Striking underrepresentation of biodiversity-rich regions among editors of conservation journals

Biodiversity conservation is hampered by mismatches between conservation capacity and needs for research, funding, policy, and management. Here we show that a profound geographical mismatch also exists among editors of 20 leading conservation science journals. Collectively, these journals had few or sometimes no editors from many of the most biodiverse countries. This geographic bias likely influences what papers and topics are published and highlighted, and hinders global conservation goals. Compared with other biases, it is relatively easy to address this mismatch through journal policies and practices to recruit editors from under-represented countries, perhaps helping to reduce other mismatches too. Recruiting more editors from biodiversity-rich countries could improve conservation science by (1) adding diversity of expertise and perspectives to editorial boards and (2) creating capacity and empowering conservation leaders in countries where effective conservation is most needed.