Editorial Board Representation by Women in Leading Dental Journals

Danitza Cheline¹, Sriya Neelam¹, Romesh Nalliah^1*

¹Associate Dean for Patient Services and Clinical Professor of Dentistry, School of Dentistry, USA

*Correspondence author: Romesh Nalliah, DDS, MHCM, Associate Dean for Patient Services and Clinical Professor of Dentistry, School of Dentistry, USA; E-mail: [email protected]

Published Date: 30-09-2024

Copyright^© 2024 by Cheline D, et al. All rights reserved. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Background: Gender imbalances persist in high-ranking leadership roles, particularly in academia. Extensive research has revealed a consistent lack of representation of individuals with a female gender expression as journal editors across various scientific domains, including but not limited to medical, surgical and dental journals. This lack of representation can influence the editorial direction.

Objective: Our study aims to further analyze this issue by examining the number of editorial roles filled by individuals with female gender expression in the top 36 dental journals by impact factor and Altmetric score.

Methods: We compiled a list of the top 36 dental journals, prioritizing citations with a strong emphasis on impact factor and altmetric scores. The “Altmetric” score is an approach that assesses the frequency of a journal being mentioned by news outlets or social media. The gender of editorial board members was determined through publicly available information, reviewed by two independent researchers. We analyzed the proportion of individuals with female gender expression in leadership and editorial positions and correlated these findings with the journal’s impact factor and Altmetric score.

Results: Individuals with female gender expression represented 51.35% of editorial board positions in journals with an impact factor ranging from 0 to 2, 25.60% in journals with an impact factor of 2 to 5 and only 21.63% in journals with an impact factor exceeding 5. Higher altmetric scores were associated with lower representation of individuals with female gender expression on editorial boards.

Conclusion: Our study highlights the persistent underrepresentation of individuals with a female gender expression in editorial board positions. Journals with impact factors higher than 5 showed the smallest percentage of individuals with a female gender expression in editorial board positions, indicating a loosely inverse relationship.

Keywords: Editorial Board; Advisory Board; Impact Factor; Academic Environment

Introduction

Gender equity remains an enduring challenge. Although there has been progress made for women in the field of dentistry, a noticeable gap persists in higher positions of academic leadership, specifically in editorial board and editor-in-chief positions [1-4]. Studies have widely demonstrated an underrepresentation of women on editorial board positions across various scientific domains including dental, medical and other scientific journals [5-10]. It is a trend that, when more individuals with a female gender expression are in leadership roles, there is a higher participation of women in editorial and advisory board positions [11].

This “glass ceiling” poses challenges for individuals with a female gender expression aspiring to secure esteemed positions [6]. It is important to note that individuals with a female gender expression of color are even further underrepresented in achieving higher academic positions including tenure positions [4]. Research performance is linked to academic seniority and is a common indicator to promotion. Globally, men have the edge as researchers while individuals with a female gender expression have the highest proportion in research in countries with the lowest research and development expenditure [12]. Many individuals with a female gender expression also lack sufficient mentors and role models in academia in comparison to their male counterparts and individuals with a female gender expression often face greater concerns about work-life balance especially due to family responsibilities which can act as barriers to academic success [13,14]. Such hurdles, compounded by the absence of institutional support such as accessible day-care facilities, can impede a woman’s advancement in academia [14].

Women frequently perceive the academic environment as unwelcoming, encountering greater challenges in achieving tenure compared to male counterparts and are often held to higher standards [4,11,15]. Despite there being great progress in the last three decades to resolve gender bias, studies have demonstrated continued systemic bias in many aspects of academia including journal articles citations, publication rates, prestigious scientific awards, research grant applications and more across various scientific disciplines [4,16,17]. In addition to this, dental schools have failed to provide adequate support and resources to female gender expressing faculty including services like maternity leave, accommodating childbirth/adoption by delaying the tenure clock, facilitating dual career appointments, ensuring mandatory representation on search committees and addressing salary disparities [11,18].

Our study aims to further analyze this issue by examining the number of editorial roles filled by individuals with female gender expression in the top 36 dental journals by impact factor and Altmetric score.

Methods

A list of the top 36 dental journals was compiled using data retrieved from a generative language model, ChatGPT. These journals are detailed in Table 1. They were ranked based on their impact factor and altmetric scoring. Impact factor is a measure of citation frequency and altmetric score is a weighted measure of the frequency of an article’s mention in news outlets or on social media platforms. Using an internet search and publicly available information, editors were categorized as either individuals with female gender expression or individuals with male gender expression based on their appearance and names as reviewed by two reviewers. Following this categorization, the analysis focused on the proportion of individuals with female gender expression in both leadership and editorial roles.

Table 1: List of dental journals.

