British Medical JournalHow Pandemic Publishing Struck a Blow to the Visibility of Women’s Expertise

In the first half of 2020, only 36% of the three million submissions to top health and medical journals came from women. The gender difference was most prominent among younger cohorts of female authors who were just starting their careers and applied to both research and non-research papers across all authorship positions in both top-tier and lower-impact journals.

The damage to women’s research productivity, particularly for those in their early careers, was immediate amid the enormous, quick publication of covid papers. According to research, women’s publication production fell by 15% in 2020 compared to 2019, and by comparison to men, it was 24% lower. A growing gender disparity was substantiated by an analysis of nearly 500,000 authors in the fields of basic medicine, biology, chemistry, and clinical medicine, demonstrating that the early disadvantage women faced in terms of recognition and career advancement was both real and lasting.