Is Gender Associated With Success in Academic Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery?

PURPOSE: Several studies of surgical specialties have shown disparities in measures of research productivity and academic rank between female and male surgeons. The purpose of this work was to measure the role of surgeon gender in academic success in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of full-time academic oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMSs) in the United States as of June 2017. The primary study variable was surgeon gender (male or female). The primary outcome variable was research productivity assessed using 2 different parameters: 1) h index (number of publications h with at least h citations each) and 2) academic rank. The other study variables were demographic characteristics potentially related to the outcome measures. Descriptive, bivariate, and regression statistics were computed.

RESULTS: The study sample comprised 306 full-time academic OMSs, 53 (17.3%) of whom were women. On average, female OMSs had shorter academic careers (mean time since completion of training, 11.0 ± 8.2 years for female OMSs vs 22.0 ± 14.1 years for male OMSs; P < .001). There were no other significant differences between male and female OMSs regarding the secondary measures (P ≥ .23). Male OMSs had a higher mean h index than female OMSs (7.1 ± 8.6 vs 5.1 ± 7.9, P = .01). Academic rank was statistically significantly different between female and male OMSs, with a greater proportion of higher ranks seen in male OMSs (P = .001). After adjustment for career length and other confounders or effect modifiers, gender was not an independent predictor of the h index or academic rank (P ≥ .22).

CONCLUSIONS: Although female surgeons represent a minority of full-time academic OMSs, academic success measured using research productivity and academic rank was not associated with gender.