AFRO-NETS> Medical journals: evidence of bias against the diseases of poverty

[Claudio Schuftan <aviva@netnam.vn>]

Medical journals: evidence of bias against the diseases of poverty
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Richard Horton
The Lancet - Volume 361, Number 9359 - 01 March 2003

Available online at:
http://www.thelancet.com/journal/vol361/iss9359/full/llan.361.9359.editorial_and_review.24792.1

A report from the WHO recently described under-representation of in-
dividuals from low-income and middle-income countries on the edito-
rial boards of ten leading psychiatry journals. Shekhar Saxena and 
colleagues concluded that this "unsatisfactory situation" needed to 
be corrected, given the global importance of mental health. But this 
issue goes well beyond editorial boards and mental health. There is 
widespread systematic bias in medical journals against diseases that 
dominate the least-developed regions of the world. Is this an example 
of what some have described as the institutional racism that afflicts 
parts of medicine today?

Some of the world's leading general medical journals include the An-
nals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, JAMA, New England Journal of Medi-
cine, and The Lancet. These five titles lay claim to their global le-
gitimacy for many reasons--weekly or biweekly publication, long-
established histories, the credibility and power of their owners, 
large numbers of full-time editorial staff, membership of the Inter-
national Committee of Medical Journal Editors, and influential joint 
statements. Their editorial boards matter because they help to shape 
the personalities and policies of these journals. The composition of 
editorial boards sends a signal to authors and readers about a jour-
nal's interests. General medical journals follow the same patterns as 
their psychiatry counterparts (panel). Most board members come from 
nations with a high human development index.

Saxena S, Levav I, Maulik P, Saraceno B. How international are the 
editorial boards of leading psychiatry journals? 
Lancet - Vol. 361 February 15 2003 at:
http://pdf.thelancet.com/pdfdownload?uid=llan.361.9357.correspondence.24540.1&x=x.pdf

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