Scientific Editorial Boards Are Dominated by Men and the West

• Men occupy two out of every three positions on scientific journal editorial boards, according to a major study.
• The composition of these boards shows a heavy geographical bias toward the United States and Western Europe, with over 90% of editors affiliated with universities.
• The study, conducted by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), calls for more transparent and diverse editorial processes to better represent the global scientific community.

Key Findings on Inequality

• Gender Disparity: 66.8% of identified editorial positions are held by men.
• Geographic Concentration: The United States leads with 28% of positions, followed by the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany.
• Institutional Bias: More than 90% of editors are linked to universities, leaving very little representation for government agencies, hospitals, businesses, or non-profit organizations.

Structure of Editorial Roles

• Researchers developed an ontology of nine editorial roles to standardize data across 10,000 journals and 811,000 positions.
• Role Breakdown: Review editors account for 38.5%, generic board members for 37.6%, and associate editors for 21%; Editors-in-Chief represent only 0.9% of the total.
• Lead researcher Evangelina Becerra emphasizes that these boards are not neutral structures; they hold significant power by deciding which research is published and legitimized.

Implications and Recommendations

• The research highlights a need for empirical data to evaluate the transparency of selection processes for editorial boards.
• The findings serve as a baseline for diversifying the profiles within editorial boards and tracking equity and representation in scientific publishing more systematically.