4. Presentations

Promoting gender, cultural and geographic diversity in scientific journals

Thursday, 24 June 1.30 (BST)

This session will be co-moderated by Joan Marsh, Chair of EASE Gender Policy Committee and Leila Posenato Garcia, Editor in Chief of Epidemiologia e Serviços de Saude, in Brasil, who will host three speakers presenting three aspects of the topic. The session will include polls and Q&A.

Dr Joan Marsh is the Deputy Editor of The Lancet Psychiatry, having joined the Lancet group in November 2013. Her role includes managing peer review of manuscripts, commissioning content and contributing to the overall development of the journal. Her particular project is the Editorial Board Development Programme.

Joan is actively engaged in various aspects of research integrity and publication ethics. She was on the Council of the European Association of Science Editors for 12 years, including six as President. She is now chair of its Gender Policy Committee, with a particular interest in improving diversity in peer review. She is also an Associate Editor for the Association’s journal, European Science Editing.

Leila Posenato Garcia, PhD, Researcher, Jorge Duprat Figueiredo Foundation for Occupational Safety and Medicine, Brazil

Garcia has a PhD in epidemiology and is a Researcher from the Brazilian Institute of Applied Economic Research, currently working at the Jorge Duprat Figueiredo Foundation for Occupational Safety and Medicine in Florianópolis, Brazil. She was Editor-in-Chief (2014-2021) and Scientific Editor (2011-2014) for Epidemiology and Health Services: Journal of the Brazilian National Health System. She is Associate Editor for the Brazilian Journal of Occupational Health and she serves on the editorial board of Gaceta Sanitaria (Spain). She coordinates the Forum of Editors of Public Health Journals from the Brazilian Public Health Association (ABRASCO) (2017-2021), is an adjunct representative of health journals on the SciELO Brazil Collection Advisory Committee (since 2020) and is a member of the European Association of Science Editors’ Gender Policy Committee (EASE GPC). Mainly, her research is on epidemiology of injuries and violence, gender-based violence, and inequalities, and her political action is directed towards promoting gender equity and diversity in scientific research and in the editorial workforce.   

Presentation – Diversity in the Editorial Workforce

Matilda Hellman PhD, Research Director, University of Helsinki, Finland

A publication’s scope and quality is usually seen as a direct result of editorial practices. In assessing how this contributes to the exclusion of certain voices — thoughts, perspectives, ideas, texts —  much focus has been put on epistemology, such as the views on science production and methodologies that the editorial work force represents. This presentation discusses a wider repertoire of diversity aspects pertaining to gender, sociocultural/socioeconomic adherence, geography and language – all of which can and should be reflected upon in publishing activities. A recent study (Hellman et al. 2020) confirms a problematic homogeneity in the composition of addiction journals’ editorial work force: most are affiliated in WEIRD (western, educated, industrialized, rich and developed) countries and in the Anglophone world. Most editors are male. The presentation unfolds aspects of diversity in editorial work forces in their complexity and points out why it is important for journals and publishers to approach them on a bold way.

Biography – Hellman is a social scientist and sociologist with a background in literature studies, political science and media & communication. Hellman leads a research center called University of Helsinki Centre for Research on Addiction, Control and Governance (CEACG). Hellman, who has a journalist’s degree, has worked as editor and journalist since the year 1994 and published several books and several hundreds of journalistic and scientific texts. Currently she is Editor-in-Chief for the journal Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (NAD). She is associate editor for Addiction Research & Theory and she serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Gender Studies and Nordic Welfare Research. In 2019-2021, she is president of the International Society for Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE). Hellman’s research concerns mainly lifestyles and addictions, focusing on how idea world setups are embedded in habits, politics and governance. Typically, her projects have concerned norms and ideologies in popular, societal and professional constructs, and patterns of such constructs embedded in welfare state systems and cultures.
Twitter: @hellman_matilda

Presentation – The Cell Press Inclusion and Diversity Statement

Deborah Sweet PhD, Vice President of Editorial at Cell Press

Abstract: The Cell Press the Inclusion and Diversity Statement initiative encourages authors to highlight aspects of the paper that are relevant for inclusion and diversity. It is purposely multifunctional and designed to give authors a venue to share ways in which their work or their research group, or both, are contributing to help science become more inclusive and diverse overall.  Authors who choose to participate have the option of providing information only for aggregated reporting or also including a templated statement in their published paper  This presentation will describe development of this overall approach, the form used to collect data, and preliminary assessment of the information being reported by authors.

Deborah Sweet, PhD, is Vice President of Editorial at Cell Press. Dr. Sweet earned her BA from the University of Cambridge, UK, and her PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, also in Cambridge, then carried out postdoctoral work at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, USA. She began her publishing career in 1996 as the Editor of Trends in Cell Biology and then joined Cell Press in 1999, where she held scientific editorial positions on Cell, Molecular Cell, and Developmental Cell before becoming the Editor-in-Chief of Developmental Cell in 2004.  She was the launch Editor-in-Chief for Cell Stem Cell in 2007 and held that position for 10 years.  In 2011 Dr. Sweet became one of the Cell Press Publishing Directors and then in 2017 the Vice President of Editorial.  In this role she is responsible for leading an in-house editorial team with over 160 members and contributing to the broader strategic direction of Cell Press.
Twitter: @biologyfan

Presentation – Critical stages in the evolution of the journal

Ruth Oniang’o – AJFAND, Kenya

Critical stages in the evolution of the journal, from Kenyan, to African and then to international, and what it has taken for that to happen. It takes huge effort to sustain a scholarly journal for 20 years without skipping a year of publication. Financial challenges, sceptics, shortage of manuscripts, maintaining quality, working towards getting indexed, are just few of the hurdles one has to face along the way. Friends have come through, partners have helped, but finance remains a huge challenge. The satisfaction one derives from this work is difficult to put into words.

Biography – Ruth Oniang’o is a graduate of Washington State University, Pullman in the USA and University of Nairobi, Kenya. She is a retired Professor of Food Science and Nutrition, and 2017 recipient of the Africa Food Prize. She serves, and has served, on many Boards both local and international. She runs Rural Outreach Africa to address the needs of smallholder farmers in western Kenya, mostly women. She founded AJFAND, inspired by the experiences on the ground and driven by the need to share, globally, Africa’s food systems research and development. The journal shares research findings relevant to Africa, and by African and other scholars. It provides capacity building opportunities to budding African scholars. 
Twitter: @RuthKOniango

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