Abstract
IntroductionOur goal in this study was to determine female representation on editorial boards of high-ranking emergency medicine (EM) journals. In addition, we examined factors associated with gender disparity, including board members’ academic rank, departmental leadership position, h-index, total publications, total citations, and total publishing years.MethodsIn this retrospective study, we examined EM editorial boards with an impact factor of 1 or greater according to the Clarivate Journal Citations Report for a total of 16 journals. All board members with a doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathic medicine degree, or international equivalent were included, resulting in 781 included board members. We analyzed board members’ gender, academic rank, departmental leadership position, h-index, total publications, total citations, and total publishing years.ResultsGender disparity was clearly notable, with men holding 87.3% (682/781) of physician editorial board positions and women holding 12.7% (99/781) of positions. Only 6.6% (1/15) of included editorial board chiefs were women. Male editorial board members possessed higher h-indices, total citations, and more publishing years than their female counterparts. Male board members held a greater number of departmental leadership positions, as well as higher academic ranks.ConclusionSignificant gender disparity exists on EM editorial boards. Substantial inequalities between men and women board members exist in both the academic and departmental realms. Addressing these inequalities will likely be an integral part of achieving gender parity on editorial boards.
Highlights
Our goal in this study was to determine female representation on editorial boards of high-ranking emergency medicine (EM) journals
Male board members held a greater number of departmental leadership positions, as well as higher academic ranks
Significant gender disparity exists on EM editorial boards
Summary
Our goal in this study was to determine female representation on editorial boards of high-ranking emergency medicine (EM) journals. We examined factors associated with gender disparity, including board members’ academic rank, departmental leadership position, h-index, total publications, total citations, and total publishing years. Gender Distribution on EM Journal Editorial Boards in 2018.2 Despite the increasing proportion of women in EM, there exists an ongoing under-representation within the field of academic EM.[3,4,5] Recent data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) demonstrates that women still represent the minority of departmental and faculty leadership positions within EM; only 11.4% of EM chairs and 19.3% of full professors are women.[6,7] Participation in academia, including peer-reviewed research, is important to the advancement of the profession and would be best served with equitable representation of its constituents. This study found significant discrepancies in income, with the mean salary of academic female EPs $19,418 less than males, even when potentially confounding factors such as experience, clinical hours, and training were accounted for.[3]
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