Diversity in the International Journal of Forensic Mental Health

Abstract

In this article, we evaluate the extent to which the International Journal of Forensic Mental Health addresses and incorporates discussion of diversity constructs in its publications. Five years of publishing data from 582 manuscript submissions and 164 published articles were reviewed and coded for the inclusion of several diversity constructs (i.e., sex or gender, race or ethnicity, country, age, culture), how these constructs were included in the research (i.e., part of the hypothesis/aims of the study), and the countries the authors and participants represented. Results indicate that most article submissions, authors, and participant samples came from Europe, North America, and Oceania, and these regions had higher acceptance rates. Most articles included studies of clinical populations, and many authors’ primary affiliations were forensic mental health or correctional services. Less than a third of the article titles and over half of the article abstracts mentioned one of the diversity constructs examined. This is somewhat promising and tells us that the journal is publishing articles reporting and examining aspects of diversity in their samples. However, we argue more can be done. Future research and recommendations for the next steps in improving diversity, equity, and inclusiveness in the publication processes and publications are outlined.

Keywords:

• Research representation
• diversity
• equity
• inclusion

Acknowledgments

This paper presents the outcomes of a quality improvement initiative aimed to assess how well the publications in the International Journal of Forensic Mental Health (IJFMH) incorporate and discuss various diversity constructs. Preliminary findings from this initiative were presented at the IAFMHS 2023 annual conference.

Disclosure statement

Michael Daffern is the Editor of the IJFMH and Alicia Nijdam-Jones is an Associate Editor and the Guest Editor for the current special issue. This manuscript was peer-reviewed and overseen by an independent Associate Editor. Jordan Cortvriendt has no conflicts of interest to declare.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The current study examined each publication as the unit of analysis, and not individual authors or author teams. Several authors likely published multiple papers, and therefore some countries may be overrepresented for these author groups.