Representation of Women Authors in the 100 Most-Cited Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Articles.

[OBJECTIVE] This study aims to determine the representation of women among most-cited facial plastic and reconstructive surgery articles.

[STUDY DESIGN] A bibliometric analysis of the most-cited articles from 9 high-impact facial plastic surgery journals.

[SETTING] Online database.

[METHODS] A retrospective analysis of the 100 most-cited articles in facial plastic surgery was conducted using the Elsevier Scopus database. The representation of women among first, senior, and corresponding authors was assessed using the US Social Security Baby Names Database. Accredited websites were utilized for further clarification of gender, professional background, and title. A 2-tailed t-test was performed to compare the average number of citations by gender, while chi-square analysis was used to compare the relative number of women authors between 5-year intervals, citation rank, and nationalities. A significance level of 0.05 was used.

[RESULTS] The top 100 most-cited articles had the highest total number of citations between 2000 and 2004. US institutions published 71% of these articles. The gender of 99% of first authors, 94% of senior authors, and 94% of corresponding authors was identified. Among these, 11% of first authors, 14% of senior authors, and 10% of corresponding authors were women. Of the 19 women authors, 11 were physicians. No statistically significant difference in the relative number of first, senior, and corresponding women authors was observed between years of publication, citation quartile, and article nationality.

[CONCLUSION] Despite increasing women facial plastic surgery trainees, women's academic contributions continue to trail. Additional efforts are needed to support and highlight academic achievements of women facial plastic surgeons.