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Abstract Recent critiques suggest family science is operating on a narrow definition of family that privileges US/western‐centric perspectives and White, heteronormative, and nuclear families. Understanding that self‐assessment is key to scientific growth, this study systematically assessed the publication patterns of the top six family science journals across 10 years (2008–2018) along two dimensions: the socio‐demographics (continent/country, ethnic‐racial group, and LGBTQ) and family subsystems studied (couple, parent–child, coparental, sibling, kin, and overall family context). Of the 3932 coded studies, 85% included North American and Western European samples. Within U.S.‐based studies, White samples made up more than half of all research. Less than 3% of all coded studies focused on LGBTQ families. Most research focused on the parent–child and couple subsystems and less than 5% focused on kin or siblings. We provide a critical discussion regarding the need for more representation in family science journals, and recommendations for research methods, publication, and reporting requirements.
Perez‐Brena et al. (Wed,) studied this question.