Gender Equality

Our mission is to help science and healthcare realize its full potential through quality content, data, analytics and inclusion. But if research has blind spots, algorithms discriminate, or medical treatments don't take into consideration the gender dimension of research, we cannot truly serve our communities. By bringing together the best minds, cooperating on meaningful partnerships and supporting inclusive initiatives, we will be able to truly collaborate for the good of society.

Explore our initiatives, and browse our growing portfolio of gender-related journals and books. We have also created a Gender and Covid-19 Mendely group, covering the sex and gender dimensions of the pandemic.

Gender equity in science is not only a matter of justice and rights but is crucial to producing the best research and the best care for patients.

^{Kumsal Bayazit, Elsevier CEO}

Our engagement

OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Women in Science Awards

Since 2010, the Women in Science Awards recognize researchers who have made significant contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge, aiming to increase the influence of women doing high-level science in the developing world. The premise is simple: the more diverse the pool of scientists, the more robust the science.

Harvard Data Science Initiative

As evidence mounts, it’s easy to make a case for gender diversity in academia – but harder to make it happen. Colleagues from Harvard, Elsevier and the NSF are developing data science projects to address the challenges faced by women in academia. Watch Elsevier CEP Kumsal Bayazit's presentation: "Data-Driven Approaches to Diversity and Inclusion".

Gender Summits

We have been supporters of the Gender Summits since 2011. They serve as forum for researchers, institutions and policymakers to “make gender equality in science and research the norm and promote the inclusion of the gender dimension in STEM research”, as underscored by Dr. Elizabeth Pollitzer, founder of the Gender Summits and a member of our I&D Board.

ARC Network

Elsevier hosts a dedicated group on its Mendeley and SSRN platforms in support of the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination Network Community managed by the Association for Women in Science and supported by the National Science Foundation. We have also supported the annual AWIS Innovation and Inclusion Summit since the program’s inception in 2016.

Our initiatives

Conferences

In 4 years, we have increased the participation of women invited speakers at about 50 Elsevier conferences from 15% to 32% and we continue to work towards greater gender diversity for speakers and conference attendance overall.

Editorial Boards

We have made a concerted effort to achieve greater gender diversity on editorial boards across all journals. Today we are at a 22-78% women to man ratio and are committed to improving this balance through a dedicated taskforce. The Lancet has established a 50:50 gender ratio for its Board.

The Lancet Advancing Women theme issue

This 2019 issue on advancing women in science, medicine and global health contains new international evidence on forms of gender bias in funding; women’s attrition in clinical training programs; and the relationship between women’s leadership and the production of sex/gender-related research.

The Lancet Gender Equality and Health Collection

The Lancet's EClinicalMedicine Gender Equality and Health Collection is a commitment to fight gender disparities and inequality across the world. It highlights the need for change, with a multi-pronged focus on women, communities and health systems - featuring curated open access content.

Peer review

We are committed to addressing biases in peer review and have set up a process for tracking gender across all of Elsevier journals to measure progress. To that end, our journal Cell has recently defined an objective of widening their reviewer pool, having established that 18% of reviewers are women.

Unconscious bias

UB negatively affects the publishing process. As part of Elsevier’s diversity and inclusion strategy, we have identified tools, resources and articles to improve the understanding of UB - and track representation among authors, reviewers and editors to address gender bias in publishing.

Webinar: Gender Bias in academic publishing

This Researcher Academy webinar brings together experts to discuss exactly what unconscious bias is, how to check for it and how to avoid it. They share data highlighting the problem in academic publishing and explore recent efforts to make the publishing process more equitable for all.

Inside Elsevier

Gender working group

The Gender Working group is an integral part of our sustainability roadmap and rigorously examines key publishing processes and principles within Elsevier, recommending targeted interventions to ensure that we produce the most robust research possible in the most equitable and inclusive way.

Thrive

Thrive is the employee resource group that highlights the talent that women bring to the company. Thrive's goal is to promote professional progress for all women in Elsevier through advocacy, education and information - and to provide global and local networking, mentoring and development opportunities.