Reporting of data on participant ethnicity and socioeconomic status in high-impact medical journals: a targeted literature review

Objectives To assess the frequency of reporting of ethnicity (or 'race') and socioeconomic status (SES) indicators in high-impact journals. Design Targeted literature review. Data sources The 10 highest ranked general medical journals using Google scholar h5 index. Eligibility criteria Inclusion criteria were, human research, reporting participant level data. Exclusion criteria were non-research article, animal/other non-human participant/subject or no participant characteristics reported. Data extraction and synthesis Working backwards from 19 April 2021 in each journal, two independent reviewers selected the 10 most recent articles meeting inclusion/exclusion criteria, to create a sample of 100 articles. Data on the frequency of reporting of ethnicity (or 'race') and SES indicators were extracted and presented using descriptive statistics. Results Of 100 research articles included, 35 reported ethnicity and 13 SES. By contrast, 99 reported age, and 97 reported sex or gender. Among the articles not reporting ethnicity, only 3 (5%) highlighted this as a limitation, and only 6 (7%) where SES data were missing. Median number of articles reporting ethnicity per journal was 2.5/10 (range 0 to 9). Only two journals explicitly requested reporting of ethnicity (or race), and one requested SES. Conclusions The majority of research published in high-impact medical journals does not include data on the ethnicity and SES of participants, and this omission is rarely acknowledged as a limitation. This situation persists despite the well-established importance of this issue and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations to include relevant demographic variables to ensure representative samples. Standardised explicit minimum standards are required.

Automated summary

This study aimed to assess the frequency of reporting ethnicity and socioeconomic status indicators in high-impact journals. The results showed that the majority of research published in these journals lacks data on the ethnicity and SES of participants, and this omission is rarely acknowledged as a limitation. Therefore, standardized explicit minimum standards are needed to improve this situation.