Meta-Research: A 10-year follow-up study of sex inclusion in the biological sciences
- Women’s Health Research Institute and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, United States
- Department of Psychology, Department of Biology and Program in Neuroscience, Smith College, United States
Figures
Figure 1
Comparison of studies by field, sex, and sex-based analyses in 2009 and 2019.
(A). The proportion of articles surveyed in 2009 and 2019 which utilized male subjects, female subjects, both male and female subjects, or those that did not specify the sex of the subjects. Data are presented by individual biological discipline as well as by the sum of all nine disciplines. (B). The percentage of articles surveyed in 2009 and 2019 which utilized both male and female subjects and conducted sex-based analyses, either by including sex as a covariate or by subgroup analyses. Data are presented by individual biological discipline as well as by the sum of all nine disciplines. The source data for this figure are in Supplementary file 1.
Figure 2
Percent of articles which provided the sample size (n) by sex, rationale for single-sex studies, or rationale for the lack of sex-based analyses.
(A). The percentage of articles which utilized both male and female subjects and provided a description of the sample size by sex. Data are presented by individual biological discipline as well as by the sum of all nine disciplines. (B). Categorization of articles which provided rationale for single sex-studies or the lack of sex-based analyses (n = 30) into seven distinct themes. Each theme includes representative rationale derived from the experimental methods. The source data for this figure are in Supplementary file 1.
Tables
Table 1
Journals surveyed by subject area in 2009 and 2019.
| Discipline | Journal A | Journal B | Journal C | Journal D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Biology | PLoS Biology | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | Nature | Science |
| Immunology | Journal of Immunology | Infection and Immunity | Immunity | Vaccine |
| Neuroscience | Journal of Neuroscience | Neuroscience | The Journal of Comparative Neurology | Nature Neuroscience |
| Physiology | Journal of Physiology (London) | American Journal of Physiology – Renal Physiology | American Journal of Physiology – Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology | American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology |
| Pharmacology | Neuropsycho- pharmacology | Journal of Psychopharma- cology | The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics | British Journal of Pharmacology |
| Reproduction | Biology of Reproduction | Reproduction | ||
| Endocrinology | European Journal of Endocrinology | Journal of Neuroendo- crinology | Endocrinology | American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism |
| Behavioral Physiology | Journal of Comparative Psychology | Behavioral Neuroscience | Physiology and Behavior | Hormones and Behavior |
| Behavior | Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology | Animal Behaviour | Animal Cognition | Behavioral Ecology |
Additional files
-
Supplementary file 1
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/56344/elife-56344-supp1-v1.xlsx
-
Transparent reporting form
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/56344/elife-56344-transrepform-v1.pdf
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Meta-Research: A 10-year follow-up study of sex inclusion in the biological sciences
eLife 9:e56344.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.56344