Results

In dental journals, the representation of individuals with female gender expression in editorial board positions varies significantly based on the journals’ impact factors. For journals with an impact factor ranging from 0 to 2, individuals with female gender expression accounted for 51.35% of editorial board positions (Fig. 1). However, in journals with impact factors of 2 to 5, this representation dropped to an average of 25.60% and for journals with impact factors exceeding 5, it further decreased to 21.63% (Fig. 1). Moreover, the trend of decreased representation of individuals with female gender expression extended to leadership positions as impact factor increased.

Fig. 2 illustrates a similar pattern with respect to altmetric scores. Journals with lower altmetric scores (0-1000) exhibited a higher percentage of individuals with female gender expression in leadership (25.59%) and editorial board positions (37.15%) compared to those with higher altmetric scores (5000-8000), where the representation decreased to 21% in leadership and 18.42% in editorial boards. In Fig. 3, we assessed the gender of individuals occupying editor-in-chief positions across 36 journals. Out of the 36 journals, only 3 of these positions were filled by individuals expressing a female gender identity, indicating a gender imbalance in this leadership role.

Figure 1: Individuals with a female gender expression in leadership and editorial boards based on impact factor.

Figure 2: Individuals with a female gender expression in leadership and editorial boards based on altmetric scoring.  

Figure 3: Individuals with a female versus male gender expression holding editor-in-chief leadership roles.

Discussion

The results of our evaluation of the representation of individuals with female gender expression with editorial board positions within the top 36 dental journals, according to impact factor and Altmetric score, suggest that there is an underrepresentation of individuals with female gender expression. Our study found that the underrepresentation of individuals with female gender expression is even more profound in higher impact journals.

The higher representation of individuals with female gender expression in journals with impact factors ranging from 0 to 2 suggests that, as the perceived prestige of the journal increases, the gap for individuals with female gender expression in editorial roles widens.

Existing literature indicates that, despite individuals with a female gender expression increased participation in dentistry, they remain underrepresented in prominent academic and researcher roles [13,19]. The clear trend we observed of declining representation of individuals with female gender expression journal impact factor increases is concerning and suggests that journals with larger audiences and greater influence are the ones where the voices of individuals with female gender expression are most lacking.

When there are gender gaps in any field, evidence suggests there tends to be a lack of mentorship, role models, concerns about work-life balance, an unwelcoming academic environment and insufficient institutional support [11,14]. As editorial board positions may also be considered a step toward tenured professorships and other high-ranking roles, this lack of representation of individuals with female gender expression can have far-reaching effects on the advancement of careers in academic dentistry [13,14].

The Editor in Chief of a dental journal plays a crucial role in shaping the scientific discourse of the field [20]. They are responsible for setting the journal’s editorial policy, overseeing the peer-review process and ultimately deciding which research merits publication. They influence the direction of dental research and act as gatekeepers for new knowledge flowing into the community [20,21]. The position is one of power and privilege, often seen as a pinnacle of academic achievement and thus reflects broader systemic inequities when underrepresentation is observed.

Considering the pivotal role that an Editor in Chief holds, the patterns of underrepresentation of individuals with female gender expression within these positions are particularly concerning. Their leadership not only influences what is published but also who gets to participate in the scholarly conversation, affecting mentorship opportunities and shaping the norms and values of the dental academic community [22].

Recommendations for future work include implementing targeted mentorship programs, policy changes to support work-life balance and using affirmative policies such as inclusivity goals to ensure diversity on editorial boards. Moreover, associations and academic institutions associated with these journals could influence change by prioritizing gender equity when considering appointments to editorial positions. Specifically, the National Academy of Science has also issued guidelines for journals to adhere to promote gender diversity on editorial boards [23]. Dental journals could also analyze sources such as this to help promote gender equality further.

Finally, further research is needed to explore the underlying reasons for this imbalance, to track changes over time and to assess the effectiveness of strategies implemented to rectify imbalance. This should include qualitative research to understand the experiences and challenges of individuals with female gender expression in academia. By fully understanding the issues individuals with female gender expression face in academic settings and addressing these challenges through proactive measures such as mentorship programs, we can improve career development and success opportunities for individuals with female gender expression. This will help achieve a more inclusive academic environment that truly values the contributions of all its members, regardless of gender expression.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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Article Type

Research Article

Publication History

Received Date: 08-09-2024
Accepted Date: 23-09-2024 
Published Date: 30-09-2024

Copyright© 2024 by Cheline D, et al. All rights reserved. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Cheline D, et al. Editorial Board Representation by Women in Leading Dental Journals. J Dental Health Oral Res. 2024;5(3):1-6.

Figure 1: Individuals with a female gender expression in leadership and editorial boards based on impact factor.

Figure 2: Individuals with a female gender expression in leadership and editorial boards based on altmetric scoring.  

Figure 3: Individuals with a female versus male gender expression holding editor-in-chief leadership roles.

Table 1: List of dental journals.