Manan Muhammad Romail, Nawaz Iqra, Komer Leah, Salam Areeba, Chiruţă Ioana Iustina, Abidin Zain Ul
Faculty of Medicine, Services Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan.
Faculty of Medicine, Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Asian Bioeth Rev. 2024 Aug 14;16(4):545-562. doi: 10.1007/s41649-024-00297-2. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Ensuring diversity within the healthcare sector is essential for improving team dynamics and ultimately patient outcomes. Diversity among medical students is fundamental to embody this philosophy. With the demand for diversity in the admissions process gaining traction, the authors expanded this conversation to the editorial boards (EBs) of Medical Student Journals (MSJs). The authors designed a cross-sectional study to evaluate the diversity status of EBs of MSJs under gender, geographic, and socioeconomic parameters using the Journal Diversity Index (JDI). Relevant information regarding the journal characteristics and the editorial board members (EBMs) of systematically screened journals was sequentially extracted along with job roles, which were later categorized into eight categories. Chi-squared test was applied to study the association between gender of the editor and the global distribution of the journal. Out of 22 included journals, 90.9% were published by institutions based in high-income countries (HICs). On regional analysis, none of the journals originated from "South Asia," "Latin America and the Caribbean," and "Middle East and North Africa". Disparity in gender representation of EBMs became more prominent in senior roles. Additionally, 78.8% EBMs belonged to HICs. Regional analysis of EBMs revealed 83% belonging to the Global North. This disparity was seen across all editorial job roles. A greater disparity was seen among editors from the Global South with men comprising 66.4% of the total editors (<0.001). On JDI, 95.5% journals demonstrated poor diversity. Moreover, 72.7% and 77.3% journals had all members of the EB belonging to the same region and the same country income level respectively. As EBs of MSJs offer opportunities for further advancement, networking, and promotion, a commitment to prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion accompanied by development and implementation of actionable plans and allocation of sufficient resources should be given precedence.
确保医疗保健部门的多样性对于改善团队动态并最终提升患者治疗效果至关重要。医学生的多样性是体现这一理念的基础。随着招生过程中对多样性的需求日益受到关注，作者将这一讨论扩展到了医学生期刊（MSJ）的编辑委员会（EB）。作者设计了一项横断面研究，使用期刊多样性指数（JDI），在性别、地理和社会经济参数下评估MSJ编辑委员会的多样性状况。系统筛选的期刊的相关期刊特征和编辑委员会成员（EBM）信息以及工作角色被依次提取，随后工作角色被分为八类。应用卡方检验研究编辑性别与期刊全球分布之间的关联。在所纳入的22种期刊中，90.9%由高收入国家（HIC）的机构出版。在区域分析中，没有期刊来自“南亚”、“拉丁美洲和加勒比地区”以及“中东和北非”。EBM在性别代表性上的差异在高级职位中变得更加突出。此外，78.8%的EBM属于HIC。EBM的区域分析显示83%属于全球北方。这种差异在所有编辑工作角色中都存在。来自全球南方的编辑之间差异更大，男性占总编辑人数的66.4%（<0.001）。在JDI方面，95.5%的期刊多样性较差。此外，72.7%和77.3%的期刊编辑委员会所有成员分别来自同一地区和同一国家收入水平。由于MSJ的编辑委员会提供了进一步晋升、建立人际关系和获得职业发展的机会，应优先致力于将多样性、公平性和包容性作为重点，并制定和实施可行的计划以及分配充足的资源。
