Diversity, equity and inclusion directions of JACEP Open

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are important in all aspects of health care and academia, but especially in biomedical publishing. JACEP Open is committed to promoting DEI efforts by widening the diversity of its editors, peer reviewers, and authors to better reflect our readers around the globe. We intend to do this by increasing the transparency of our recruitment, retainment, and review processes.

Why are diversity, equity, and inclusion important? DEI in scientific thought is critical for continuing creativity and innovation. Medical research needs to take advantage of a diverse workforce to address the various challenges and problems of the modern medical system for the betterment of the health of our fellow human beings. Considerations for DEI are multifaceted and involve active attention to groups that are underrepresented in academic publishing due to gender, ethnicity, and race as well as geography.^1,2 These groups are also underrepresented among principal investigators in grant applications and awards that may present additional barriers to publication.³ It is time to actively challenge these biases because research that is conducted by diverse teams is cited more often and more likely to be published in prestigious journals.^4,5

We intend that our DEI practices not only be focused on our staff, editorial board, and reviewers but also promote inclusivity across the entire publication process. We plan to continue our current DEI practices such as blinding our reviewers to the names and institutions of the authors as well as continuing to actively and purposively recruiting a more diverse peer reviewer and editorial pool. Because JACEP Open has an international scope and focus, we hope to increase our visibility among our international readers and to recruit more international authors. We also plan to survey the demographics of our editors, reviewers, and authors.

We hope that the entire scientific and medical publishing will join our call to action. Attention to DEI is critical to giving equal voice to all stakeholders and ensuring that the science reflects society.

Authors: DEI Task Force on behalf of the entire JACEP Open Editorial Board