Editorial Board Diversity at the Basket of Eight Journals: A Report to the College of Senior Scholars

At ICIS 2019, the College of Senior Scholars appointed a committee to investigate diversity in the editorial boards of their Basket of Eight Journals. Editorial board diversity is a signal that the journal is open to and inclusive of all authors. The committee compared the gender, regional and ethnic diversity of the editorial boards to that of AIS Academic members of the AIS. This comparison showed that the journals overall have fewer female members than might be reasonably expected, that editorial boards are populated by members from Region 1 more, and Region 3 less, than might be reasonably expected. There are more editorial board members of Indian ancestry than expected, while several other ethnicities appear on editorial boards in smaller numbers than expected, compared to AIS Academics. The individual journals differ a great deal among themselves with respect to these diversity criteria, with every journal falling below what might be reasonably expected with respect to either gender, regional or ethnic diversity. The report concludes with recommendations for the College of Senior Scholars, for the EICs of the Basket of Eight Journals, and for AIS Council (and leaders of other organizations of IS scholars).