While it is true that at present relatively few associate editors of biomedical journals are women (L. Katterman, The Scientist, March 4, 1996, page 1), the situation is not as bleak as stated. Four of the eight associate editors of Fundamental and Applied Toxicology, an official journal of the Society of Toxicology, are women, all of whom were members of the journal's editorial board prior to their appointment as associate editors.
The discipline of toxicology as an outgrowth of pharmacology was traditionally developed by male scientists, and the journal's editors in the past have tended to reflect this fact. Today's toxicologists run the gamut from mathematical modelers to pathologists and from molecular biologists to ecologists.
The increase in the number of women serving as reviewers and editors is a direct consequence of changing gender ratios in toxicology and of the interdisciplinary nature of the field. At my institution, 60 percent ...
