Original Research—General Otolaryngology Gender Disparities in Scholarly Productivity within Academic Otolaryngology Departments Otolaryngology– Head and Neck Surgery 148(2) 215–222 Ó American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2013 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0194599812466055 http://otojournal.org Jean Anderson Eloy, MD 1,2,3 , Peter Svider 1 , Sujana S. Chandrasekhar, MD 4,5,6 , Qasim Husain 1 , Kevin M. Mauro 1 , Michael Setzen, MD, FAAP 7,8 , and Soly Baredes, MD 1,3 Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are dis- closed at the end of this article. Abstract Objective. To examine whether there are gender disparities in scholarly productivity within academic otolaryngology departments, as measured by academic rank and the h-index, a published, objective measure of research contributions that quantifies the number and significance of papers pub- lished by a given author. Study Design and Setting. Analysis of bibliometric data of aca- demic otolaryngologists. Methods. Faculty listings from academic otolaryngology departments were used to determine academic rank and gender. The Scopus database was used to determine h-index and publication range (in years) of these faculty members. In addition, 20 randomly chosen institutions were used to compare academic otolaryngologists to faculty members in other surgical specialties. Results. Mean h-indices increased through the rank of profes- sor. Among academic otolaryngologists, men had signifi- cantly higher h-indices than women, a finding also noted on examination of faculty members from other specialties. Men had higher research productivity rates at earlier points in their career than women did. The productivity rates of women increased and equaled or surpassed those of men later in their careers. Men had higher absolute h-index values at junior academic ranks. Women academic otolaryngolo- gists of senior rank had higher absolute h-indices than their male counterparts. Conclusions. The h-index measures research significance in an objective manner and indicates that although men have higher overall research productivity in academic otolaryngol- ogy, women demonstrate a different productivity curve. Women produce less research output earlier in their careers than men do, but at senior levels, they equal or exceed the research productivity of men. Keywords gender, gender disparity, h-index, academic promotion, aca- demic productivity, faculty productivity, surgical faculty pro- ductivity, academic physician scientific productivity, academic rank determination, academic rank in surgical specialties Received July 13, 2012; revised September 19, 2012; accepted October 8, 2012. T he proportion of women pursuing careers in medi- cine has dramatically increased, as women now com- prise nearly half of US medical students. 1-6 Although this trend is consistent with societal strides in gender equal- ity, further examination among specific medical disciplines reveals notable demographic differences. Women have dis- proportionately entered primary care and nonsurgical careers, while surgical specialties have traditionally had dif- ficulty recruiting and retaining female trainees. 3,7-9 In addi- tion, women are underrepresented in academic practice 1 Department of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA 2 Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New JerseyMedical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA 3 Center for Skull Base and Pituitary Surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA 4 New York Otology, New York, New York, USA 5 New York Head and Neck Institute, North Shore LIJ Healthcare, New York, New York, USA 6 Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA 7 Rhinology Section, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, New York, USA 8 Department of Otolaryngology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA Corresponding Author: Jean Anderson Eloy, MD, Vice Chairman, Director of Rhinology and Sinus Surgery, Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, UMDNJ– New Jersey Medical School, 90 Bergen St, Suite 8100, Newark, NJ 07103, USA Email: jean.anderson.eloy@gmail.com