Women have had a tough time of things during the pandemic, with many reporting that the domestic burden has predominantly fallen onto their shoulders in addition to the general stresses associated with the period.

Research from the University of Geneva suggests that women have also seen a rise in discrimination in the lab too.  The paper highlights how seniority in scientific publishing is usually demonstrated by the first author, last author, and corresponding author positions.  These correspond with the decision-making process when it comes to evaluating scientific careers and determining promotions.

Previous research has indicated that women are less likely to occupy these positions than men, with the “last author” position, usually reserved for the senior scientist, least likely to be occupied by a woman.  The study found that this discrimination rose considerably during the pandemic, with a 20% fall in female first and corresponding authors.

The authors argue that this is largely due to the additional duties that female researchers had to shoulder during the pandemic, such as homeschooling children, which fell largely on their shoulders.

Getting the credit

While it’s increasingly common for scientific research to be a collaborative endeavor, the credit for papers is often given according to one’s position in the authors list, with the first author the person generally believed to have contributed most to the research; the last author usually the most senior researchers; and the corresponding author the one who fields most of the queries about the study.

“These authorship positions are used for decision-making because they reflect the degree to which researchers contributed to the production of science. The attainment of these key positions, alongside with the total number of articles published, are essential for moving up the academic ladder,” the authors explain.

In the two-year period prior to the pandemic, women would make up just under 50% of all first authors, 31.4% of last authors, and nearly 39% of corresponding authors.

Measuring the pandemic

The researchers analyzed 11 journals and over 63,000 papers submitted between 2018 and 2021 to understand any changes in key authorship during the pandemic.

“Our idea was to use years 2018-2019 as reference, then to focus on manuscripts dealing with COVID-19 during the pandemic on the one hand, and manuscripts dealing with other subjects during the same period on the other hand,” the researchers explain.

The results reveal a dramatic fall, especially during the first part of the pandemic where the lockdown restrictions, and therefore the disruption to lives was at their peak.

“Our results speak for themselves: during the first part of the pandemic, at the beginning of 2020, we found in the manuscripts dealing with COVID-19, a decrease of almost 20% in the proportion of women first authors, 12% in the proportion of women last authors and 20% in the proportion of women corresponding authors, compared with pre-pandemic data,” the authors say.

Taking a toll

The researchers believe the pandemic, and the rise in domestic duties for female researchers, is highly likely to be the culprit for the fall in authorship.

“It seems likely that women had more difficulty pursuing their research activities—in view of their professional and family overloads—than their male counterparts,” they explain.

Thankfully, the decline in visibility did appear to be temporary, as there were signs of a return to pre-pandemic levels again as life returned to a degree of normality.  The diversity of authorship matters, however, as when the last author was a woman, it was almost twice as likely that the first author would also be a woman.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has enabled us to highlight the fact that women have been less involved in scientific research linked to COVID-19 and that they have occupied less prestigious authorship positions compared to their male colleagues. The slowdown in their publications should be taken into consideration, especially when analyzing academic applications for which the number of published articles is still a determining factor. It would ensure that this does not have a negative impact on the development of their academic careers,” the researchers conclude.