Gender Diversity and Research Productivity of Journal Editorial and Professional Society Board Members in Medical Education

John C Lin; Daniel J Hu; Ingrid U Scott; Paul B Greenberg

doi:10.1007/s40670-024-02000-4

Gender Diversity and Research Productivity of Journal Editorial and Professional Society Board Members in Medical Education

Med Sci Educ. 2024 Feb 24;34(2):327-330. doi: 10.1007/s40670-024-02000-4. eCollection 2024 Apr.

Authors

John C Lin^{1

2}, Daniel J Hu², Ingrid U Scott³, Paul B Greenberg^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA.
² Division of Ophthalmology, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI USA.
³ Departments of Ophthalmology and Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA USA.
⁴ Section of Ophthalmology, VA Providence Healthcare System, Providence, RI USA.

PMID: 38686138
PMCID: PMC11055827 (available on 2025-04-01)
DOI: 10.1007/s40670-024-02000-4

Abstract

Purpose: To describe gender diversity and research productivity among medical education boards.

Methods: We examined gender, training status, and research productivity of board members of Journal Citation Reports-listed medical education journals and affiliated professional societies. We determined gender using gendered pronouns and-if unavailable-software. We evaluated differences using χ² and t-tests.

Results: Overall, half of board members but 44% of editors-in-chief and 20% of society leaders were female. Female-led journals and societies had higher female representation than their non-female-led counterparts; trainee board members were more likely to be female.

Conclusions: Gender disparities exist among executives on journal and affiliated professional society boards in medical education.

Keywords: Gender diversity; Health equity; Medical education; Representation.