We are very pleased to publish the results of the collaborative survey project between the EASE Environment and Sustainability Committee and the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) SDG Publishers Compact Fellows, in EASE journal European Science Editing.
Developed by Nikita Lad, Iva Grabarić Andonovski, Dana Compton, Jo Wixon, and Mary Hodgson, the survey was designed to assess the progress made by signatories to the SDG Publishers Compact, detect obstacles that prevent other publishers or journals from signing the compact, assess awareness and implementation of the EASE Environmental Manifesto, and identify other initiatives that promote SDGs.
Their paper presents responses from a range of academic and industry bodies including some major publishers and institutional presses with experience of the SDGs and Publishers Compact initiative, though the majority of responses came from editors of small academic journals that were not Compact signatories, setting the results apart from the International Publishers Association survey conducted at the same time, which involved respondents who were all signatories to the compact and mostly publishers—a distinction that provides a good basis for comparison.
The EASE survey showed that editors of small academic journals were not aware of the SDG Publishers Compact, although most of them are acting to achieve at least one SDG. Signatories to the Compact were found to be actively implementing SDGs into their workflows and practices, which highlighted the importance and enthusiasm towards the initiative.
The feedback also highlighted a need for greater efforts to make the editors of smaller journals aware of the Compact, encourage them to become its signatories, develop more resources to help initiate interventions and provide metrics for monitoring their activities.
The paper is published open access in European Science Editing, available to read in full from the journal now.
Reference:
Lad N, Andonovski IG, Compton D, Wixon J, Hodgson M (2024) Sustainable Development Goals in academic publishing: impacts of SDG Publishers Compact and EASE Environmental Manifesto. European Science Editing 50: e122090. https://doi.org/10.3897/ese.2024.e122090