05/04/2026
Patriarchy persists: Gender inequities in Plains Anthropologist publishing from 1954 to 2023
by Phyllis Johnson and Erica Carmody
Abstract
Gender discrepancies among peer-reviewed publications in academia have become a topic of great interest to archaeologists over the past two decades. Overall, this research has demonstrated a consistent bias towards men, who tend not only to publish more often but are also much more likely to serve as first or sole author. In the current study, we examine publishing trends in the peer-reviewed, four-field journal Plains Anthropologist between 1954 (the inaugural publication of this journal) and 2023, covering a span of 69 years and 266 issues, the longest temporal study in gendered publishing to date. During this time, men have published as first author in 82 percent of articles, while women serve as first author in only 17 percent of publications, which is one of the highest rates of gendered discrepancies recorded in a peer-reviewed archaeological journal to date. Further, this discrepancy has remained fairly constant since the early 1990s, with an overall decrease in the rate of women authors since that time.
Open access link in the comments
