Abstract
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. To investigate the gender distribution of the editors in chief at leading medical journals. 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. Proportion of women as editors in chief. 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). 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.
Highlights
Despite the gradual increase in the representation of women as physicians in many medical specialties over the past 50 years,[1,2] women remain underrepresented as authors in medical journals.[3]
This study found that women are underrepresented among editors in chief of leading medical journals
It is unlikely that those limitations had a material impact on the key findings of this study regarding the disproportionate lack of women among editors in chief of leading medical journals. This cross-sectional study found that women are underrepresented as editors in chief of leading medical journals
Summary
Despite the gradual increase in the representation of women as physicians in many medical specialties over the past 50 years,[1,2] women remain underrepresented as authors in medical journals.[3]. The gender gap in senior authorship positions, which are often held by the most senior author and are the most impactful on career progression, appears to be widening.[7,8] The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have worsened the preexisting gender bias in the authorship of journal articles, those related to COVID-19,9,10 with far-reaching consequences across multiple medical specialties and in preprints.[11,12] The underlying reasons are likely multifactorial and may include societal values that still preferentially attribute informal care responsibilities to women,[13]
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