Women on the editorial boards of major journals

Purpose. To determine the percentages of women on the editorial boards of general and specialty medical journals in comparison with the numbers of women physicians in the journals' respective specialties. Method. The numbers of women editors, deputy editors, assistant editors, and members of editorial boards of 12 major journals in 1999 were counted and compared with the percentages of women physicians in the journals' specialties, as published by the American Medical Association. Results. Parity between the percentages of women on editorial boards of specialty journals and women physicians in the journals' specialties was found for five journals. Only one journal had more women on the editorial board than there were women physicians in the specialty. Conclusions. Fewer than half of the journals studied had parity between the percentages of women members of editorial boards and the percentages of women physicians in the specialties. Parity should be maintained to accurately reflect the numbers of women physicians in these fields.