Background: Editors in Chief (EiC) play a key role in academic medicine, often shaping research agendas. Women are historically under-represented in EiC roles in medicine. The purpose of this study was to examine gender representation amongst EiC in transplantation and nephrology journals.
Methods: A cross sectional analysis of Nephrology and Transplantation journals as listed by Journal Citation Reports (JCR) was performed using binary gender classification (woman or man). The primary outcome was the proportion of women EiC. The secondary outcome was the proportion of women EiC based on journal topic, location and metrics. Descriptive statistics were used. Gender differences were compared using students t-test or Fisher’s exact test.
Results: 73 journals met inclusion criteria. Of these 21 (29%) were transplantation journals, and 51(70%) were nephrology journals. Of these, 67 (92%) had single EiC. Of the 79 total EiC, 16 (20%) were women (p<0.001). Transplantation and nephrology journals had 21% and 20% women EiC, respectively (p=0.93) (Figure 1). Journals published in North America had 6 (25%) women, compared to 8 (20%) in Western Europe and no women EiC in Asia-Pacific (p=0.61). There was no statistically significant difference in journal impact factor (p= 0.71) or quartile (p=0.59) by EiC gender.
Conclusions: We found a significant disparity in gender representation in EiC in nephrology and transplantation journals, with men holding 80% of all EiC positions. These findings, amongst growing evidence of underrepresentation of women, highlight a need for targeted efforts to promote gender equity in academic medicine.