IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i21p14299-d960429.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Operationalization and Reporting Practices in Manuscripts Addressing Gender Differences in Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Bibliographical Study

Author

Listed:
  • Lori van den Hurk

    (Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Medical Center, 6500HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands)

  • Sarah Hiltner

    (Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Medical Center, 6500HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands)

  • Sabine Oertelt-Prigione

    (Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University Medical Center, 6500HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands
    AG10 Sex- and Gender-Sensitive Medicine, Medical Faculty OWL, University of Bielefeld, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany)

Abstract

Historically, authors in the biomedical field have often conflated the terms sex and gender in their research significantly limiting the reproducibility of the reported results. In the present study, we investigated current reporting practices around gender in biomedical publications that claim the identification of “gender differences”. Our systematic research identified 1117 articles for the year 2019. After random selection of 400 publications and application of inclusion criteria, 302 articles were included for analysis. Using a systematic evaluation grid, we assessed the provided methodological detail in the operationalization of gender and the provision of gender-related information throughout the manuscript. Of the 302 articles, 69 (23%) solely addressed biological sex. The remaining articles investigated gender, yet only 15 (6.5%) offered reproducible information about the operationalization of the gender dimension studied. Followingly, these manuscripts also provided more detailed gender-specific background, analyses and discussions compared to the ones not detailing the operationalization of gender. Overall, our study demonstrated persistent inadequacies in the conceptual understanding and methodological operationalization of gender in the biomedical field. Methodological rigor correlated with more nuanced and informative reporting, highlighting the need for appropriate training to increase output quality and reproducibility in the field.

Suggested Citation

  • Lori van den Hurk & Sarah Hiltner & Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, 2022. "Operationalization and Reporting Practices in Manuscripts Addressing Gender Differences in Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Bibliographical Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-13, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14299-:d:960429
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14299/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14299/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sophie Horstmann & Corinna Schmechel & Kerstin Palm & Sabine Oertelt-Prigione & Gabriele Bolte, 2022. "The Operationalisation of Sex and Gender in Quantitative Health–Related Research: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Nauman, Ahmad Tauseef & Behlouli, Hassan & Alexander, Nicholas & Kendel, Friederike & Drewelies, Johanna & Mantantzis, Konstantinos & Berger, Nora & Wagner, Gert G. & Gerstorf, Denis & Demuth, Ilja & , 2021. "Gender Score Development in the Berlin Aging Study II : A Retrospective Approach," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 12.
    3. Mathias Wullum Nielsen & Jens Peter Andersen & Londa Schiebinger & Jesper W. Schneider, 2017. "One and a half million medical papers reveal a link between author gender and attention to gender and sex analysis," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 1(11), pages 791-796, November.
    4. Kath Woodward & Sophie Woodward, 2015. "Gender studies and interdisciplinarity," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(palcomms2), pages 15018-15018, August.
    5. Janine A. Clayton & Francis S. Collins, 2014. "Policy: NIH to balance sex in cell and animal studies," Nature, Nature, vol. 509(7500), pages 282-283, May.
    6. Cara Tannenbaum & Robert P. Ellis & Friederike Eyssel & James Zou & Londa Schiebinger, 2019. "Sex and gender analysis improves science and engineering," Nature, Nature, vol. 575(7781), pages 137-146, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rebecca K. Rechlin & Tallinn F. L. Splinter & Travis E. Hodges & Arianne Y. Albert & Liisa A. M. Galea, 2022. "An analysis of neuroscience and psychiatry papers published from 2009 and 2019 outlines opportunities for increasing discovery of sex differences," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Kim, Lanu & Smith, Daniel Scott & Hofstra, Bas & McFarland, Daniel A., 2022. "Gendered knowledge in fields and academic careers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    3. Takuji Usui & Malcolm R Macleod & Sarah K McCann & Alistair M Senior & Shinichi Nakagawa, 2021. "Meta-analysis of variation suggests that embracing variability improves both replicability and generalizability in preclinical research," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Baron, Justus & Ganglmair, Bernhard & Persico, Nicola & Simcoe, Timothy & Tarantino, Emanuele, 2024. "Representation is not sufficient for selecting gender diversity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).
    5. Lin Zhang & Beibei Sun & Fei Shu & Ying Huang, 2022. "Comparing paper level classifications across different methods and systems: an investigation of Nature publications," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7633-7651, December.
    6. C. Z. Kalenga & J. Parsons Leigh & J. Griffith & D. C. Wolf & S. M. Dumanski & A. Desjarlais & L. Petermann & S. B. Ahmed, 2020. "Sex and gender considerations in health research: a trainee and allied research personnel perspective," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, December.
    7. Fosch-Villaronga, Eduard & Calleja, Carlos José & Drukarch, Hadassah & Torricelli, Diego, 2023. "How can ISO 13482:2014 account for the ethical and social considerations of robotic exoskeletons?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    8. April Schweinhart & Janine Austin Clayton, 2018. "Reversing the Trends toward Shorter Lives and Poorer Health for U.S. Women: A Call for Innovative Interdisciplinary Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-14, August.
    9. Ashwin V. Kammula & Alejandro A. Schäffer & Padma Sheila Rajagopal & Razelle Kurzrock & Eytan Ruppin, 2024. "Outcome differences by sex in oncology clinical trials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    10. Lorraine Greaves, 2020. "Missing in Action: Sex and Gender in Substance Use Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-7, March.
    11. Jennifer S. Williams & Jenna C. Stone & Stacey A. Ritz & Maureen J. MacDonald, 2023. "Letter to the editor: Laxdal (2023) “The sex gap in sports and exercise medicine research: who does research on females?”," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(7), pages 4155-4160, July.
    12. Venera R. Khalikova & Mushan Jin & Shauhrat S. Chopra, 2021. "Gender in sustainability research: Inclusion, intersectionality, and patterns of knowledge production," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(4), pages 900-912, August.
    13. Jacopo Ambrosj & Kris Dierickx & Hugh Desmond, 2024. "Codes of conduct should help scientists navigate societal expectations," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-6, December.
    14. Michael O’Grady & Eleni Mangina, 2022. "Adoption of Responsible Research and Innovation in Citizen Observatories," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-14, June.
    15. Smith, Thomas Bryan & Vacca, Raffaele & Krenz, Till & McCarty, Christopher, 2021. "Great minds think alike, or do they often differ? Research topic overlap and the formation of scientific teams," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    16. Alexander S. Long & Brian J. Reich & Ana‐Maria Staicu & John Meitzen, 2023. "A nonparametric test of group distributional differences for hierarchically clustered functional data," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 79(4), pages 3778-3791, December.
    17. Aron Laxdal, 2023. "The sex gap in sports and exercise medicine research: who does research on females?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(3), pages 1987-1994, March.
    18. Jiang, Xuan, 2021. "Women in STEM: Ability, preference, and value," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    19. Ballering, Aranka V. & Bonvanie, Irma J. & Olde Hartman, Tim C. & Monden, Rei & Rosmalen, Judith G.M., 2020. "Gender and sex independently associate with common somatic symptoms and lifetime prevalence of chronic disease," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    20. Jiang, Xuan, 2018. "Planting the Seeds for Success: Why Women in STEM Do Not Stick in the Field," MPRA Paper 89650, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14299-:d:960429. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.