Across the world, countries are investing in science and technology, leading to the emergence of scientific hotspots outside of the traditional centers in the U.S. and Europe. However, a study publishing December 12 in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Johanna Espin, Emilio Bruna, and colleagues at the University of Florida finds that while scientists from an increasing number of countries are represented in the scientific journals in which scientists report their results, the editors of these journals are a far less diverse group. Editors ultimately decide which research papers get published in a journal, and also in deciding who the next crop of editors will be.They therefore play a major role in shaping the direction of their research field.