• Christina M Stuart, Nicole M Mott, Alison H Mungo, Robert A Meguid, John D Mitchell, Simran K Randhawa, Jessica Y Rove, and Elizabeth A David.
• Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colo; Surgical Outcomes and Applied Research, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colo. Electronic address: christina.stuart@cuanschutz.edu.
• J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2024 Jun 26.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to examine representation of women on the editorial boards of cardiothoracic surgery-focused journals over the past 2 decades to identify changes over time compared with women cardiothoracic surgeon and trainee representation, and to highlight additional opportunities for improvement.MethodsThe editorial boards of 2 high-impact cardiothoracic surgery journals were reviewed from 2000 to 2023. Data on editorial board positions, including editors-in-chief, associate/deputy editors, feature editors, and general members of the editorial board were abstracted. The proportion of women editors was assessed. Data were compared with publicly available information from the Association of American Medical Colleges on physician specialty by sex.ResultsOf 3460 editorial positions, 332 (9.6%) were held by women. Women occupied 2.2% (1 out of 45) of editor-in-chief positions, 13.2% (78 out of 592) of senior editor positions, 11.5% (33 out of 287) of feature editor positions, and 8.3% (221 out of 2663) of general editorial board positions. The proportion of women holding any editorial board position significantly increased from 2.4% in 2000 to 18.2% in 2023 (P = .01). Overall, editorial board representation increased at a rate of 0.7% ± 1.3% per year, not significantly different from the growth of practicing women cardiothoracic surgeons at 0.3% ± 0.5% per year (P = .584).DiscussionRepresentation of women on the editorial boards of cardiothoracic surgery-focused journals has increased commensurate with the increasing proportion of practicing women cardiothoracic surgeons, although remains at 16%. Work remains to continue the recruitment of women to cardiothoracic surgery as well as to identify the key elements that can support them in positions of leadership.Copyright © 2024 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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