Elsevier

Gender Medicine

Volume 8, Issue 6, December 2011, Pages 378-387
Gender Medicine

Original research
Women Underrepresented on Editorial Boards of 60 Major Medical Journals

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genm.2011.10.007Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Although there has been a continuous increase in the number of women working in the field of medicine, women rarely reach the highest academic positions as full professors or editorial board members.

Objective

We aimed to determine the proportion of women on the editorial boards of top-ranked medical journals in different medical specialties.

Methods

We analyzed the gender of editorial board members of 60 top-ranked journals of 12 Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports categories. A total of 4175 editors were included in our analysis.

Results

Only 15.9% (10 of 63) editors-in-chief were female. In the 5 categories, critical care, anesthesiology, orthopedics, ophthalmology and radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging, currently not 1 woman holds the position of editor-in-chief. Less than one fifth (17.5%, 719 of 4112) of all editorial board members were women. There were significant differences among the evaluated categories, with the highest percentage of women in the category of medicine, general and internal and the lowest in the category critical care, followed by orthopedics. In every category, the proportion of women as editorial board members was substantially lower than that of men.

Conclusions

Women are underrepresented on the editorial boards of major medical journals, although there is a great variability among the journals and categories analyzed. If more women are nominated to serve on editorial boards, they will be a visible sign of continuing progress and serve as important role models for young women contemplating a career in academic medicine.

Introduction

Over the past decades, the participation of women in medicine has increased steadily. Women now represent the majority of medical students in many countries of the world. However, only a few women are promoted to academic leadership positions, and with each step up the academic ladder, the proportion of women decreases substantially,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 a phenomenon called the “glass ceiling.”4, 7 Female researchers receive fewer resources and funding than their male colleagues.4, 5, 8 Moreover, the percentage of female winners of scholarly awards in most societies is even much lower than the proportion of female full professors in each discipline.9 In a landmark study in 1997 in Sweden, female grant applicants with the same scientific productivity were given lower scores than male applicants by the reviewers.8 In 2008, a much-debated study claimed that the change from a single- to a double-blind review policy might be causally related to a significant increase in papers with women as first authors.10 Authorship of medical research is predominantly male across different journals and specialties, although in recent years, an increase in the contribution of women is evident.11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 All these facts might add to women's low representation in higher academic posts and lower integration in the scientific community, exemplified by the allocation of influential positions in scientific associations or on journal editorial boards. The National Academy of Sciences stated in their 2006 report17 “Beyond Bias and Barriers” that women's slow advancement in science is due to “unintentional biases and outmoded institutional structures” and called for a “reasonable representation of women on editorial boards.” Journal editors are usually senior scientists in their field of research. They hold a powerful and highly visible position in fulfilling the important role of shaping the nature of published research. In various studies, the percentage of female editorial board members was consistently much lower than that of males.1, 2, 3, 18, 19, 20 In the most extensive study on this topic, Jagsi et al18 found a higher percentage of women in non-US compared with US journals. In this study, we aimed to (1) give a description of the participation of women on the editorial boards of 60 international top-ranked journals in 2011 and (2) assess whether there are differences among journals depending on the journal category, country of publication, and gender of the editor-in-chief.

Section snippets

Methods

We analyzed the gender of the editors-in-chief and editorial board members of 60 top-ranked medical journals listed in 12 Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports categories (2010), as indicated on the journals' homepages in August 2011.21 The top 5 journals in the following categories were analyzed: medicine, general and internal; critical care; anesthesiology; surgery; orthopedics; ophthalmology; hematology; dermatology; clinical neurology; radiology, nuclear medicine and

Results

Ten of 63 editors-in-chief (15.9%) were female. One journal (Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews) is chaired by a female and a male editor-in-chief. Two journals (Journal of Orthopaedic Research and Human Brain Mapping) are chaired by 2 male editors-in-chief. In the top 5 journals in the categories critical care, anesthesiology, orthopedics, ophthalmology and radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging, currently not 1 woman holds the position of editor-in-chief. There are 2 female

Discussion of Our Findings and Comparison With Representation of Women in the Corresponding Clinical Specialty

Our data demonstrate that in 2011, women are still a minority on editorial boards, accounting for 16% of editors-in-chief and 18% of editorial board members in our sample of 60 leading medical journals. In 5 of the 12 studied categories (critical care, anesthesiology, orthopedics, ophthalmology and radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging), currently not 1 woman holds the position of editor-in-chief. Among the journals, this proportion varied between 0 and 71% and showed a significantly

Conclusions

By presenting our data, we aim to stimulate a discussion on the current situation of women in academic medicine and, in particular, on editorial boards of top-ranked medical journals. Not unexpectedly, women are underrepresented on the editorial boards of major medical journals, as in many other key leadership positions in academic medicine, although there is great variability among the journals and specialties analyzed. Further research should investigate the underlying causes contributing to

Conflicts of Interest

The authors have indicated that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the content of this article.

Acknowledgments

Drs. Amrein and Zollner-Schwetz were responsible for the study design; data collection, analysis, and interpretation; drafting of the manuscript; the figure; and literature search. Drs. Langmann, Fahrleitner-Pammer, and Pieber were responsible for data analysis and interpretation, literature search, and extensive revision of the manuscript. All authors made substantial contributions to the conception and design and data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation; drafted the article or revised

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