Women are underrepresented on the editorial boards of journals in environmental biology and natural resource management

Abstract

Despite women earning similar numbers of graduate degrees as men in STEM disciplines, they are underrepresented in upper level positions in both academia and industry. Editorial board memberships are an important example of such positions; membership is both a professional honor in recognition of achievement and an opportunity for professional advancement. We surveyed 10 highly regarded journals in environmental biology, natural resource management, and plant sciences to quantify the number of women on their editorial boards and in positions of editorial leadership (i.e., Associate Editors and Editors-in-Chief) from 1985-2013. We found that during this time period only 16% of editorial board members were women, with more pronounced disparities in positions of editorial leadership. Although the trend was towards improvement over time, there was surprising variation between journals, including those with similar disciplinary foci. While demographic changes in academia may reduce these disparities over time, we argue journals should proactively strive for gender parity on their editorial boards. This will both increase the number of women afforded the opportunities and benefits that accompany board membership and increase the number of role models and potential mentors for early-career scientists and students.

Volunteer field technicians are bad for wildlife ecology

“…Tradition is not an excuse for bad behavior of any kind. Traditionally, scientists have eschewed ethical considerations of research (Rollin , Crozier et al ), purposefully excluded women and minorities (Lariviere et al , Cho et al ), and neglected basic field safety (Sasse , Gochfeld et al ); yet, we recognize that these practices are no longer appropriate. Failing to provide an adequate wage for project technicians may have been prevalent in the past, but is hardly justification for continuing to do so.…”

Editor and reviewer gender influence the peer review process but not peer review outcomes at an ecology journal

“…Despite attempts to achieve gender parity in the sciences, men generally occupy a greater proportion of scientific positions (after graduate school) than do women (Shen 2013;Ceci et al 2014). This disparity is especially evident in leadership and other high-profile positions that determine the scientific agenda, such as on editorial boards (Dickersin et al 1998;Grod, Lortie & Budden 2010;Cho et al 2014), in working groups (Campbell et al 2010), at symposia (Schroeder et al 2013) and in invited editorials *Correspondence author. E-mail: cfox@uky.edu For Fox: Executive Editor, Functional Ecology For Meyer: Assistant Editor, Functional Ecology and commentaries (Ochuko-Emore, Beezhold & Morakinyo 2010; Nature 2012; Pettorelli et al 2013).…”

“…However, biases may extend beyond author gender. Notably, editorial boardsthe decisionmaking bodies of most scientific journalstend to be composed of proportionately more men than in the scholarly communities they serve (Morton & Sonnad 2007;Amrein et al 2011;Maule on et al 2013;Cho et al 2014;http://timotheepoisot.fr/2014/11/24/editorial-boards-genderbias/), and this disparity is often greater at more senior editorial levels (McSweeney, Donahoe & Swindell 2000;Addis & Villa 2003;Porter, Christian & Poling 2003; but see Maule on et al 2013). Although the number of women on editorial boards has been increasing, the rate of increase is generally slower than the rate of increase in female authorship observed in those same journals (Jagsi et al 2008).…”

Using an integrative approach to investigate the evolution of behaviour

“…The influence of my privileged background on my chances of success never escapes me, and I try every day to make the most of the opportunity I was offered and to recognize when other scientists that cross my path face a different reality. However, as a woman in science, I still face a disadvantage: recent data show that woman scientists receive smaller grants on average than their male counterparts in the same competitions, are nominated less often for prestigious awards and are in minority on editorial boards (Cho et al 2014) and in high-ranking positions. In Canada, 'women have been awarded only 17% of major Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) awards since 2004' (for detailed numbers and explanations see Bond 2014).…”