Data-driven study reveals gender inequality in academic publishing

Editors of academic journals hold influential positions in their fields. They have decision-making power over which authors and papers to publish, set journal policies, and help shape the trajectory of their disciplines. It is also a role in which women are often underrepresented.

By tracking gender diversity over time in the world’s leading management journals, Assistant Professor of Accounting Sebastian Tideman Frappert and several colleagues set out to fill a knowledge gap on this issue in the field of management science. I started.

The resulting article was co-authored with Brooke Gazdag, associate professor of management at the Kuehne University of Logistics. Jamie Grohl, assistant professor of management, and doctoral candidate Eugenia Badgett-Mestre, both at the University of St. Gallen. and Cecil Emery, senior lecturer in organizational behavior at the University of Exeter, who has just been published in Leadership Quarterly.

The researchers built a comprehensive dataset through a significant effort involving archives and libraries in five countries. It lists 21,510 unique authors and 4,173 unique leaders published in 11 top management journals from 1990 to 2022. “This is a cool, novel dataset,” Tideman-Frapart said.

Analysis of the data shows that business administration remains a male-dominated discipline at all levels. Only 32 of the 135 editors were women, or nearly 24%. They were similarly underrepresented further down the hierarchy as associate editors, editorial board members, and authors, and the presence of women editors did not seem to create a trickle-down effect. The number of women in leadership positions has increased over the past few decades, but this may simply be due to broader societal trends toward better representation.

“Progress has been made, but progress has been slow and there is still a long way to go,” Tideman Frappert said. “Therefore, if we want to get fair representation of women in this field sooner rather than later, it seems that intervention is needed to achieve that.”

The authors urge editors and publishers to leverage network effects, for example by setting goals and transparency standards for women in leadership positions and by providing training and support to aspiring women editors. It recommends aiming to reduce barriers, increase inclusion, and recognize and avoid invisible barriers. They hope this study will demonstrate the importance of data tracking and serve as a benchmark for journals and a starting point for change in the field. “Our data is open access, so anyone can use it,” Tideman Frappert said. “We take our research seriously as a conversation starter.”