Gender diversity among editorial boards of radiology-related journals

To investigate gender diversity in editorial boards among a wide range of radiology-related journals, the trend in time, and its association with the journal's impact factor (IF).

The Journal Citation Reports website was searched for radiology-related journals journals with IF>2.0. Gender of the editor-in-chief and all editorial board members as listed on each journal's official website were determined. Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman's rho test were used for statistical analyses. Current data were compared to historical data.

Fifty-seven radiology-related journals were included. The names of 4176 persons were extracted. A woman was in charge as the only editor-in-chief in 5 of 57 journals (8.8%). Median percentage of female editorial board members was 21.5% (range 3.2%-52.0%). Female editorial board members were in the majority in only two journals, with proportions of 51.4% and 52.0%. IFs between journals with female and male editors-in-chief were not significantly different (median 3.00, range 2.21-7.82 vs. median 3.31, range 2.02-10.98; P = 0.951). There was no significant association between percentage of female editorial board members and a journal's IF (Spearman's rho = -0.019, P = 0.889). The proportion of women has increased compared to historical data.

Women are underrepresented in a wide range of radiology-related journals. Comparison with historical data shows that the proportion of women on editorial boards has increased. Nevertheless, gender composition of the editorial board shows no association with IF. This suggests similar gender bias exists across a broad spectrum of high impact factor journals, with no added bias in journals with higher IF.