Taylor & Francis announces two new partnerships with diversity action organizations

We are pleased to announce that Taylor & Francis has joined two new partnerships with groups active in the crucial work towards diversity, equity, and inclusion in the publishing field. This month we’ve signed the Joint commitment for action on inclusion and diversity in publishing, coordinated by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC); and partnered with the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC).

The Joint commitment initiative we’ve signed is coordinated by the RSC and has brought together over 30 publishing organizations to set a new standard to ensure a more inclusive and diverse culture for scholarly publishing. The remit of this initiative is to understand our research community, reflect its diversity, share success to achieve impact, and set minimum standards on which to build. Collectively we will work towards: the enablement of diversity data to be self-reported by members of our community which can be shared and analyzed anonymously to understand where action is needed; the creation of subject-specific diversity baselines, with minimum targets to achieve appropriate and inclusive representation of authors, reviewers, and editorial decision-makers; the sharing of policies, measurements, language, and standards, to move inclusion and diversity in publishing forward together; and direct action to achieve a minimum standard for inclusion in publishing.

Dr. Nicola Nugent, Publishing Manager at the Royal Society of Chemistry, says: “Our recent work on improving the inclusivity and diversity of our community has highlighted how systemic or individual biases can creep in at any point of the publishing process. We’re committed to continually challenge and improve our processes to remove these barriers. We’re proud to be working in a partnership based on transparency, openness, and sharing best practice – with Taylor & Francis and over thirty more publishers – to build a better culture within scholarly publishing.”

C4DISC has been founded by ten supporting bodies, including the Society for Scholarly Publishing, the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the UK Serials Group (UKSG). Its vision, mission, and values statement outlines the aim to build equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications and a commitment to respect, listen, and act. Taylor & Francis has become a sponsor of this coalition and is incorporating their recommendations into our working practices, training, and guidance for colleagues. “I am thrilled that Taylor & Francis is taking the initiative to participate in the work C4DISC is doing. This is an enormous opportunity for both organizations to advance our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” says Melanie Dolechek, SSP Executive Director.

Taylor & Francis Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Lead Naomi Barrett had this to say: “We’re pleased and honored to collaborate in these new global partnerships where we will be in a position to foster real and meaningful change. We look forward to pooling resources with other publishers and benefitting from their knowledge in analyzing data and developing approaches, as well as sharing our own expertise.”