Gender and geographical disparity in editorial boards of journals in psychology and neuroscience

Abstract

While certain metrics of diversity have seen great improvement in recent years in academic psychology and neuroscience, unequal representation remains for many positions of power. Here, we reviewed publicly available information in order to infer the proportion of editors by gender and their country of affiliation in the top 50 journals worldwide in each of the two fields. The sample included a total of 2,864 editors for psychology journals and 3,093 editors for neuroscience journals. There was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of male and female editors in both fields, both across editorial roles, and within various role categories, including editor-in-chief and their deputies at neuroscience journals, associate and section editors in both fields, and editorial and advisory board members in both fields. The only category in which there was not a significant imbalance of male and female scholars was the editors-in-chief of psychology journals and their deputies. Geographically, USA-based academics significantly outnumbered those from other countries as editors in both psychology and neuroscience. Results also indicated that over three quarters of psychology journals (76%) were comprised of more than 50% male editors, while only 20% had a similar proportion of female editors. In neuroscience, 88% of journals were comprised of more than 50% male editors, while only 10% of journals included a similar, proportional majority of female editors. Findings suggest that editorial positions in academic journals, possibly one of the most powerful decision-making roles in academic psychology and neuroscience, are not balanced in gender or geographical representation.