Repairing the Scaffolding: Women Authors in Paleobiology—Data and Supplementary Information
Despite decades of nearly equal numbers of men and women as students, women remain underrepresented in the ranks of professional paleontology. Scholarly publishing is a gateway to the senior ranks, and journals are the gatekeepers. We ask whether the publishing infrastructure of the Paleontological...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Despite decades of nearly equal numbers of men and women as students, women remain underrepresented in the ranks of professional paleontology. Scholarly publishing is a gateway to the senior ranks, and journals are the gatekeepers. We ask whether the publishing infrastructure of the Paleontological Society supports gender-equity. We reviewed all papers published by the Society’s journal, Paleobiology, from its inception in 1975 through 2021. Over the journal’s run, the number of authors per paper increased due to cultural shifts toward collaborative research and acknowledging technical contributions with co-authorship. These shifts open the door to more women, particularly beginning in the early 2000s, when the first women editors held the keys to the Society’s journals. Despite these gains, women remain chronically underrepresented. Change that supports one underrepresented group generally supports all. Therefore, we offer four recommendations to open the publishing gate to all intersectional identities: 1) Review manuscripts without author identifiers. 2) Recruit more editors from diverse backgrounds. 3) Democratize the review process by including more and different voices. And 4) gather data on author demographics at the time of submission. Analyze and report on these data to see who is and who is not passing through the publishing gateway. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1938-5331 1938-5331 |