When it comes to gender equity among authors of research papers, health and medicine-related journals are leading the way.
A new Nature Index analysis shows that all 14 of the journals that have at least 50% female authorships on papers published in 2024 are primarily publishing in the health sciences.
In fact, of the top 50 journals ranked by female authorship percentage, all of them are either primarily related to health-sciences or biological-sciences research. The journals with the highest proportion of female authorships are the American Journal of Epidemiology, at 65%, and JAMA Pediatrics, at 64%.
More generalized journals such as Nature, Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America only just make it within the top 100 for female authorship percentage, each one hovering just over 30% female authorship.
The analysis is part of the Nature Index Author Gender Ratio project, the first results of which have been published on the Nature Index website. It uses an algorithm to infer author genders on Nature Index papers (those published by the journals that the Index tracks) based on their name and location history.
The dashboard provides data at a field and institution level, as well as on a journal level. See a guide to the methodology here.
The analysis also features an ‘expected proportion’ metric, which calculates expected values for the proportion of female authorships from a journal, based on how much research they publish in male- or female-heavy sciences.
The bottom-ranked journals, which have the lowest percentage of female authorship, are largely meeting expectations, although these are very low compared with other journals because of the disciplines they cover. The lowest 10 journals for female authorships, listed below, are mainly specialist physical-sciences journals, for instance.
The results naturally mirror what’s seen at the subject and topic level.
For example, in 2024, health-sciences-related research output in the Index was at 41% female authorship and biological sciences was at 38%, whereas physical-sciences authorship was at just 21%.
Journals with a low female authorship percentage that are exceeding expectations include Water Research, with an expected female ratio of 23% and an actual percentage of 27%; Inorganic Chemistry, with an expected female ratio of 18% and an actual percentage of 26%; and Chemical Communications, with an expected female ratio of 19% and an actual percentage of 25%.
Much work needs to be done, however, to catch up to health-sciences and biology-sciences journals in female authorship numbers. See more results of the analysis at the Nature Index Author Gender Ratio website.
