Gatekeepers of knowledge production on higher education: journal editorial board networks and working practices

Hordosy, Rita; Vega Castillo, Maria Antonieta; Brown, Elizabeth; Myers, Martin

Abstract

Executive summary

This research project explored scholarly production and gatekeeping in the field of higher education, building on our earlier work exploring sociology journals (Brown et al., 2025). Throughout the report we present our methodological approaches in detail, and outline some of the preliminary findings from the three interrelated approaches.

Research approaches
•Given our sampling was limited to journals indexed by Scimago and published in English, our findings only cover outlets that are predominantly in the Global North.
•A snapshot of editorial board membership (from March 2024) is used to explore geographical patterns (N=1776) and editorial board interlocking (N=179).
•We present a brief content analysis of the journal aims and scope statements (N=58), focusing on the notions of ‘quality’ and ‘internationality’ (from March 2025).
•Finally, we discuss the initial findings drawing on semi-structured interviews with journal editorial members (N=15) across a range of case study journals (collected between October 2024 and March 2025).

Key findings
•Looking at the geographical spread of editorial board networks shows that two-thirds of all editorial board members, as well as a similar ratio of interlocked board members (sitting on two or more editorial boards) are located in just three countries, with the primacy of the US, UK and Australia holding across journal rankings as well.
•Taylor & Francis is by far the biggest publisher in the field, with Springer and Emerald also publishing important outlets on higher education.
•Higher Education displays the highest degree centrality from amongst all journals (on the shortest paths across the network); whereas Teaching in Higher Education displays the highest number of network connections.
•The journal aims and scope statements are relatively uniform, with a third delineating some sort of specialism for their journal, and a third marking their outlet as explicitly international / global.
•Through the editorial board member interviews we have seen the juxtaposition of focusing on scholarly versus teaching / learning practice aspects of higher education. Further, the notions of quality and diversity are often seen to be in tension.
•Recruitment to editorial boards takes into account a range of criteria, including scholarly standing and potential to act as ambassador to journal; commitment to the field and broader community; expertise (thematic, conceptual and methodological); as well as diversity on personal characteristics and geography.
•The interlinked motivators for editorial board members are to give back to the scholarly community; to keep up with developments in the field; and use this as a signal for scholarly prestige.

Citation

Hordosy, R., Vega Castillo, M. A., Brown, E., & Myers, M. (2025). Gatekeepers of knowledge production on higher education: journal editorial board networks and working practices. Society for Research into Higher Education

• Report Type: Research Report
• Acceptance Date: Jun 6, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Jun 13, 2025
• Publication Date: Jun 13, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jun 17, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 20, 2025
• Pages: 1-47
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/50442138
• Publisher URL: https://srhe.ac.uk/research/completed-award-reports/#1725968747520-79ce4e32-d860