Diversity, equity and inclusion in publishing at Elsevier: an editor guide

At Elsevier, we embed inclusion into our products, processes and culture, working with our communities. It is an integral part of the research and publishing process, in collaboration with our external partners, including editors, society partners, the research community and other publishers.

This promotes innovation and development. It is crucial for rigor, quality and progress in science. It benefits not only individuals, by supporting every person to advance and excel, but also ensures more impactful research outcomes for society as a whole.

At Elsevier, our approach to advancing DEI throughout the research and publishing is collaborative and evidence-based.

We undertake a range of activities to support inclusive research.

Processes & tools

We innovate our processes, workflows and tools to support inclusion throughout the publishing process.

Focus on research question and methodology

Both models seek to focus on methodology and enhance transparency, thereby ensuring fair consideration.

Inclusive peer review

Using various sources to identify suitable reviewers helps to diversify the perspectives and backgrounds of the candidates who are invited to review or join journals’ reviewer communities. In support of this, we provide editors with a selection of tools and best practice on how to utilize them to promote inclusion. Our processes and workflow innovations further support inclusion. For example, structured peer review makes peer review more accessible to everyone, including early career researchers and researchers from across the globe for whom English might not be their first language, while aspiring reviewers can volunteer to review for relevant journals via the Reviewer Hub, with their interest then visible to editors during the reviewer invitation process.

Best practice

We strive to raise awareness and understanding, and to encourage adoption of best practice (including through policies), in pursuit of inclusion.

Self-reporting data in Editorial Manager

We pursue an evidence-based approach to advancing inclusion. In line with this, we are inviting editors, reviewers and authors to optionally self-report their data in Editorial Manager. Elsevier encourages self-reporting to increase transparency about inclusivity in journal editorial processes. The schemas used are those developed collaboratively across publishers.

Editorial teams

In 2016, we began engaging external editors on the importance of inclusive editorial teams and we continue this dialogue today, for example, evaluating how we support researchers of all genders in editorial roles and seeking to learn what more we can do.

We work closely with our editors to promote transparency about editorial team diversity, and accountability to our communities. All Elsevier journals display the geographical breakdown of editors and Editorial Boards on their journal homepages, and over 1,500 titles display self-reported gender data.

Training and guidance in your role

As an editor, together with society partners and publishers, you play a crucial role in advancing DEI in the journal and community you serve. Our Editor Essentials module on inclusion and diversity provides you with practical actions to advance inclusion and diversity among your journal’s Editorial Board, reviewers and authors.

Additionally, we took a deep dive into inclusive peer review in September 2021, publishing a four-part article series. The series covers the importance of inclusive peer review and best practice for you to adopt:

• The case for (more) diversity in peer review

• Peer review diversity in action

• How to improve reviewer diversity: a toolkit for editors (part I)

• How to improve reviewer diversity: a toolkit for editors (part II).

Please continue to refer to Editor Essentials on Elsevier Researcher Academy for the latest information and insights to support you.

Training and guidance for other roles

We work to provide new and aspiring reviewers with a thorough grounding in the principles and practice of refereeing via our certified peer reviewer course (a Chinese language version is also available). From here they are signposted to the Reviewer Hub where they can volunteer to review for relevant journals. This plays an important role in making reviewing more inclusive.

Similarly, we continuously review and enhance guidance to provide authors with the most up-to-date advice on how to promote inclusion and diversity in their research and publication practices. Our Researcher Academy inclusion and diversity modules and journals’ guides for authors are key sources of information. Our guides for authors advise on the use of inclusive language, discussed further in this Authors’ Update article on using language to empower.

In 2023, Elsevier, Cell Press and the Lancet incorporated the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines into their information for authors, using these guidelines to develop a dedicated section on reporting sex- and gender-based analyses. Researchers can now find these guidelines in all Cell Press journals, including some of its society partner journals; The Lancet journals; and more than 2,300 Elsevier journals. This effort aims to improve not only DEI within research, but to enhance the accuracy and integrity of the research we publish. You can read more here.

Inclusive name change policy

Elsevier’s trans-inclusive policy for author name changes allows transgender authors, and other authors who need to change their name privately, e.g., for reasons of personal safety, to update their name on previously published papers invisibly, i.e., with a resupply and no erratum / corrigendum. This policy, which is aligned with industry best practice, enables us to help protect authors’ privacy and safety, while still safeguarding the scholarly record.