Overview of CSE Connect: SSP DEIA Committee on building DEIA in Editorial Roles and Peer Review

CSE Connect1 hosted an event on October 8, 2024, with the purpose of discussing the C4DISC2 Focused Toolkit for Journal Editors and Publishers: Building Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Editorial Roles and Peer Review.3 The discussion included representatives from the Society for Scholarly Publishing4 (SSP) DEIA committee: Shaina Lange, Managing Editor, American Society of Nephrology and Sue Harris, Managing Editor, American Psychologist, American Psychological Association. CSE Connect is an online event consisting of a 15-minute presentation by experts, followed by 30 minutes of questions and discussion. Lange and Harris discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic brought diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) issues to the forefront of scholarly publishing’s collective consciousness, spurring many efforts to rectify deeply rooted inequities. Importantly, the scholarly publishing community began to consider what these practices would look like and the long-term goals of these efforts. Not only will increasing the diversity among editorial boards, reviewers, and editorial staff benefit marginalized communities, but the efforts will also improve the quality of the peer review process and expand the scope and reach of the journal. Harris and Lange noted that these efforts can be improved by appointing a dedicated DEIA associate editor to identify gaps in the peer review process, as well as any harmful content within papers. However, many organizations might not have resources for one dedicated DEIA editor, so it is alternatively recommended that a DEIA task force be created to meet consistently and examine new projects by paying specific attention to the DEIA goals […]