Women on the editorial boards of major journals.
OBJECTIVE
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.


METHODS
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.
Kennedy
B L
BL
University of Louisville School of Medicine, Kentucky 40202, USA.
Lin
Y
Y
Dickstein
L J
LJ
D000574:American Medical Association; D006280:Health Workforce; D006801:Humans; D008511:Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013038:Specialization; D014481:United States