Despite progress, the demographics of those in leadership positions remain far from representative of the demographics of the general population. Indeed, there are cracks in the glass ceilings, but pipelines from junior to senior positions still show a major narrowing trend across medicine, science, and publishing: while women start with near parity in entry-level and training positions, the numbers drastically narrow at executive, full professor, and dean levels.  

Overlay journals represent a significant advancement in open access academic publishing. By leveraging the infrastructure of preprint servers, these journals offer researchers an efficient, accessible, and open route to peer-reviewed publication. Examples like JMIRx, with its focus on author collaboration and PubMed indexing, underscore the transformative potential of overlay journals in reshaping the landscape of scholarly communication.