Female Participation in Academic European Neurosurgery—A Cross-Sectional Analysis

The study aims to provide data on authors’ gender distribution with special attention on publications from Europe. Articles (10/2019–03/2020) published in three representative neurosurgical journals (Acta Neurochirurgica, Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery) were analyzed with regard to female participation. Out of 648 publications, 503 original articles were analyzed: 17.5% (n = 670) of the 3.821 authors were female, with 15.7% (n = 79) females as first and 9.5% (n = 48) as last authors. The lowest ratio of female first and last authors was seen in original articles published in the JNS (12.3%/7.7% vs. Neurosurgery 14.9%/10.6% and Acta 23.0/11.5%). Articles originated in Europe made up 29.8% (female author ratio 21.1% (n = 226)). Female first authorship was seen in 20.7% and last authorship in 10.7% (15.3% and 7.3% were affiliated to a neurosurgical department). The percentages of female authorship were lower if non-original articles (n = 145) were analyzed (11.7% first/4.8% last authorships). Female participation in editorial boards was 8.0%. Considering the percentages of European female neurosurgeons, the current data are proportional. However, the lack of female last authors, the discrepancy regarding non-original articles and the composition of the editorial boards indicate that there still is a structural underrepresentation and that females are limited in achieving powerful positions.