Advancing Editorial Equity in Scholarly Publishing

Advancing Editorial Equity in Scholarly Publishing

Moderated by Jennifer Regala, Associate Director, Publishing, Wolters Kluwer Health

Jennifer Regala is Associate Director, Publishing, at Wolters Kluwer Health, where she works with award-winning news magazine publications, including Oncology Times and Emergency Medicine News. Jennifer has worked in scholarly publishing for 20+ years, most recently as the Director of Publications/Executive Editor at the American Urological Association. Jennifer's personal motto is: ""It's free to be nice and to comb your hair

Diversity in OA Publishing: What Does the Data Tell Us?

Casey Pickering, Director, Product Marketing, CCC

The transition to Open Access (OA) models has emerged as a critical factor in the scholarly publishing community’s ability to achieve real progress in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), increasing society’s access to scientific research and data, and expanding the ability to publish research in scholarly journals. Leveraging aggregated and anonymized data from RightsLink for Scientific Communications, an OA workflow solution relied on by leading scholarly publishers, this session will explore year-over-year growth of OA publishing across developing and developed countries, trends in funding, discounting, waiver insights, and potential for a more inclusive future.

Casey Pickering is Director, Product Marketing at Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). Casey focuses on developing go-to-market strategies and driving strategic marketing efforts for CCC’s scholarly communications products and services.

From Bias to Integrity: Fostering Equitable Science through Author Submission Guides and Policies

Steph Pollock, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Lead, American Psychological Association

Mia Ricci, Director of Publications Operations, American Geophysical Union

Cindy B. Veldhuis, PhD, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University

In the pursuit of scientific excellence, fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is paramount. This conference session explores how inclusive author submission guides and policies can enhance scientific integrity while promoting a more equitable research landscape. Attendees will engage with three sets of standards addressing critical aspects of EDI: • Global Collaboration and Indigenous Sovereignty: Best practices for collaborative research across borders and emphasizing respect for Indigenous knowledge and sovereignty. • Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity Research: Support and assistance to those who conduct research on sexual orientation and gender diversity (SOGD) to ensure the 2SLGBTQIA+ community’s needs are at the forefront of research. • Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Scientific Manuscripts: Acknowledging the importance of ensuring an inclusive and fully representative scientific process, we explore effective ways to address race, ethnicity, and culture in scientific writing.

Stephanie (Steph) Pollock, MPS (she/her) is the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Lead for the American Psychological Association’s Journals Program. In this role, she directs EDI initiatives for APA’s 89 journals, working with staff, editors, and governance—as well as external groups—to promote equity and improve representation in science and scholarly publishing. With more than 12 years in the publishing industry, Steph also holds a MPS in Publishing from GW and is a Co-Chair for the Society of Scholarly Publishing’s DEIA Committee. Steph identifies as a white cisgender woman who was born in and lives in the eastern United States; she is committed to using her platforms and the power she inherits from these identities to pursue a more equitable and inclusive industry.

Mia Ricci is the Director of Publications Operations at the American Geophysical Union where she oversees AGU’s 24 scientific journals and the ESS Open Archive, AGU’s preprint and community server. Mia has over 16 years of experience in scholarly publishing and is committed to driving positive change. She also leads the DEIA efforts for AGU’s publications, is a member of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) Board of Directors, and currently serves in committees for the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communication (C4DISC), the Council of Science Editors (CSE), and the Joint Commitment for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing. She is a member of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Geosciences (AAPIiG) and was the co-founder of Wiley’s Asian and Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group.

Dr. Cindy Veldhuis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Social Sciences and in the Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University. She received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed her master’s (Cognitive Psychology) and bachelors (double major: Theater and Psychology) at the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on LGBTQIA+ women’s relationships, health, and health behaviors as well as violence, trauma, mental health, and the impacts of sociopolitical events on wellbeing. She serves as co-chair of the Science Committee of the American Psychological Association’s Division 44 (the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity) and is corresponding author for the committee’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity Research Manuscript Writing Guide.

Increasing Diversity of Editorial Boards: A Literature Review and Case Study Analysis

Tammy Brodie, Editorial and Peer Review Coordinator, The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Elizabeth Brown, Editorial Coordinator, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Initiatives to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have become paramount to the growth and success of scientific journals. This session will explore DEI in scholarly publishing, presenting our research concerning the diversity of various journal editorial boards through a literature review and two case studies. We’ll discuss common factor(s) of diversity and methodologies from a variety of discipline-specific journals, and report on our case studies comparing the current diversity of the two editorial boards, which agreed to be used as case studies for this presentation. We’ll discuss learning outcomes from our research and propose potential next steps that scientific journals and the wider scholarly publishing field can take to spur widespread diversification of editorial boards.

Tammy Brodie graduated with an M.A. in publishing from Emerson College in 2022, with her thesis focusing on West African Publishing and digital accessibility. She has been involved in scholarly communications for the past four years and currently works as an Editorial and Peer Review Coordinator for the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS). In 2024, she was awarded the Society for Scholarly Publishing Early Career Fellowship. Her interests in scholarly communications include open access, DEI, and accessibility and distribution. She also serves as a board member for the environmental organization, Salem Sound Coastwatch. Tammy lives in Beverly, MA where she can be found running on the beach and traveling with her camera.

Ellie Brown is from Boston, MA and currently resides in Washington, DC. She graduated with a B.A. in History from McGill University in June 2021 shortly before beginning her career in scholarly publishing at Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). During her tenure at the journal, Ellie has been an active member of PNAS’s Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and was honored with the 2022 Rookie Award in recognition of her commitment to improving journal processes and outcomes. Ellie currently serves on SSP’s Career Development Committee as part of her SSP Early-Career Fellowship. In her free time, Ellie enjoys reading cozy historical mysteries, practicing yoga, and embarking on new cross-stitch projects.

Toward Decolonizing Knowledge Production in Global Public Health: Efforts by a Global Health Peer Reviewed Journal

Natalie Culbertson, Managing Editor, Global Health: Science and Practice, Bloomberg School of Public Health

Launched in 2013, the Global Health: Science and Practice (GHSP) journal has worked to increase meaningful equity and inclusion of authors from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in knowledge production. GHSP has implemented several strategies, the most important of which was to outline the expectation that country-based authors be included on all papers focused on research or program implementation in specific countries. GHSP published on its efforts in 2023. A before-after analysis of all articles submitted to the journal at baseline (2019–2020) and after the journal changed its authorship policy guidelines (2021–2022) showed that the percentage of all authors from LMICs increased from 38% to 52%; the proportion of first authors from LMICs increased from 14% to 32%; and the proportion of articles with any LMIC author increased from 66% to 81%. A gap in acceptance rate persisted between articles with an LMIC first author and an HIC first author. This presentation will discuss the study, more current data, and further strategies to improve the acceptance rate by authors in LMICs which are under consideration.

Natalie Culbertson is the founding and current managing editor of Global Health: Science and Practice journal. She has worked in global health program management, capacity strengthening, and publishing at Johns Hopkins University since 1993.