TCN culture and gender in Neuropsychology Department: inaugural editorial

The roles, rights and representation of women and persons from underrepresented minority backgrounds (i.e., URM; racial/ethnic and linguistic minorities, LGBTQ) in the U.S. have radically expanded over the course of the last few decades. However, the role of women and URM individuals in the field of neuropsychology has not kept pace in terms of their inclusion into key aspects of the field. For instance, women and URM individuals are underrepresented and understudied in research (Oh et al., 2015), and there remains little guidance or standards for evidence-based best practice with URM patients (Rivera Mindt et al., 2010). In addition, despite the fact that women and URM individuals are graduating from doctoral programs in increasing numbers, they remain underrepresented in scientific and academic forums such as authorship in scientific journals, editorial and organizational leadership positions, and grant-related scientific review panels (Sachs et al., 2018). Given these realities, what values or principles guide our field of neuropsychology as we work to move forward in this increasingly diverse 21st century, and how do we integrate these values into our work on the ground as scientists and clinicians?

In terms of TCN’s values, TCN is deeply committed to advancing diversity and inclusion within neuropsychological science and empirically based practice through dissemination of cutting-edge research and guidelines. As evidence of this, this issue of TCN features three articles that embody this vision. The first by Fujii (2018) provides a conceptual framework for understanding culturally diverse individuals who present for neuropsychological evaluation. Next, Trittschuh and colleagues (2018) review existing standards of care for working with transgender adults and offer practical guidance for conducting a neuropsychological evaluation. The third article by Nielsen and colleagues (2018) presents preliminary normative data for the European Cross-Cultural Neuropsychological Test Battery, which is the first European joint effort to establish measures for ethnic minority populations in Western Europe.

In addition, TCN has been taking steps to cultivate a diverse editorial board of leading scholars to guide the field, ensure high-quality reviews and facilitate submission of manuscripts focused on diversity and inclusion. Specifically, since 2015, the number of women on TCN’s editorial board has increased from 23% to 50% in 2018, and the number of racially and ethnically diverse members of the editorial board has increased from 2% to 13%. As another reflection of these core values, TCN has launched the Culture and Gender in Neuropsychology (CGN) Department. To our knowledge, this is the first editorial department of its kind dedicated to actively integrate the roles of culture and gender into neuropsychological science and editorial leadership.

As the inaugural CGN Department Editors, we are privileged to be in a position to partner with Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Yana Suchy, TCN’s Editorial Board, and neuropsychological scientists from around the world to facilitate and implement TCN’s values and vision regarding diversity and inclusion. The mission of the CGN Department is the advancement of science, empirically based practice, editorial leadership, professional development and open scientific dialogue as they relate to culture and gender. First, the CGN Department will advance the science and practice of neuropsychology through prioritizing research that is more inclusive and demographically representative of the populations being studied. The CGN Department recognizes that it is imperative for neuropsychologists to better understand and consider the impact of culture and gender on disease course and progression, neuropsychological test performance, treatment, and delivery of services. Second, the CGN Department will promote editorial leadership and professional development of editors and reviewers from diverse backgrounds and those with expertise in cultural neuropsychology, as well as assure resources and training to all reviewers to effectively review manuscripts with issues of diversity and inclusion in mind. Third and importantly, the CGN Department will ensure a safe and respectful space for a dialogue about these issues within the pages of TCN, social media, and beyond.

To achieve these goals, we will develop the infrastructure and resources to change the process by which culture and gender within neuropsychological science is conducted and disseminated within TCN and subsequently advance the field at the level of individual researchers and clinicians. We cannot rely on ‘business as usual’, but must call attention to and disrupt the automatic processes concerning women and URM individuals (e.g. implicit bias, microaggressions and privilege) that impact our participants, patients, students and the field as a whole.

To begin, we will focus on offering the following resources and scientific leadership

• Special Issues: We will prepare special issues addressing culture and gender in neuropsychology. The first special issue on gender and career advancement in clinical neuropsychology was published in February 2018, and a special issue on culture and normative data is in the works.

• Editorials: We will contribute and solicit editorials on germane topics.

• Resources for Authors: TCN has established the new TCN Publication Guidelines Checklist as a resource for authors. Within this checklist, there is fundamental demographic/cultural information that should be included in each manuscript submitted to TCN. We will continue to contribute resources such as this, as well as training materials and updates on the TCN website for authors.

• Resources for the TCN Editorial Board & Reviewers: We will serve as a resource for questions and consultation to reviewers and authors regarding issues of culture and gender. In addition, we plan to provide training materials and updates for the TCN website.

• New Initiatives: We will work to develop methods to track and document TCN’s efforts to diversify the journal. We will collect relevant statistics on TCN’s ‘demographics’, examining trends over time as well as comparisons with other journals. Moreover, we aim to help students break into the system of becoming reviewers, independent of their respective mentors, and to support training/mentoring where trainees have already received the opportunity to serve as reviewers.

• Open Dialogue: Our goal is to facilitate discussion about gender and diversity in a transparent fashion. We can also engage in discussions on social media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook), please join the conversation!

• Twitter: @TCNjournal @DrRCHilsabeck @DrRiveraMindt

It is with great excitement that we launch TCN’s Culture and Gender in Neuropsychology Department based on a foundation of exceptional and relevant science, editorial leadership and open dialogue. We will report back to readers on an annual basis regarding the progress and outcomes of our efforts. It is our great hope that this ambitious and forward-looking initiative will also serve as a call to action for other journals, neuropsychology organizations and funding institutions to similarly consider and address these issues of diversity and inclusion.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).