Jemison, MacLaughlin, and Majumder "Broadening Pathways for Editors and Authors"

This presentation was provided by Racquel Jemison, Ph.D., Christina MacLaughlin, Ph.D., and Paulomi Majumder. Ph.D., all of the American Chemical Society, for the second session of NISO's 2024 Training Series "DEIA in the Scholarly Landscape." Session Two: 'Expanding Pathways to Publishing Careers,' was held June 13, 2024.

1. Broadening Pathways for Editors and Authors American Chemical Society Publications Racquel Jemison ([email protected]) Christina MacLaughlin ([email protected]) Paulomi Majumder ([email protected]) 1

2. ACS Vision, Mission, and Core Values Vision Improving all people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry Mission Advancing the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people Core Values Passion for chemistry and the global chemistry enterprise Focus on members Professionalism, safety, and ethics Diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect (DEIR)

3. ACS Strategic Goal 5 Embrace and Advance Inclusion in Chemistry Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect; identify and dismantle barriers to success; and create a welcoming and supportive environment so that all ACS members, employees, and volunteers can thrive.

4. Initial Diversity Action Commitment June 2020 Joint Editorial: Expressed support to marginalized communities Acknowledged known issues within chemistry and ACS journals Strategically committed to efforts to sustainably advance DEIR Initial commitments made: Gather and make public baseline statistics on diversity within our journals and annually report on progress Train editors to recognize and interrupt bias in peer review Appoint an ombudsperson to serve as a liaison between Editors and our community Develop an actionable diversity plan for each journal Include the diversity of journal contributors as an explicit measurement of Editor-in-Chief performance Read the editorial “Confronting Racism in Chemistry Journals”: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.0c10979

5. Demographic data collection 5

6. Demographic Data: Purpose and Goals Diverse perspectives contribute to a more successful enterprise Rationale and Goals: To identify areas where representation can be improved by formulating targeted strategies to address bias and demographic imbalance in journal communities Support ACS’ efforts to embed DEIR in products External annual reporting via Diversity Data Reports, programs, and services 2021 Report 2022 Report 2023 Report

7. Approach to Data Collection Questions developed in collaboration with the ACS Committee on Minority Affairs , ACS Pride , Joint commitment for action on inclusion and diversity in publishing ACS authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) members Self-identification of gender and racial identities, career stage; geo location from ACS Paragon Plus user accounts Collection via email-distributed survey from 2021-2023; moved to ACS Paragon Plus submission system for all data collection in May 2023 Respondents may opt out of completing the survey without impacting their access to ACS Paragon Plus functionality Changes in 2023 onward: separating racial and ethnic identities into different questions, new questions on transgender identity, as well as disability and accessibility Examples of new survey questions: How would you identify yourself in terms of race? Please select ALL the groups that apply to you: Asian or Pacific Islander Black Hispanic or Latino/a/x Indigenous (e.g. North American Indian Navajo, South American Indian Quechua, Aboriginal, or Torres Strait Islander) Middle Eastern or North African White Prefer not to disclose Self-describe _______ Do you identify as transgender (a gender other than the one you were assigned at birth)? Yes No Unsure Prefer not to say Do you currently have a disability or health condition that impacts how you might read, review, or submit a publication? Yes No Prefer not to say

8. Data Analysis and Findings Data only used and reported in aggregate and in accordance with ACS Privacy Policy ACS journal portfolio-wide, and 11 journal subject areas analyses 2023 Diversity Data Report focus on comparison of demographic changes over time between 2021 and 2023 with comprehensive data reporting in Supporting Information Observed statistically significant changes to demographic distributions amongst ACS user groups across race, gender, career stage, and geographic location Most notable demographic shifts observed between 2021 and 2023 were in career stage representation among authors, reviewers, editors, and EAB members; shift to higher proportions of ACS user groups at earlier career stages

9. Geographic Representation Statistically significant (p<0.001) increases in proportion of authors and reviewers located in South Asia, as well as East Asia and the Pacific between 2021 and 2023 While chemists from around the world are active in ACS journals’ author and reviewer communities, most researchers are located in East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, and the United States and Canada

10. Racial and Ethnic Representation Statistically significant (p<0.05) increase in percentage of East Asian and South Asian identifying authors and reviewers between 2021 and 2023 East Asian, South Asian, and White persons are the most highly represented racial/ethnic identities among the ACS journal author and reviewer communities surveyed

11. Gender Representation Majority of ACS journals’ authors and reviewers between 2021 and 2023 identified as men; proportion of women participating in these roles has increased over time. Individuals identifying as nonbinary or choosing to self-describe their gender identity comprised a small proportion of authors and reviewers without notable change during this time period. EAB: Editorial Advisory Board ECAB: Early Career Advisory Board

12. Editor Demographics in 2023

13. Expanding Diversity and inclusion in our journal communities 13

14. Diversifying our Editorial Boards – Change over time Editor-in-Chief search process Diverse search committee Strategies to seek more diverse candidates Open calls/self-nomination Geographic pools Gender balanced Topic Editors Focus on early career and underrepresented researchers Focus on emerging topical areas *Prior to 2021, outdated identifiers based on biological sex were used in the survey instead of gender, and only binary options were provided.

15. Diversifying our Editorial Boards 15 Advancing DEIR, self-paced course for ACS Editors Identify bias through peer review process Explore how to promote an inclusive culture

16. Engaging Early Career Chemists ACS Author Lab  Empower authors to prepare and submit strong manuscripts Guidance on replying respectfully to reviewers ACS Reviewer Lab Identifying and combating potential biases Writing a professional and respectful review *New* Mandarin translation and accessibility improvements Early Career Boards Within 10 years of formal training Established best practices on organizing Early Career Boards Highlights through Special Issues & Collections  Promotes visibility of research by emerging investigators Journal & Lectureship Awards Recently revamped to incorporate DEIR Specific awards focused on early career researchers

17. Empowering Authors Author Name Change Policy Launched October 2020 Inclusive policies involve centering the author: No correction/erratum or notice No permission from co-authors No legal proof of change Verification via other mechanism, such as ORCiD Gender-affirming customer service training >500 publication updates requested since October 2020 Partnered with U.S. National Laboratories in June 2021 to support institutional name change policies ACS Diversity and Inclusion Cover Art Series seeks to amplify marginalized voices and recognize historically excluded or underserved populations of chemists https://axial.acs.org/publishing/acs-diversity-inclusion-cover-art-series

18. Continuous Learning Journey

19. Supplementary slides

20. Demographic Data Section Supplementary Slides

21. Demographic Survey Questions – 2023 Onward Developed in collaboration with Joint Commitment for action on inclusion and diversity in publishing

22. Demographic Survey Questions – 2023 onward, continued Developed in collaboration with Joint Commitment for action on inclusion and diversity in publishing

23. Demographic Survey: Email-hosted survey questions (2021-2023)