Examining the under-representation of black researchers in sports science and sports medicine publications: ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’

Abstract

Objectives This study evaluated the representation of black researchers as authors of articles published in four peer-reviewed journals with the highest impact factors (IFs) in the field of sports science and sports medicine.

Methods An analysis was conducted on articles published between 2018 and 2022 in four leading sports science journals with high IFs (2022): The British Journal of Sports Medicine, Journal of Sport and Health Science, Sports Medicine and Exercise Immunology Review. Data extraction from the articles included the researcher’s names, sex/gender, total number of authors, number of black authors, their position in the author list, publication year, article title and type and digital object identifier. Sex/gender and race/skin colour were identified using publicly available photographs and methodologies aligned with previous studies and Brazilian racial heteroidentification practices.

Results The analysis included 1737 articles and 11 158 authors. Only 144 (1.30%) authors were identified as black, of which only 38 were women, corresponding to 0.34% and 26.4% of total authors and total black authors, respectively. When considering authorship positions, only 16 (0.92%) were the first author and 19 (1.09%) were the last (senior) author. Merely 13 (0.75%) articles had two or more black authors.

Conclusion Our findings reveal a significant under-representation of black authors in sports science and sports medicine publications from high-impact journals, particularly in prominent authorship positions. Active initiatives and policies are urgently required to address and mitigate this inequity.