
   Cell	
   Stem	
   Cell,	
  
2015.	
  16(3):	
  p.	
  221-­‐224.	
  	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
First	
  Author	
   Last	
  Author	
  
Year	
  of	
  
Publica9on	
  
Female	
  (%)	
   Male	
  (%)	
   Unknown	
  
(%)	
  
Female	
  (%)	
   Male	
  (%)	
   Unknown	
  
(%)	
  
≤2007	
   5	
  (20.8)	
   19	
  (79.2)	
   -­‐	
   4	
  (16.6)	
   17	
  (70.8)	
   3	
  (12.6)	
  
2008-­‐2013	
   29	
  (30.5)	
   57	
  (60)	
   9	
  (10.5)	
   23	
  (24.2)	
   69	
  (72.6)	
   3	
  (4.2)	
  
≥2014	
   65	
  (31.8)	
   123	
  (60.3)	
   16	
  (7.9)	
   43	
  (21.1)	
   153	
  (75)	
   8	
  (3.9)	
  
200	
  
245	
  
99	
  
67	
  
24	
   10	
  
0	
  
100	
  
200	
  
300	
  
400	
  
First	
  author	
   Last	
  author	
  
N
um
be
r	
  o
f	
  r
ef
er
en
ce
s	
  c
ite
d	
  
Unknown	
  
Female	
  
Male	
   Figure	
   1.	
   Breakdown	
   of	
   the	
  
total	
   number	
   of	
   references	
  
(323)	
   by	
   the	
   genderof	
   first	
  
and	
  last	
  authors.