Geographical Disparities Across Editorial Boards in Lithuanian Scientific Journals: A Cross-Disciplinary Analysis

Abstract

Editorial boards of academic journals represent a key institutional mechanism in the governance and functioning of the academic community. Members of these boards play a critical role in knowledge production and the advancement of their respective disciplines. Their roles encompass critical tasks in scientific publishing process, such as peer review management, manuscript selection, and setting editorial policies, which collectively shape the academic discourse and research priorities.

Geographical disparities on the editorial boards of scientific journals have garnered growing attention and concern in the field of scientific publishing in recent years. Research conducted across various countries has highlighted significant imbalances in regional and geographical representation within academic publishing. Notably, there is a marked under-representation of scholars from the Global South and low-income countries on editorial boards, underscoring critical issues of equity and inclusivity in the governance and dissemination of scientific knowledge.

Paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the geographical composition of editorial boards in Lithuanian scientific journals. The study involved a thorough review of publicly available information from all scientific journals published in Lithuania, with the aim of determining the geographical affiliations of their editorial board members. By systematically collecting and analyzing data on the countries of origin of these members, the study sought to uncover patterns of geographical representation across different scientific disciplines. The findings reveal significant disparities in the proportions of editorial board members from various countries, with notable variations observed across different fields of science. These results underscore the presence of regional imbalances in editorial board composition, which may have implications for the internationalization of Lithuanian scientific publishing and the broader representation of diverse scientific perspectives.