Editorial highlights barriers facing Black researchers in academic general practice

A British Journal of General Practice editorial links the underrepresentation of Black researchers in academic general practice to barriers also described in the chemical sciences, including unequal access to informal networks, sponsorship, funding and career development. It cites figures showing that in 2022, people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds made up 23% of clinical academic GPs at lecturer level, 18.3% of senior lecturers and readers, and 11.5% of professors. The number of Black clinical academic GPs was too small to register at each level.

The author refers to a Royal Society of Chemistry report on barriers in chemical sciences, which found that Black and ethnic minority researchers were less likely to secure research funding and received 10% less funding than White peers when successful. Citing related work on underrepresentation in academic primary care, the editorial points to tailored training and funding, supportive leadership, mentoring and stronger networks as potential ways to help researchers progress. It calls for further work to establish the scale of the problem in academic general practice and for institutions to act on the findings. This is an editorial, not a primary study; the cited figures and proposals are not evaluated in the article itself.