What Is the Publishing Representation of Early Career Criminologists?

It is well established that pressure to publish in academic journals has increased in the past two decades, as research publications have become the primary indicator of future productivity for early career scholars (i.e., graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and assistant professors) seeking employment, tenure-track positions, and promotion and tenure within criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) departments. What remains unknown, however, is whether representation of publications in one of the top CCJ journals (i.e., Criminology) reflects the increasing number early career racially minoritized and women scholars. Guided by “epistemic injustice theory,” this study seeks to examine the representation of scholars who are publishing in Criminology in the 718 articles published between 2000 and 2023. Based on our results, we highlight two key findings. First, early career scholars published in Criminology between 2000 and 2023 are predominately White. Male early career scholars constitute a slight majority relative to their female counterparts. Second, the racial/ethnic and sex makeup of first or soloauthored publications by early career scholars in Criminology reflect significant disparities. White males represent most of the early career scholars published in Criminology. Male scholars represent the majority among postdoctoral researchers and assistant professor first authors, while females slightly outnumber males among graduate student first authors. Including the voices and insights from underrepresented early career scholars in CCJ research is vital for both their advancement and for broadening our understanding of crime and violence that disproportionately impacts early career racially minoritized and women scholars.