How does gender influence the academic publishing process?

How did you first become interested in gender diversity in the peer review process? Dina: My interest began at the Fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in 2016 where all talk was about a comment published by The Lancet highlighting how the Global Symposia have been dominated by authors from the Northern hemisphere who often conduct research on low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). This was seen to undermine efforts to build capacity and drown the voices of national individuals and institutions in LMICs who work often with severely constrained resources. Interestingly, the analysis revealed that men and women researchers were equally likely to attend and present. However, later on, conversations with friends and colleagues suggested a less positive picture of the experience of women academics working in global health. Publishing—the bread and butter of academic research—was seen as particularly problematic. It struck me that we know very little about why women are less represented as authors, editors and journal editorials board members. It struck me that we know very little about why women are less represented as authors, editors and journal editorials board members. There is even less evidence on these experiences in countries and regions where women are particularly underrepresented in higher education and academia. In my role on the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s (LSHTM) Athena SWAN self-assessment committee, I started considerin...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Publishing BMC Health Services Research Gender bias peer review Research Integrity and Peer Review Source Type: blogs