The conceptual framework for promoting fair treatment and full participation of all people in the workplace achieved a new level of priority for the scholarly publishing industry in 2017 when 10 organizations came together to discuss and address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within their industry. At the same time, individual publishing initiatives within scholarly societies were addressing the need to foster diverse, equitable, and inclusive programs for their authors, reviewers, and editors. This article provides an introduction to the coalition pursuing DEI on behalf of the scholarly publishing workforce as well as an example of the efforts of one small scholarly society to address DEI in their publishing program.

Scholarly publishing has long been a global enterprise, yet a number of industry surveys in recent years revealed a lack of gender equality as well as ethnic diversity in the scholarly publishing workforce itself. Recognizing the need for change, 10 trade and professional associations representing organizations and individuals working in scholarly communications convened to address these challenges during the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Society for Scholarly Publishing. Those organizations founded the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications, or C4DISC.¹

The mission of C4DISC is to work with organizations and individuals to build diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in scholarly communications in pursuit of a vision of a socially just community that welcomes, values, and celebrates all who seek to contribute to scholarly communications.

The initial work of C4DISC included creating a Joint Statement of Principles² and invited all scholarly communications organizations to adopt the statement in support of making the community more diverse, equal, and inclusive. As of February 2023, 125 organizations ranging from university presses to libraries, from commercial publishers to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professional societies, including the American Urological Association, have signed on to the Joint Statement. C4DISC also has 13 member organizations and 17 partners who support the ongoing work of the coalition.

Beyond the Joint Statement, C4DISC created several working groups to engage in concrete actions to improve DEIA in scholarly communications. One working group created the Guidelines on Inclusive Language and Images in Scholarly Communications³ to help all authors, editors, and reviewers recognize the use of language and images that are inclusive and culturally sensitive. Other outputs from C4DISC include 3 resources known as Toolkits for Equity, which provide best practices to address racial disparities specific to the scholarly publishing industry and include: the Antiracism Toolkit for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color⁴; the Antiracism Toolkit for Allies⁵; and the Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations.⁶ In addition to these resources, C4DISC works with members and partners to host webinars and DEIA-related content on their website.

C4DISC is committed to understanding stakeholder DEIA needs as well as community DEIA efforts to date, and surveys members, partners, and stakeholders in these areas to help inform program and resource development. A new Community of Practice quarterly virtual meetup will facilitate the sharing of practical actions between organizations and reports on activities and the impacts of C4DISC efforts on the community. In 2023, C4DSIC will repeat the Workplace Equity Survey⁷ originally conducted in 2018 to measurably advance equity in the scholarly publishing industry by incorporating perspectives from a wider range of voices than is evident from current leadership structures.

The Biophysical Society (BPS) is a global scientific society of approximately 7,500 members, one-third of whom are outside the United States, with a mission to lead an innovative global community working at the interface of the physical and life sciences with a vision of harnessing the full potential of biophysics to seek knowledge, improve the human condition, and preserve the planet for future generations. Core values of the organization include scientific excellence; integrity and transparency; community building; and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Two of the 4 primary goals of the BPS strategic plan⁸ include fostering a diverse and inclusive global community and enhancing the sharing of knowledge. The society’s publications program, which consists of 3 journals and a collection of e-books, is central to attaining these goals. Achieving diverse representation on the editorial and advisory boards is just one priority for BPS. Currently, gender balance on the board is reflective of gender balance within the society, but new initiatives need to be taken to increase other aspects of diversity both in the society and on the boards. The JUST-B (Justice for Underrepresented Scholars Training in Biophysics) poster session⁹ was launched in 2022 and celebrates the achievements of underrepresented and underserved students, postdocs, and early career researchers in the field of biophysics. The Editor-in-Chief of Biophysical Journal, Vasanthi Jayaraman, is launching a postdoctoral reviewer program this spring that aims to foster a diverse group of early-career researchers and make the review process more inclusive of younger researchers from different backgrounds.

Working with publishing partners who have a strong commitment to DEIA is also paramount to the society’s publishing program. BPS’s flagship publication, Biophysical Journal, and open access journal, Biophysical Reports, are published with support from Cell Press, whose parent company, Elsevier, has an Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board committed to creating a more equitable research ecosystem. In addition, Elsevier collaborated with the Joint Committee for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing to develop global schemas for gender identity, race, and ethnicity. Elsevier also adopted the aforementioned Joint Statement of Principles from C4DISC. As a small society, BPS benefits from these larger initiatives as well as the publishing platforms and industry standard tools that support digital accessibility.

BPS is dedicated to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community of biophysicists, just as C4DISC is committed to pursuing DEI in the scholarly publishing industry.