Women journalists are being urged to share their experiences of online abuse for a new study led by a regional publisher.

Reach plc has teamed up with campaign group Women in Journalism to conduct the research, the resuts of which will be published on International Women’s Day next month.

It aims to find out what issues are being faced, what platforms are culpable and what support is being offered as well as the impact the threat of online harms has on the way women work.

According to Reach, no comparable research has been carried out, specifically looking at the effect of online abuse on women in media, in recent years.

Female journalists, who do not have to have experienced online harm themselves to participate, are being invited to complete a questionnaire on the issue to inform the research.

The study will be led by Reach’s online safety editor Rebecca Whittington, pictured.

Alison Phillips, WIJ chair and Mirror editor-in-chief, said: “We’ve all seen how devastating online abuse can be on a personal level.

“My worry is that it is becoming a very real barrier to women’s careers, or even taking talented women out of media entirely.

“We hope this survey can help give us some answers so we can move more quickly to begin to address it and give female journalists a fighting chance to succeed and promote themselves in an online world.”

The survey closes on 10 February and WIJ and Reach will be sharing findings along with recommendations in the week of 8 March, which is International Women’s Day.

The questionnaire can be completed here.