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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Gender presence on the editorial boards of journals in the Women's Studies subject category

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description

In the scientific journals, being part of the editorial boards, including the journals' members and chief editors, involves holding positions of power and responsibility that affect the running of a journal. Until now, these positions have usually been held by men in most scientific disciplines. In this study, the gender composition in the editorial board members (EBMs) and editor-in-chief (ECs) of the 45 Women's Studies journals classified in the Journal Citation Report (JCR) was analyzed. The following indicators were calculated: the gender distribution of ECs and EBMs by journal, publisher, country, and quartile of the journal in the JCR; the geographical area of the members; and the gender distribution of the authors of papers grouped by journal, and geographical area. The gender distribution of the ECs was 92 % women, while that of the EBMs was 82.2 %. Regarding the articles and reviews published during 2019, a 72.4 % were signed by women. These results display an “inverted truncated pyramid”: the higher the level of decision-making positions is, the higher the percentage of women. On the other hand, the results by geographical area shows an Anglo-Saxon and European bias.