Representation of Women as Editors of the Top Surgery Journals in the World.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to examine the current representation of women on editorial boards of the top surgery journals in the world.

Methods: We identified the top 80 surgery journals on a global scale using the Resurchify Surgery Journal Ranking. The names of each journal's editor-in-chief, deputy editors, and editorial board members were obtained from the journal's website. We used Google search and Gender API to determine the gender of each editorial board member. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed in Microsoft Excel.

Results: A total of 76 journals representing 15 surgical subspecialties were included in the study. Overall, 6065 editors, 1588 deputy editors, and 4395 editorial board members were included. Only 5 (6.6%) journals had a woman editor-in-chief. The top journals with the highest representation of women deputy editors were Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (100%) and the American Journal of Surgery (75%), with third place shared among five journals. The editorial boards of American Journal of Surgery (61.4%) and the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry (51%) had the highest representation of women editorial board members. The subspecialties with the greatest representation of women editors were breast surgery (30%), ophthalmology (25.3%), and miscellaneous (22.8%). Six neurosurgery and seven orthopedic surgery journals had no women deputy editors or editorial board members.

Conclusions: Women remain underrepresented on surgery journal editorial boards. Understanding the gender composition of editorial boards of prestigious surgery journals is a key step for developing strategies aimed at increasing women's representation in surgical leadership positions.