Participation of Women in the <i>Journal of Organizational Behavior Management</i>: An Update and Extension
Women have nearly reached parity in OBM journal roles, so shift diversity efforts to other under-represented groups.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Gravina et al. (2019) counted how many women wrote or edited papers in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. They looked at every issue from the start of the journal up to 2018.
The team used simple tallies and graphs to see if the share of women was rising, falling, or flat.
What they found
Women now make up about half of JOBM authors and editors. The line climbs steadily each decade.
The gap that existed in the 1970s has almost closed.
How this fits with other research
Kleinert et al. (2007) saw a different picture at ABA conventions. Women presented applied posters as often as men, yet stayed scarce in invited talks and basic-research slots. The new JOBM data show women have now broken into the high-status journal space that conventions still lack.
DeFelice et al. (2019) push the conversation further. They say counting women is only step one; we also need to think about race, disability, and other overlapping identities. Gravina’s numbers set the baseline; DeFelice’s framework tells us where to go next.
Rutherford et al. (2007) tracked overall ABA conference growth but did not sort by gender. Their steep rise in applied presentations lines up with the rise in women’s JOBM articles, hinting that the same workforce boom lifted both trends.
Why it matters
You can stop assuming OBM is a male corner of ABA. When you invite speakers, peer reviewers, or special-issue editors, aim for balance—women are already there and ready. Use the saved energy to boost other missing voices highlighted by DeFelice et al.: people of color, disabled practitioners, and LGBTQ+ analysts.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A number of articles have examined the participation of women in behavior analysis research. However, most have excluded JOBM from the analysis. For this review, we coded participation of women yearly, since the inception of the journal. We examined participation of women overall, as first authors, as sole authors, and in empirical articles. We also assessed collaborations between genders and identified the ten most published women in JOBM. Next, we examined the current editorial board and associate editors to provide updated information on the participation of women in those roles. Overall, we found an increasing trend of participation of women over the years with participation approaching parity in most categories in the most recent years. Finally, we discussed these results and suggested greater attention be paid to increasing participation of other underrepresented groups.
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 2019 · doi:10.1080/01608061.2019.1666778