A brief history of the SAGER guidelines
Sex and gender differences have often been overlooked in research design, study implementation, and scientific reporting, as well as in broader science communication. This oversight has limited the generalisability of research findings and their applicability to clinical practice — particularly for women, but also for men.
In October 2012, the EASE Council established the Gender Policy Committee (GPC), upon the initiative of newly elected Council member Dr Shirin Heidari, to promote more consistent reporting of sex- and gender dimensions in research articles and inspire gender balance in editorial and publishing workforce. This was in response to the evident lack of widespread adoption of editorial gender policies, despite their clear relevance across a number of disciplines.
The Gender Policy Committee, co-chaired by Dr Shirin Heidari and Dr Tom Babor, undertook an extensive process of an international survey, discussion with experts, and both in-person and online consultations. In May 2016, the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines were published in the journal Research Integrity and Peer Review. Since then, the SAGER guidelines have served as a global framework and practical tool for researchers, authors of research manuscripts, journal editors, and publishing houses, to promote the reporting of sex and gender dimensions in research as a matter of routine.
The article ‘Sex and Gender Equity in Research: rationale for the SAGER guidelines and recommended use’, by Shirin Heidari, Thomas F. Babor, Paola De Castro, Sera Tort and Mirjam Curno (2016) describes the rationale for an international set of guidelines to encourage a more systematic approach to the reporting of sex and gender in research across disciplines.
The SAGER guidelines were designed primarily to guide authors in preparing their manuscripts, but they are also useful for editors, as gatekeepers of science, to integrate assessment of sex and gender into all manuscripts as an integral part of the editorial process.
In 2018 a dedicated SAGER Working Group, led by Shirin Heidari, was established within EASE to focus on dissemination, implementation and monitoring of the SAGER guidelines and other activities related to mainstreaming gender in research content. Since then the Working Group has promoted the SAGER guidelines and encouraged publishers and editors to endorse them. They are now widely used (including by WHO). You can view a list of those who have endorsed the guidelines here.
Sex and gender questions are available to encourage authors of scientific articles to check whether sex and gender are properly reported in their manuscripts.
The SAGER guidelines are included in the EQUATOR website and are listed in the Research Reporting Guidelines of the US National Library of Medicine.
In 2023 GENDRO, EASE and Elsevier created a nine-module online course to raise awareness of sex and gender issues and promote the use of the SAGER guidelines. These are hosted on Elsevier’s Research Academy.
The Gender Policy Committee was closed at the end of 2023. The SAGER guidelines continue to be promoted by EASE and EASE works closely with Shirin Heidari as she continues to promote and expand this work within GENDRO, a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with the mission to advance equity through the integration of sex and gender dimensions in research across disciplines.
The work of the Gender Equity in the Editorial Workforce Project, has been redirected to the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee.
