The Leadership Ceiling in Global Radiology: A 2024-2026 High-Throughput Algorithmic Audit of Gender Representation in Senior Authorship.
Only 17.70% of senior authors in leading radiology journals are female.
The Leadership Ceiling in Global Radiology: A 2024-2026 High-Throughput Algorithmic Audit of Gender Representation in Senior Authorship.
To establish a 2026 global benchmark for senior authorship gender representation in high-impact imaging journals and identify structural barriers to digital metadata visibility.
An algorithmic audit analyzed 6454 publications from seven leading radiology journals compiled between January 2024 and February 2026.
Significant variation was found by journal (x 2 =34.19, p < 0.0001).
The Journal of the American College of Radiology (Journal of the American College of Radiology) demonstrated the highest representation (37.17%), while technical subspecialty journals showed lower parity.
A profound "Metadata Gap" was identified, with 42.42% (2737/6454) of the total cohort lacking identifiable gender markers or sufficient name strings in professional publishing summaries to allow for algorithmic inference.
A profound gender gap persists in global senior research leadership within imaging specialties. Enhancing publishing metadata hygiene is an essential step for accurate institutional equity tracking.
Informatics-driven auditing via live dashboards provides a scalable roadmap for modern departmental and institutional accountability.