DEI at SAGE Journals: Reflections on our pledge a year in

In July 2021, the SAGE Journals team released a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) pledge shaped in complement to SAGE’s signing on to the Royal Society of Chemistry’s joint commitment for action on inclusion and diversity in publishing. Adapting the joint commitment came from a desire to express and interpret it in a way that is personal to SAGE’s identity, animating principles, and specific processes such as our guaranteed independence and our mission of building bridges to knowledge. As we approach this anniversary of pledge-making, we thought it fitting to report on how we have progressed thus far and what we can look forward to in the near future.  

When we set out to move our pledges into plans, we identified a framework by which we could address diversity, equity, and anti-oppression in the spheres of influence SAGE Journals occupies. This was realized by four streams: Content, Representation, Data, and Application. An overview of each of those groups can be read about here. With almost a year of work behind them, the streams reflect on 2021 highlights and 2022-2023 ambitions below.  

Representation Stream 

In 2021, the representation stream focused on increasing representation, equity, and belonging of diverse voices in our authors, reviewers, editors, and beyond. Among their most notable achievements, the group urged journal editors to take direct and definitive action, including committing to a plan to assess and improve current journal states. They provided journal editors with suggested next steps, tools, and resources to get started as well as a guide for journal editors, Taking Action on Diversity, with an accompanying blog post to outline five fundamental steps for a more diverse and inclusive journal. The  group also enacted policy-level changes and affirmations, including enhanced guidance for journal editors on unconscious bias, language, and working with authors with disabilities and an inclusive policy on name changes.  

In 2022, the Representation Stream will continue to facilitate education on how to increase diversity, improve inclusivity, and encourage equity through: 

• Orchestrating a workshop for internal journal management staff on diverse journal editor recruitment 

• Enacting further support for authors in need of assistance with English language writing 

• Further training for journal editors to continue our work in supporting awareness and action on DEI issues 

The Representation Stream is also keen to begin piloting functionality to request adjustments and accommodations for dis- and differently- abled authors. 

Application Stream 

The Application Stream endeavors to improve the visibility and impact of research that affects oppressed communities to influence policy, practice, and public awareness. With a focus on research and journals that make the world a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive place, the group has increased visibility of relevant content. For instance, we launched a blog series called “Equity in Journals Publishing Spotlight” (read a sample piece) highlighting journal-level efforts and we organized a home for research on the effects of colonialism along with a primer on this scholarship, which joins the Structural Racism and Police Violence collections in our microsite series. 

In 2021, the group also prepared for a venture that aims to expand after a 2022 initial trial: plain language summaries, or nontechnical abstracts that address non-researcher audiences. Plain language summaries translate the oft-technical language of much scholarship into more comprehensible and contextualized terms. Over 40 journals will participate in the trial.  

In further encouragement of easy access to scholarship, the application stream encourages readers refer to this guide on article access. The stream is also exploring improvements in site accessibility, a webinar for early career researchers that aims to push into reach the ins and outs of research publishing, and other means of disseminating research which affects the most vulnerable and marginalized global peoples and societies.  

Content Stream 

The content stream’s primary goal is to ensure that the content published in our journals is ethical, diverse, inclusive, and free from bias. In pursuit of this central mission, the content stream’s major milestones in this first pledge year included: 

• Establishing disclaimer text and policy for harmful content that provide a trigger warning for profane or offensive language, themes, or content at the article level 

• Creating a policy that moves away from perpetually ableist nomenclature around the peer review process, specifically in moving from using the term “blind” to using the word “anonymized” 

• Issuing a statement on historical content that may contain outdated and sometimes outright offensive ideas or language with information on how to report that content 

In their next chapter, the content stream is focused on creating an inclusive language guide, finding and addressing existing problematic content, and identifying and addressing bias in peer review. 

Data Stream 

The role of the data stream is to collect and utilize data to establish the current makeup of our journal research communities, and to introduce mechanisms to monitor, benchmark, and track progress and improvement. Collecting self-reported data allows us to better understand the current demographic diversity of our authors, editorial decision makers and reviewers so we can put in place actions, set goals and measure progress to advance diversity, inclusion and equity in research.  

In 2021 and into 2022, the stream has been collaborating with internal and external partners to find solutions for diversity data collection. These efforts include working with Clarivate, our peer review system vendor, to develop a long-term solution for collecting diversity data for SAGE authors and reviewers within ScholarOne. Clarivate is working through questions around how to store new types of data for authors and reviewers, what anonymized aggregated reporting capabilities will be available, and the configurability of the questions themselves. We anticipate developments from Clarivate that will enable us to start collecting this data soon.  

Further, as part of our participation in the RSC joint commitment for action and diversity in publishing, we have been part of a Diversity Data Questions subgroup, which has very recently endorsed a set of recommended standardized questions for collecting self-reported gender identity as well as race and ethnicity data. 

Throughout the remainder of 2022, the data stream will continue to prioritize establishing robust systems and infrastructure that will allow us to collect the data we need to gauge success in advancing DEI in our journal communities. 

As always, our dedication to DEI does not stop with the words, or even the intentions, that make up the pledge. Every day, we strive to embrace the goals outlined in the pledge and incorporate them into our quotidian work. We aim to breathe life into our mission and vision by ensuring its facilitation in the face of global realities which threaten the promise of an equal and just society. While we are proud of our accomplishments in the past year, we recognize we still have a long way to go and are eager to continue identifying new initiatives and viable pathways to achieve these goals.  

We will continue to be open, honest, and clear about any areas in which we fall short and invite feedback from our patrons and partners about this at any time at info@sagepub.com.  

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