Top health journals low on gender, geographical diversity

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, June 26

A significant new study on the inclusiveness of leadership positions in top global health journals has revealed major gaps.

Only 27% editors-in-chief women

• Authored by Indian researchers Soumyadeep Bhaumik and Jagnoor, the study of 27 journals shows only 40% of the 303 editors were females with only 27 per cent of all editors from lower middle income countries
• 73% Editors-in-Chief based in high-income countries indicating lack of geographical diversity
• Regionally, 30% of editors are based in North America, 34% in Europe and Central Asia and 2% in Latin America & Caribbean region

Published in the latest edition of BMJ Global Health, the research titled, “Diversity in the editorial boards of global health journals”, shows disproportionate dominance of males, that too, of high-income countries, in high editorial positions.

Authored by Indian researchers Soumyadeep Bhaumik and Jagnoor, the study of 27 journals shows only 40 per cent of the 303 editors were females with only 27 per cent of all editors from lower middle income countries.

All but one of the 27 journals are published in high-income countries (only Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health is published in India).

“Of the 303 editors listed on the websites of the 27 journals, there were 122 female (40 per cent) and 168 male (56 per cent) editors. The gender of 13 could not be determined based on the available information. However, only 10 out of 37 (27 per cent) editors-in-chief were females,” Bhaumik said today.

The authors said the country of location was not clear for 23 editors, but the majority of editors are based in high-income countries (68 per cent which is 206 out of 303).

“Among editors-in-chief, 73 per cent (27 out of 37) are based in high-income countries and none in low-income countries and only one journal had an editor based in a lower middle-income country. Regionally, 30 per cent (91) of editors are based in North America, 34 per cent (102) in Europe and Central Asia and only 2 per cent (6) in the Latin America and Caribbean region. The distribution of editors-in-chief across different regions was similar, but there were no editors-in-chief based in the Latin America and Caribbean region,” the authors conclude recommending that global health journals can do much better on diversity in their editorial boards, and should adopt affirmative action policies and organisational good practices on diversity, inclusiveness and belongingness.

Diversity in the global health workforce is critical as having diverse editorial boards can help to promote diverse and balanced perspectives, ensure equity and fairness, serve a role modelling function for future generations and enable the decolonisation of global health research evidence and narratives.

In addition, a diverse editorial board can also provide access to a wider pool of peer-reviewers and encourage submission from researchers of diverse backgrounds, the research says.

Among the journals studied were The Lancet Global Health, The Lancet Planetary Health, Tropical medicine and International Health and BMJ Global Health among others.