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Scholarly Publishers Agree on Standards For Inclusion and Diversity

As a signatory of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Joint Commitment for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing, PLOS is pleased to announce the group has agreed to a set of standards to reduce bias within scholarly publishing. Last year, PLOS joined together with publishers whose focus was to scrutinize its own processes while sharing resources and expertise to collaboratively minimize bias industry wide.

“It has been really rewarding to work with representatives from 47 other publishers, all sharing our ideas and expertise to support essential change in scholarly communications to reduce bias and become more inclusive,” said Rebecca Kirk, Publisher, Portfolio Development, PLOS. 

“An unbiased editorial process is one of the fundamental underlying principles of publication ethics. Cross-publisher collaboration to share information, discuss challenges, and formulate best practices is essential for this work, which is why initiatives like the Joint Commitment are so valuable,” said Sarah Bangs, Senior Editor, Publication Ethics, PLOS.

“We deeply appreciate the opportunity to work across publishers to improve diversity and inclusion in scholarly publishing. By combining our efforts, we can drive positive change to make publishing more equitable for communities around the globe,” said Emily Chenette, Editor-in-Chief, PLOS ONE.

The group has also shared best practices on author name changes, which PLOS instituted more than a year ago.   It also made important steps toward the collection of self-submitted diversity data, which will be key in identifying where biases lie so they can be addressed. 

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