Many organizations throughout the scholarly publishing industry have embraced diversity as a key goal for the upcoming years. However, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is often easier said than done. Many organizations and individuals struggle to understand where to start or how to create quantifiable, meaningful improvement. In this post, we’ve compiled some of our favorite resources and toolkits that you can use to improve DEI within your organization.
Justifying the Need to Improve DEI
Starting the journey of improving DEI within scholarly publishing can be incredibly daunting, especially if your organization does not have any existing DEI teams or initiatives. For many years, research supported building a business case that outlines the fiscal and operational benefits of improving diversity; however, recent research is increasingly showing that focusing too heavily on return on investment can actually be detrimental for improving diversity. This approach can often appear as virtue signaling, which undermines perceived equity within an institution. Instead, many modern experts recommend using an equity-focused approach to build momentum.
In this article, we are not endorsing any specific toolkit; instead, we aim to provide a diverse range of options, most of which are freely available. To get started, here are some tools and resources focused on launching a diversity initiative within your organization.
- Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Planning Toolkit from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
- Building an Institutional Plan from University of Michigan’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Planning Toolkit.
- (Paid membership to Society for Human Resource Management required) How to Develop a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative from the Society for Human Resource Management.
- (Paid subscription required) Organizational Leadership in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Specialization from Rice University through Coursera.
- This is a specialization that I’ve personally completed and highly recommend. It provides extensive, actionable advice on the common pitfalls of organizational DEI initiatives and offers guidance on how to get started. However, the certification is only available through Coursera’s paid subscription.
Scholarly Publishing–Specific Resources
Every industry has unique opportunities and challenges in building DEI initiatives. The scholarly publishing industry largely consists of people who identify as “white (up to 85%), female (up to 76%), heterosexual (83%), and without disability (89%).” Similar demographic disparities are found within journal editorial boards, peer reviewers, and academic librarians (notably, librarians demonstrate a remarkable lack of racial/ethnic diversity). Some companies, such as Elsevier, have openly acknowledged gender pay gaps of up to 40%. Additionally, despite our industry being female-predominant, men are disproportionately represented in leadership positions.
To support your organization in launching or strengthening DEI initiatives, we’ve compiled a list of publishing-specific toolkits and resources, with a short explanation highlighting their key features and intended audiences.
- Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) Toolkits for Equity. This comprehensive resource guide is a collaborative effort supported by many organizations across scholarly communications and academic publishing. Each toolkit centers around research-driven educational articles with actionable recommendations for improvement. Available toolkits include the Guidelines on Inclusive Language and Images in Scholarly Communication, the Antiracism Toolkit for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, the Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations, and the Antiracism Toolkit for Allies.
- Council of Science Editors Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Scholarly Resources. This resource list is focused on scientific research organizations and publishers. It provides links to external sources and toolkits, as well as a list of DEI statements from scholarly publishing groups. Its featured resource pages focus on DEI in peer review; racial bias and discrimination; best practices in data collection; guides for reporting sex, gender, and race in publications; and more.
- University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business Advancing Language for Equity & Inclusion Toolkit. This resource collection focuses specifically on best practices for inclusive language, with a terminology guide, worksheet, and case study. The toolkit is designed for a wide audience and can be applicable for anyone in scholarly publishing.
- American Psychological Association’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Toolkit for Journal Editors. This toolkit is aimed specifically toward journal editors, with special attention paid to data collection and reporting, the intersection between equity and open science, and recommendations to improve representation among editors and peer reviewers.
- Association of College & Research Libraries’ (ACRL’s) Diversity Standards Toolkit. This LibGuide toolkit is a compilation of the ACRL’s 11 standards for diversity, with recommendations for meeting each standard. This resource is tailored toward academic librarians.
- Newcastle University’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Toolkit for Researchers. This resource is designed for those who lead research teams or are involved with research, including administrative staff. Its research-specific focuses include recommendations on addressing diversity in funding requests and grant proposals, leveraging diverse perspectives to enhance research projects, and building diverse and accessible speaking events.
Key Takeaways
As you’ve seen, there are many resources available to support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across every corner and niche of the scholarly publishing industry. While most of the toolkits we’ve shared have a relatively narrow focus, they all include fantastic lessons and tools that will allow you to improve your own understanding of diversity and your organization’s inclusivity.
