Evolving Gender Gaps in Dental Anesthesiology: A Bibliometric Study of Anesthesia Progress

Closing the gender gap or achieving gender equality is a common goal in many fields. Achieving gender equality has positive impacts, such as increased diversity and specialized knowledge. A gender gap has been observed across various medical specialties, although recent trends suggest a gradual improvement in gender balance. Understanding the gender ratio in academic publications within this field can be considered essential for developing strategies to address gender disparities in dental anesthesiology academia. However, to date, no investigations have examined trends in authorship by gender in dental anesthesiology. We hypothesized that the gender gap in dental anesthesiology academic publications would also narrow. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the gender of the first author in Anesthesia Progress, the longest-running and most prolific journal in dental anesthesiology, over two periods. A total of 209 articles published between 2000 and 2003 and between 2020 and 2023 were collected from the Scopus database. For all collected articles, data including “first author,” “affiliation (country),” and “article type” were extracted. The first author was classified as female or male; the affiliation (country) as US, Japan, or other countries; and the type of article as “Review,” “Scientific report,” or “Case report.” Statistical analyses were performed using numerical data on the number of articles by gender and time period. Pearson’s chi-square test or Yates’ continuity-corrected chi-square test was applied with a significance level of 5%. The percentage of articles with female first authors increased significantly, from 19.2% (10/52) in the 2000s to 34.0% (49/144) in the 2020s (P = 0.046). By country, the percentage of female first authors decreased in the US but increased in Japan and other countries. Notably, in Japan, the proportion of female first authors rose significantly from 1.9% (1/52) in the 2000s to 22.2% (32/144) in the 2020s (P = 0.002). Regarding the types of articles submitted by female first authors, the number of “Scientific report” articles markedly decreased in the US, whereas the number of “Case report” articles significantly increased in Japan. The investigation revealed that the gender gap in dental anesthesiology has narrowed in terms of total representation; however, the extent of this gap differs from country to country. Regular statistical bibliometric analyses could provide more insights into closing the gender gap.