Editorial Board Representation in Criminology: A Call to Address Racial Disparities

Abstract

There is increased awareness of the structural exclusionary practices that permeate throughout almost all sectors of society, including higher education. One small but meaningful way in which this marginalization manifests itself throughout academia more generally, and within the knowledge production process more specifically, is through editorial board representation. This study investigates the racial breakdown of scholars listed as editorial board members for all journals under the “Criminology and Penology” category of the Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science database. The study also examines the extent to which the racial representation of editorial board members is associated with journal quality. Almost 90% of all editorial board members across all criminology journals are White. The findings of this study highlight not only the glaring lack of racial diversity in editorial board compositions within criminology but is indicative of a broader systematic marginalization of certain groups that continues to perpetuate throughout academia in general. A number of potential strategies that can be used to increase the racial representativeness of editorial boards are outlined.