“Making Space for More People, More Perspectives, and More Ideas”: How Medical Education Journal Editors View Their Role in Capacity Building

Abstract Purpose Medical education journal editors work to improve scholarly rigor and expand access to scholarship. How editors conceptualize these dual roles is unknown and holds implications for the kinds of scholarship that are valued and made visible through publication. The authors applied the concept of capacity building to examine how medical education journal editors conceptualize and operationalize capacity building and to identify the contextual factors that support or constrain these efforts. Method Using a reflexive thematic approach, the authors interviewed 13 editors of 11 medical education journals between February 2022 and March 2023. Data collection and analyses were performed iteratively. Interview transcripts were coded by 2 authors to generate initial codes, which were then refined by the research team until final themes were created. Results Editors viewed capacity building “making space” for people and perspectives. Making space for people included efforts to support editors and reviewers, offer feedback to authors, and engage with readers. Making space for perspectives included efforts to promote discussion on diversity and inclusion and to introduce ideas perceived to advance the field. How editors made space was shaped by a journal’s ecosystem, including local features unique to each journal (e.g., aims, scope, readership) and system-level factors that influenced all journals (e.g., English as the language of science, academic promotion and tenure). Conclusions Although medical education journal editors’ capacity-building work will inevitably guide future scholars and scholarship, their work should be considered in the context of a larger ecosystem, including such features as institutional academies for scholarship and promotion and tenure policies. Improving rigor and expanding access will require clarifying how editors’ approach and understand capacity building to advance as a field. Future work should clarify how individual journals’ capacity-building efforts can be facilitated and how journals can collectively reimagine spaces for knowledge-building conversations.