Recommendation 1. Develop an Inclusive Culture and Mission

A publication signals inclusivity when members of diverse groups—including people of color, scholars of different genders, LGBTQ+ identities, disability status, ages, and career stages, as well as individuals from wide-ranging geographical locations and of intersectional identities—are well represented on the editorial board. Such diversity raises confidence in an equitable peer review process and allows for a plurality of perspectives. By contrast, a journal that is lacking in representation among its editorial board members can become insular, hindering its capacity to reflect and draw from the full range of human experiences and perspectives in its community.

As editors and publishers, you play a key role in establishing the culture of your publishing organization or journal. Leading with inclusion, openness, and an interest in different perspectives fosters a culture that strengthens relationships, collaboration, and content. These capacities can be cultivated through various leadership actions:

• Set a diversity statement for your journal. A diversity statement communicates interest in and sensitivity to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (Roberts et al., 2020). Carnes et al. (2019) finds that effective diversity statements (a) are aspirational rather than declarative, (b) emphasize that individuals have personal choice and autonomy to act without bias, and (c) convey value for multicultural differences (see example diversity statements below). Wiley advises that diversity statements are most effective when specific to an editor’s journal and when they propose clear actions (The Wiley Network, n.d.). Additional guidance, focused on actionable policy statements, is offered by the American Chemical Society Committee on Minority Affairs (Gentle-Genitty et al., 2021).

• Consider writing an editorial that communicates a commitment to addressing inequities in your field. By identifying historical and ongoing inequities among groups that have been persistently marginalized in your discipline, you take an important step in creating a more inclusive culture. In an editorial you can convey a listening stance that welcomes the perspectives of people of color and others who have been persistently marginalized. You can introduce specific editorial practices designed to promote racial, cultural, and gender equity. These practices might include a commitment to open science, expectations for bias-free language, and adopting a taxonomy such as CRediT for accurate attribution of authorship, as well as practices designed to foster equitable peer review (see Recommendation 5 of this Toolkit). You can also convey a commitment to publishing content that values the perspectives of diverse voices and that brings issues of marginalized communities into focus.

• Set goals for diverse representation when selecting your editorial board. By prioritizing diverse representation for your editorial board at the outset with metric-driven goals, you can help ensure that the associate editors, review editors, and consulting editors you select will better reflect the plurality of communities they represent. Editors can lead by inviting people of color, women, individuals with disabilities, individuals at all stages of their careers, and scholars based in different countries and cultures to serve as associate editors. A more diverse editorial board can, in turn, draw on broader networks to increase diversity in consulting editors and reviewers and grow the community being served by various journals. Ideally, editors will develop and communicate an open, transparent selection process (see Recommendation 2 of this Toolkit).

• Include new individuals in the editorial process. Ensure a rotation of editorial roles and consider term limits to avoid a static board, support mobility, and allow a greater diversity of individuals to become involved in all aspects of the editorial process. For example, at 2- or 3-year intervals, invite ad hoc reviewers, including people of color and gender- and geographically diverse scholars, to serve in recognized editorial roles. Presenting brief biographies (with optional photos, if consented and appropriate) highlighting different areas of expertise on the journal website can further demonstrate an inclusive culture. You can create pathways for individuals to gain experience with reviewing and familiarity with editorial processes, for example, through fellowships and training materials (more on this in Recommendation 4). Involving more people in your field in the editorial process also reduces hierarchy and broadens the perspectives your publication brings to bear on various research questions (Medin & Bang, 2014).

• Consider appointing a dedicated DEIA associate editor as some journals such as Neurology have done (see Hamilton et al., 2021). An editor in this role can detect gaps in the review process, ensure that papers describing population groups are reviewed appropriately, and monitor content to be sure it is respectful and affirming of marginalized populations. Aiming to make authors’ research more relevant and impactful, these editors can help motivate authors to address DEIA issues in their research and reporting by increasing the breadth and representativeness of data and the diversity of forms of knowledge.

• Draw on resources provided by your publishing organization.

  Increasingly, organizations employ diversity officers or consultants, who are valuable resources. Some organizations have adopted policy statements or DEIA frameworks (see, for example, APA’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion framework), which can be applied to your journal’s operation. As part of a broader strategy, consider inviting discussions that open dialogue about aims and concerns at editorial board meetings and retreats. Teams can, for example, (a) consider implementing training in explicit bias and implicit bias to heighten individual awareness and examine ways in which bias occurs in the peer review system; (b) solicit and value the comments of people of color, women, and others who have been underrepresented in the editorial process; and (c) learn about current needs and gaps in the diversity science literature (Buchanan et al., 2021).

• Promote data sharing. As editors and publishers, you take an important stand toward equity in your field when you encourage open data sharing in your scholarly communities (“How to Encourage the Right Behaviour,” 2002). Among other benefits, promoting data sharing enables researchers with limited institutional resources to access data and supplementary materials, potentially strengthening the knowledge base through new perspectives, increased collaboration, and replication of studies.

  Data policies, data standards, and funding or institutional requirements vary by field and can be complex, particularly when biological samples or human participants are involved. Such policies should highlight the importance of informed consent of participants at the outset of research studies and account for data that may not be shareable for legitimate privacy or safety reasons. Field-specific data resources may be available to you. General resources for advancing data sharing include:

  • Guidelines issued by the National Institute of Health (Gonzales et al., 2022)

  • FAIR Principles

  • Research Data Alliance (RDA)

  • CARE Data Principles

  Publisher policies and editorials can communicate the value of sharing data and other materials and set expectations for research transparency. In science journals, this might involve encouraging authors to consider pre-registering reports and to clearly describe their research methods, design, and analysis plans in the paper. Openness to replication studies enables you to signal that you welcome new individuals to re-examine data sets and materials. The Transparency and Openness (TOP) Guidelines serve as a core rubric for pursuing open science aims (Nosek et al., 2015; Center for Open Science).

• Promote open access and publishing pathways. Transformative Agreements (TAs), such as Read and Publish and Publish and Read agreements, support open access. TAs provide a sustainable way for publishers to support open access for authors of institutions or consortia while waiving Article Processing Charge (APC) fees for authors. Such agreements promote greater participation in the publishing process and greater access to published content, removing barriers for authors from lower- and middle-income countries in particular (Hinchcliffe, 2019). Making content that addresses public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, freely available supports equity and inclusion. Such practices can be incorporated as part of your publishing mission.

• Set baseline standards, such as inclusive language and reporting standards. Setting an expectation to use inclusive language communicates your intent to create a welcoming and psychologically safe space (American Psychological Association, 2021; Ashwell et al., 2023). For life and social sciences research involving human participants, adopting reporting standards, such as JAMA’s CONSERVE guidelines, APA’s Journal Article Reporting Standards, and the Equator Network’s guidelines, helps ensure that authors describe race, ethnicity, gender, and other identity descriptors for human samples appropriately. Recommendation 5 of this Toolkit provides more details on these actions.

• Support outreach efforts to expand opportunities for students from persistently marginalized groups to enter your field. Oftentimes students have not been exposed to relatable mentors as they make important career choices. By supporting efforts to provide such exposure to role models, as well as other opportunities, such as paid internships, and financial support, you can help inspire greater numbers of students from persistently marginalized backgrounds to pursue careers in your field. (For more information on pathways for editorial positions and reviewers, see Recommendation 3 and Recommendation 4 in this Toolkit.)