Building Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Capacity: Resources to Promote Best Practices Among Professionals in Scholarly Publishing

With guidance from CSE members with expertise in DEIA in scholarly publishing, and the approval of CSE’s Board of Directors, the organization established the DEI Committee in 2021 (which was expanded to the DEIA Committee in 2023). The purpose of the DEIA Committee is “to support the organization in building capacity among its leadership, members, and the profession at large to deliver programmatic activities and training that integrate [DEIA] best practices in science editing, publication management, scholarly publishing and communication, member recruitment, participation, and engagement” (2). Since the committee’s inception, CSE has implemented and/or participated in 8 broad-ranging DEIA-related activities: 1) adding new content to CSE’s Recommendations for Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications (3) related to DEIA best practices in scholarly publishing; 2) completing a DEIA sensitivity review of Scientific Style and Format (4), the CSE style manual, for its upcoming 9th edition, scheduled for publication in 2024; 3) a DEIA-related symposium to update members on CSE’s progress in achieving DEIA-related objectives and activities identified in CSE’s Strategic Plan (2); 4) establishing a DEIA column in Science Editor (5), CSE’s quarterly magazine; 5) implementing an inaugural 1-day DEIA short course to a range of professionals in scholarly publishing; 6) implementing its Ethics Clinic on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (6); 7) actively serving as a member organization for the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) (3); and 8) establishing CSE’s DEIA Scholarly Resources web page (7). Collectively, these activities help publishers, editorial leadership of journals, journal editors, editorial teams, peer reviewers, and authors gain access to numerous resources, tools, educational materials, and training opportunities. The formation of CSE’s DEIA Scholarly Resources web page (7) has yielded a one-stop repository that provides access to resources in 7 categories: 1) DEIA Committees of Trade and Professional Organizations in Scholarly Publishing; 2) DEIA and Peer Review; 3) DEIA Statements and Policies from Journals, Trade and Professional Associations, and Publishers; 4) Bias, Discrimination, and Racism; 5) Data Collection on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility; 6) Reporting Sex, Gender, and Race in Publications; and 7) Inclusive Language Communication (Figure).