Women on the Editorial Boards of Major Journals

Abstract

Fewer than half of the journals studied had parity between the percentages of women members of editorial boards and the percentages of women physicians in the specialties. Parity should be maintained to accurately reflect the numbers of women physicians in these fields.

Differences in Editorial Board Reviewer Behavior Based on Gender

“…Kennedy et al 10 evaluated the percentages of women on editorial boards of general and specialty medical journals in comparison with the numbers of women physicians in the journals' respective specialties. Compiling the number of women editors, deputy editors, assistant editors, and members of editorial boards of 12 major journals and comparing this information to the percentage of women physicians in the journals' specialties as published by the American Medical Association from data in 1999, they found parity in only 41% of specialties represented, and only one journal had a greater percentage of women on its editorial board than there were women in the specialty.…”

Women in academic rheumatology

“…Lack of mentoring is a difficult problem to resolve, but is of great importance since the pool of women from which to recruit academic leaders and role models for young women interested in academic medicine remains small (46)(47)(48)61,(67)(68)(69)(70)(71). An interesting concept is the accumulation of advantages and disadvantages during the course of a scientist's career, suggesting that even small differences that occur at an earlier stage in the scientist's career may eventually lead to major outcomes, such as being invited as a speaker or chairperson for scientific meetings (56).…”

Women academics and research productivity: an international comparison

“…Women are also less likely to be journal editors and sit on editorial boards. For example, in the 12 major medicine journals, only 25% of editors and 17% of board members were women (Kennedy, Lin, and Dickstein 2001); out of 12 management journals, women accounted for less than 10% of the editorial boards (Metz and Harzing 2009) and in the political sciences only 18% of women were editors when an analysis of 50 journals was undertaken (Stegmaier, Palmer, and Assendelf 2011). The manifesto for change calls for editorial boards, which play significant gate-keeping roles, to be more transparent in their selection processes and policies on gender equality.…”