Composition of the editorial/advisory boards of major English-language anesthesia/critical care journals

Background: Publications represent a central part of the research process. An analysis of who is responsible for acceptance of publications in major E nglish-language anesthesia/critical care medicine journals was carried out. Methods: All English-language journals listed in the SCI(R) Journal Citatio n Reports 1997 under the subheadings Anesthesiology (n = 18) and Emergency Medicine & Critical Care (n = 16) were analysed with regard to the editorsh ip and the membership of advisory boards listed in the 1998 issues of the j ournals. The two groups were analysed separately with regard to their count ry of origin. Results: In the Anesthesiology section, 140 persons were listed as editors and 423 persons were identified as members of the advisory boards. Editors came from 14 different countries, with editors from the USA representing th e majority (n=83; 59% of all editors, followed by the UK; n=24; 15% of all editors). Editors from other countries represent only a minority (n=33; 24% of all editors). The advisory boards came from 30 countries and were also dominated by the USA (n=220; 52% of all persons from the advisory boards). in the Emergency Medicine & Critical Care section 159 persons were listed a s editors, of whom 119 originated from the USA (75% of all editors). Of the 835 persons listed in the advisory boards, 72% came from the USA, with 37 other countries sharing the remainder (second, UK: 8%; third, Canada: 2.5%) . Conclusion: Most editors/editorial board members of import ant Anesthesiolo gy, Emergency and Critical Care journals came from the USA. Other countries play a significantly less influential role even in journals which are char acterised as 'International Journals'.