The influence of senior author gender on research practice in exercise and sports science

INTRODUCTION & AIMS Sex and gender bias have been continually documented in sport and exercise science. There are disparities in both participants and authorship, including those leading the research. Examples from medical research show senior author gender influences practices (e.g., disaggregation of data by sex). We examined the relationship between senior author gender and research practices in sport and exercise science. METHODS For this analysis we have included all papers published in the first issue of 2023 of the top 10 sports science journals, according to SJR Sports Science rankings. We extracted senior author gender and data on research practices including study type, exercise modality, and population. This is part of a larger ongoing study. RESULTS Our preliminary results include 182 studies from 10 journals. Men represented 84% of all senior authors. Percentage of senior author gender ranged from 100% men as senior authors in Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, and Arthroscopy (45 papers led by men, 0 led by women), to 66% women senior authorship in Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health (6 papers led by women, 3 by men). When the senior author was a man, they were more likely to conduct observational research, including cross sectional, retrospective, and epidemiological research. When women were senior authors, they were more likely to conduct qualitative research. Less than 4% of all letters to the editor were led by women. Approximately 25% of all studies focused on Sport. Within this category, 75% of these studies had men senior authors. Approximately 65% of all studies had a clinical focus. Within this category, 86% of these studies had men senior authors. CONCLUSIONS This preliminary data indicates some differences in research practices by senior author gender. This research also highlights differences by journal in their inclusion of research led by women.