Diversity in addiction publishing

With the aim of investigating diversity in the addiction journal publishing field, information about 41 peer-reviewed addiction journals and their total content for the year 2018 were collected. Quantitative and qualitative content analytical methods were employed to map geographic and gender representation among authors and editors as well as the level of epistemic heterogeneity in terms of the share of qualitative research publications. Affiliations among authors and editors showed an overwhelming US and Anglophone dominance. Representation of low-income countries was close to zero, there was also a negligible number of author and editor affiliations in middle income countries. Editors-in-chief were mostly male (80 %). Claims of applicability and closeness to a use context were expressed as important for all journals in their declarations of scope and aims. The study concludes with encouraging journals in the addiction field to build up strategies to deal with lack of heterogeneity. There are good existing cooperation networks and peer support to do so.