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Poor Representation of Developing Countries in Editorial Boards of Leading Obstetrics and Gynaecology Journals.

Authors :
Rawat S
Mathe P
Unnithan VB
Kumar P
Abhishek K
Praveen N
Guleria K
Source :
Asian bioethics review [Asian Bioeth Rev] 2023 Feb 07; Vol. 15 (3), pp. 241-258. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Feb 07 (Print Publication: 2023).
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

Evidence suggests a limited contribution to the total research output in leading obstetrics and gynaecology journals by researchers from the developing world. Editorial bias, quality of scientific research produced and language barriers have been attributed as possible causes for this phenomenon. The aim of this study was to understand the prevalence of editorial board members based out of low and lower-middle income countries in leading journals in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. The top 21 journals in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology were selected based on their impact factor, SCImago ranking and literature search. The composition of the editorial boards of these journals was studied based on World Bank Income Criteria to understand the representation status of researchers from low and lower-middle income countries. A total of 1315 board members make up the editorial composition of leading obstetrics and gynaecology journals. The majority of these editors belong to high-income countries ( n  = 1148; 87.3%). Low ( n  = 6; 0.45%) and lower-middle income ( n  = 55; 4.18%) countries make up for a very minuscule proportion of editorial board members. Only a meagre 9 out of 21 journals have editorial board members from these countries (42.85%). Low and low-middle countries have poor representation in the editorial boards of leading obstetrics and gynaecology journals. Poor representation in research from these countries has grave consequences for a large proportion of the global population and multidisciplinary collaborative efforts must be taken to rapidly change this statistic with immediate effect.<br />Competing Interests: Competing InterestsThe authors declare no competing interests.<br /> (© National University of Singapore and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1793-9453
Volume :
15
Issue :
3
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Asian bioethics review
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
37399006
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-023-00241-w