Representation of Women Among Editors in Chief of Leading Medical Journals

Abstract

<div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="ab-zoi210681-1"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d2420561e290">Question</h5> <p id="d2420561e292">Are women and men equally represented among editors in chief of leading medical journals?</p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="ab-zoi210681-2"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d2420561e295">Findings</h5> <p id="d2420561e297">This cross-sectional study found that, overall, women represent only about 1 in 5 editors in chief at top-ranked medical journals, with wide variation from 0 to 82% across medical specialties. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="ab-zoi210681-3"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d2420561e300">Meaning</h5> <p id="d2420561e302">A serious commitment from authors, editors, publishers, and the medical scientific community is required to tackle longstanding structural barriers and biases that underpin women’s underrepresentation in senior leadership roles in medical journals. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="ab-zoi210681-4"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d2420561e306">Importance</h5> <p id="d2420561e308">Women remain underrepresented among editors of scientific journals, particularly in senior positions. However, to what extent this applies to medical journals of different specialties remains unclear. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="ab-zoi210681-5"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d2420561e311">Objective</h5> <p id="d2420561e313">To investigate the gender distribution of the editors in chief at leading medical journals. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="ab-zoi210681-6"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d2420561e316">Design, Setting, and Participants</h5> <p id="d2420561e318">Cross-sectional study of the editors in chief at the top 10 international medical journals of 41 categories related to the medical specialties of the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Journal Citation Reports in 2019. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="ab-zoi210681-7"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d2420561e321">Main Outcomes and Measures</h5> <p id="d2420561e323">Proportion of women as editors in chief.</p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="ab-zoi210681-8"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d2420561e326">Results</h5> <p id="d2420561e328">This study found that, overall, women represented 21% (94 of 44) of the editors in chief, with wide variation across medical specialties from 0% to 82%. There were 5 categories for which none of the editors in chief were women (dentistry, oral surgery and medicine; allergy; psychiatry; anesthesiology; and ophthalmology) and only 3 categories for which women outnumbered men as editors in chief (primary health care, microbiology, and genetics and heredity). In 27 of the 41 categories, women represented less than a third of the editors in chief (eg, 1 of 10 for critical care medicine, 2 of 10 for gastroenterology and hepatology, and 3 of 10 for endocrinology and metabolism). </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="ab-zoi210681-9"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d2420561e331">Conclusions and Relevance</h5> <p id="d2420561e333">This study found that women are underrepresented among editors in chief of leading medical journals. For the benefit of medical research, a joint effort from editorial boards, publishers, authors, and academic institutions is required to address this gender gap. </p> </div><p class="first" id="d2420561e336">This cross-sectional study investigates the gender distribution of the editors in chief at leading medical journals. </p>