Gender imbalance in critical care medicine journals

Introduction: The present study aimed at assessing gender balance in the Editorial roles of Critical Care Medicine (CCM) journals. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed for assessing the gender distribution in Editorial Board (EB) roles of journals indexed under Clarivate Journal Citation Reports and Scimago Journal & Country Rank. The influences of editorial roles and of journal rank (separated in quartiles) on gender balance were also assessed. Results: Among 99 screened CCM journals, 92 journals were included. There were 937 women among 4002 EB members (23.4%). We found a greater imbalance among Editors-in-Chief (females: n = 12/104, 11.5%) as compared to editorial roles with lower responsibilities (Senior Editors, n = 22/104, 21.2%, p = 0.04; Associate Editors, n = 208/739, 28.1%, p = 0.0002; EB members, n = 695/3055, 22.7%, p = 0.0038). In a post-hoc analysis conducted separating the journals according to their ranking quartiles (1–2 vs. 3–4), we found no influence of ranking on gender balance. When exploring the gender balance according to the journals’ impact factor, there was a majority of men as editors in all 4 quartiles across all EB roles. Conclusions: We found a large gap in gender distribution across EB members’ roles in CCM journals, especially in the role of Editor-in-Chief, regardless of the journal ranking.