Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence: encouraging gender analyses in scholarly publications

Abstract

European Science Editing Abstract Sex and gender differences influence health risks, disease progression and treatment outcomes. Owing to the underrepresentation of females as subjects in medical research, current clinical management of women is less evidence-based than for men. Gender analysis is also underrepresented in the scientific literature. The dissemination of sex-specific results is critical for ensuring that women and men equally attain the highest standards of health. Editors and publishers can play a major role in making the paradigm of scientific publishing more comprehensive. Guidelines on manuscript preparation, instructions for authors and peer reviewers set the bar for good standards of reporting, and inclusion of a policy on sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis should not be amiss here. health-related decisions was shaped by structures of financial inequality, authority relations and social norms. Gender analysis is of particular importance to the settings and populations with marked gender differences. Extrapolation and generalization of study results obtained from male-dominated cohorts to women as well as the absence of gender analysis may lead to suboptimal clinical management and potentially less favourable health outcomes. Medicine as it is practised today is less evidence-based when applied to women than to men. Data analysis and reporting