Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB)

Abstract

Historical practices have led to discrimination in scholarly publishing, harming individuals as well as research and society more broadly. Actors across the industry can take steps to promote equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB), e.g. by setting gender diversity goals and monitoring their progress, supporting multilingualism, and creating products accessible to all. 

Main Text

There is a growing recognition that some established practices in scholarly publishing have led to various types of discrimination, such as excluding certain groups from roles in the publishing process (le Roux, 2015). For example, women may have their manuscripts rejected more often than men, or may receive fewer invitations to serve as peer reviewers or journal editors. Similar exclusions may arise for other groups, such as speakers of languages other than English, scholars with disabilities, scholars of different races and ethnicities, or those from developing countries or less prestigious institutions. Adding to the problem, the effects of various types of disadvantage can be intersectional and cumulative (Kozlowski et al., 2022). For instance, a scholar who identifies as a Black, non-Anglophone, disabled woman can be marginalised on multiple fronts.

Some discrimination may stem from implicit or unconscious bias, but the results are often  still harmful. Researchers who experience publishing-related discrimination may suffer career setbacks because they are perceived to be less productive or less prominent than members of more privileged groups (Amano et al., 2023). However, the impact does not end here. The low number of diverse voices may result in scholars from more privileged groups dominating research conversations and, as a consequence, perpetuating their own values while giving less space to differing viewpoints. Research as a whole can suffer because certain subjects or perspectives are overlooked or excluded, while societal benefits could be unevenly distributed since the results produced by this relatively homogeneous research group may not be equally pertinent to or accessible across all populations, regions and sectors (Sugimoto et al., 2019). To dismantle discrimination in scholarly publishing, Diamond OA publishers should implement measures to address various facets of EDIB, such as gender diversity, linguistic diversity, and accessibility. 

• Equity: Removing systemic barriers and biases to enable everyone to have equal opportunities.
• Diversity: Ensuring that people of different sexes, genders, abilities, career stages, races, ethnicities, geographic and institutional locations, and linguistic and cultural backgrounds are represented in the community.
• Inclusion: Ensuring that all individuals are visible, heard and considered.
• Belonging: Treating everyone as a full member of the community and helping them to thrive.

Different actors in the scholarly publishing ecosystem, including authors, peer reviewers, editors, editorial board members, librarians, and Diamond OA publishers, can play a role. Examples of actions to be taken include adopting inclusive language; developing and sharing diversity statements, action plans,and policies for EDIB; setting goals for and assessing and monitoring progress in EDIB; implementing inclusive and accessible websites, content and metadata; and promoting multilingualism in scholarly publishing.

Providing guidance for implementing EDIB measures across the whole scholarly publishing community is challenging because some issues may differ from one location to another (e.g., cultural understanding of race and ethnicity differs by country). Nonetheless, this section of the tool suite seeks to raise awareness about the overall importance of addressing EDIB, to encourage critical reflection on ways to improve both collectively and within individual organisations, and to provide concrete pointers to get started. 

Related Toolsuite Articles

• Accessible/inclusive website, content and metadata
• Gender diversity
• Multilingualism
• Ownership and governance
• Open science practices
• Software and interoperability
• Visibility, including indexation, communication, marketing and impact
• Preservation and content formats

Related Guidelines

• Gender diversity
• Multilingualism

Related Training Materials

• Equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging

References

• Amano, T., Ramírez-Castañeda, V., Berdejo-Espinola, V., Borokini, I., Chowdhury, S., Golivets, M., González-Trujillo, J.D., Montaño-Centellas, F., Paudel, K., White, R.L., & Veríssimo, D. (2023). The manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science', PLoS Biology 21(7): e3002184. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002184
• Kozlowski, D., Larivière, V., Sugimoto, C.R., & Monroe-White, T. (2022). Intersectional inequalities in science', PNAS 119(2): e2113067119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2113067119
• le Roux, E. (2015). Discrimination in scholarly publishing', Critical Arts 29(6): 703-704. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2015.1151104
• Sugimoto, C.R., Ahn, Y., Smith, E., Macaluso, B., Larivière, V. (2019). Factors affecting sex-related reporting in medical research: a cross-disciplinary bibliometric analysis', The Lancet 393(10171): 550-559. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(18)32995-7

Further Reading

• Academy of Social Sciences. (2021). EDI and publishing. https://acss.org.uk/esrc-project-equality-diversity-inclusion/edi-publishing/
• Burns, J., Cronquist, M., Huang, J., Murphy, D., Rawson, K. J., Schaefer, B., Simons, J., Watson, B. M., & Williams, A. (2023). Metadata best practices for trans and gender diverse resources (2.5). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10076876
• Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC). (n.d.). Toolkits for equity. https://c4disc.pubpub.org/toolkits-for-equity
• Global Indigenous Data Alliance. (2018). CARE Principles of Indigenous Data Governance. https://www.gida-global.org/care
• Office of Scholarly Communication, University of California. (2023). Diversity, equity, and inclusion in scholarly communication. https://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/scholarly-publishing/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-scholarly-communication/
• Royal Society of Chemistry. (2024). Joint commitment for action on inclusion and diversity in publishing. https://www.rsc.org/policy-evidence-campaigns/inclusion-diversity/joint-commitment-for-action-inclusion-and-diversity-in-publishing/
• Ruckstuhl, K. (2022). Trust in scholarly communications and infrastructure: indigenous data sovereignty. Frontiers in research metrics and analytics, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/frma.2021.752336
• The University of British Columbia, Program for Open Scholarship and Education. (2023). Traditional knowledge. https://pose.open.ubc.ca/open-access/author-rights/traditional-knowledge/
• University of Florida. (n.d.). Promoting diverse, equitable, and inclusive publishing practices. https://ufl.pb.unizin.org/deipublishing/chapter/collaborate-globally/ 
   

Glossary

• Accessibility
• Accessibility policy
• Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging  
• Gender diversity
• Multilingualism

Frequently Asked Questions 

• What do equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) mean in scholarly publishing?
• What types of bias can occur in scholarly publishing?
• What are some of the consequences of bias in scholarly publishing?
• Who is responsible for ensuring EDIB in scholarly publishing?
• What types of actions can be taken to improve EDIB in scholarly publishing? 

Licensing

This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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