Abstract
Despite the significant increase in women in academic medicine over the last 50 years, women are still under-represented in leadership positions in academia. However, there is a lack of data on the diversity of editorial boards in Middle Eastern medical journals. So, we aim to portray the diversity of editorial boards of Iraqi medical journals by conducting a cross-sectional analysis of the editorial boards’ members of all Iraqi medical journals. Gender, affiliation and specialty were extracted from the journals’ websites and/or from the professional profiles of the editorial board members. Twenty-five journals and 446 editorial board members were analysed. More than half of editorial board members specialized in basic science, while 39.76% specialized in clinical specialties. Approximately, 20.18% of editorial board members (regardless their role) were women. Four percent of editor-in-chief were women. There were significant differences in editorial role according to gender (p < 0.0001), yet residency (p = 0.688) and specialty (p = 0.190) did not differ according to their gender. Most editorial board members were affiliated with Baghdad. So, we can conclude that there is a significant under-representation of women across all roles on the editorial board of medical journals especially in the leading positions. All stakeholders, publishers, authors and academics should commit to ensure the diversity of editorial boards.
Plain language summary
Our research evaluates if women are under-represented in the editorial boards of medical journal. We did a cross-sectional study analyzing all members and heads of editorial boards of medical journals. We found that women are in negligible proportion in the medical journals’ boards especially in leading positions.
Introduction
Diversity in editorial boards will ensure diversity in authorship and peer reviewers, which will enhance diverse perspectives in published science. 1 Despite the significant increase in women in academic medicine over the last 50 years, women are still under-represented in leadership positions in academia. 2 Leadership positions in academic journals can enhance women’s career and provide them with equal opportunities to their male peers. However, the aspired diversity is not only regarding gender but also regarding geography of editorial boards so that they represent the current academic medical community. Even the specialty of editorial board members should be diverse and inclusive of all specialties that reflect the journals’ specific focus and scope. Gender and geographic disparities exist worldwide in the editorial boards of international impactful journals.3,4 However, no data exist from Middle Eastern countries regarding the diversity of editorial board members of medical journals. This analysis aims to investigate the diversity in editorial board members of medical journals in a Middle Eastern country (Iraq) regarding gender, geography and specialty.
Methods
All Iraqi medical journals were involved in this cross-sectional analysis. Journals based on governmental and private universities and medical societies were all involved. All medical academic institutions were identified through the official website of Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education. Affiliated journals’ websites were identified accordingly and searched regarding editorial board data. If a journal’s official website data was not detailed, data were sought through the official Iraqi Academic Scientific Journals platform.
The journals’ editorial boards (EB) were assessed for each EB member, their name, gender, specialty and affiliation were all recorded. The gender of EB member was derived from their posted photos or their names on the official journal website. If the name of the author was not conclusive, the investigators were searching professional platforms like Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and LinkedIn.
Data were abstracted manually then coded into EXCEL spreadsheet by two investigators (MDM and MSM). Statistical analysis using SPSS version 26 was used for statistical analysis.
Consent was waived as the analysis used publicly available data.
Results
The number of included journals in the analysis is 25 (distributed over 13 cities). Among those 3 journals are affiliated with private institutions, while 22 are affiliated with governmental institutes. A total of 446 editorial board members’ data was analysed. Four hundred twenty-nine members (96.19%) had their affiliating institution available; most EB members were affiliated in the same city where the journal was based (59.9%). More than half of EB members specialised in basic science, while 39.76% were specialised in clinical specialty, see Figure 1. Only 20.18% of EB members (regardless their role) were women. Moreover, only 4% of editor-in-chief were women. There were significant differences in EB role according to gender (p < 0.0001), yet residency (p = 0.688), and specialty (p = 0.190) of EB members did not differ according to their gender, see Figure 2. Most EB members were affiliated in Baghdad followed by Thi Qar and Najaf cities, see Figure 3.
Distribution of editorial board members of Iraqi medical journals according to gender, specialty and affiliation geography.
Distribution of editorial board members according to their role and gender (p < 0.001).
Mapping of the editorial board members according to the city where the medical journal based*.
Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study that highlighted the different disparities in editorial boards of medical journals in Iraq. Our analysis showed that there is significant gender disparity in EB positions especially in leading positions, yet the specialty and residency of EB members did not differ according to their gender. The under-representation of women in leading editorial roles is comparable to prior studies assessed highly impactful medical journals. 4 The lack of gender balance in editorial leading roles is not only in medical journals boards but also can be seen across different specialised journals. In a study that investigated the diversity of editorial boards of top-ranked 60 emergency medicine journals, it was found that 15.9% of editors-in-chief (EIC) were women. 5 Women’s representation as EIC in medical journals was found more frequent in genetics/hereditary journals, primary healthcare and microbiology, while no woman EIC was observed in psychiatry, anaesthesiology, or ophthalmology. 4 It can be expected to have low women in EIC and EB positions in specialties where women are lacking like cardiology journals EB 2 Yet even in journals focusing on women’s health issues, women only represented 41% of EIC positions. 6 Women’s under-representation in editorial boards can be due to more refusal of women to the editorial board roles invitations, 4 gender bias in promotion opportunities and tenure, not to mention the difficulties in achieving work-life balance and lacking mentorship opportunities. In Iraq, women have fewer opportunities in academic advancement due to the aforementioned factors, as well as due to the lack of part-time positions in academic hiring, which makes maternity leave and childcare cause a complete stop in women’s academic clock. 7
It is crucial to highlight the importance of diversifying the editorial boards of academic journals, this diversity in different levels of gender, ethnicity, career stage, expertise and geography will substantially add to the journals because different perspectives and insights will be represented. The diversity of the editorial boards will ensure the diversity of the peer reviewers and the authors that publish in corresponding journals.1,5,8 The leaders in the academic and medical communities should be diverse and should not reflect only these communities but should also reflect the different patients’ populations to have diverse and inclusive research output.
Our analysis showed that EB members were more specialised in basic science specialty than in clinical specialties. This might be due to the lower contribution of clinicians to EB roles in Iraq (as many other Low-Middle income countries) the clinician-researcher concept is not common and most clinicians even those working in academia are more focused on their clinical duties rather than research, authorship, or academic leadership positions, this can be due to lacking reward of such roles in Iraq, as such roles are not compensated at all besides lacking protected research time. This highlights the importance of rewarding and compensating academics for such roles. It is also important to highlight the crucial role of research teams and collaboration among different disciplines and specialties in research, and how it is important to include diverse specialties in EB to be inclusive and to prevent bias in the research output.
Most EB members were from Iraq, with most Iraqi EB members located in Baghdad, this can be due to the highest number of medical colleges and medical societies centres located in Baghdad. Enhancing more diverse population geographically whether nationally or internationally will broaden the horizon of the journals’ EB and will provide important insights regarding the crucial aspects of national and global health issues that will be addressed in the journals’ focus and outputs. Moreover, including globally recognised experts in the EB will improve the published science and will advance the career of other national EB members through collaboration and networking not to mention the insights which will be obtained by those international experts from the health and academic infrastructures in Iraq that can represent the important raw material for research to solve the current issues and problems in these aspects.
Our study has a few limitations. Firstly, the data was mainly obtained from official journal websites which might not be up to date. Secondly, there was missing data regarding specialty or affiliating institutes. Thirdly, the study assumed that the residency city of the EB members matches their institute city, which may not occasionally be the case.
Conclusion
There is a significant under-representation of women across all roles on the editorial board of Iraqi medical journals especially in the leading positions. Yet specialty and geography of editorial board members did not differ according to their gender. Providing equal opportunities in training, education, and mentorship to editorial board members will bridge this gender bias. To achieve fairness, there should be real-time statistics for each journal regarding the proportion of editorial board members according to gender, race, geography, specialty and career stage, so that the subconscious bias can be recognised early and overcome properly. All stakeholders, publishers, authors, and academics should commit to ensuring the diversity of editorial boards. Today, more than ever we need to adhere to diversity, equity, and inclusion. No place to start with better than the place where we disseminate knowledge and where we learn from – the medical journals – so that these words can be brought on the earth rather than being only resonant words.
