Category: News

News

C4DISC Statement of Solidarity Against Racism

C4DISC founding organizations represent nonprofit and commercial academic publishers, open access publishers, library publishers and librarians, and editors. As a collective, we are shocked, angered, and disheartened by the senseless murders of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Botham Jean, Michael Brown, Stephon Clark, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Jamar Clark, Dreasjon “Sean” Reed, Ezell Ford, Michelle Shirley, Redel Jones, Kenney Watkins, and so many other black citizens, many of whom remain unnamed, in the United States. Police have perpetrated many of these callous crimes, and for far too long white people have tacitly condoned them by remaining silent. However, this injustice goes well beyond police actions. It is a product of the legacy of systemic racism that has flourished not just in the United States but around the world.

We support the hundreds of thousands who have joined protests and demonstrations across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, and South America and join their calls to eliminate pervasive inequities and violence perpetrated on oppressed peoples. As an international Coalition focused on increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion of underrepresented groups in scholarly communications, we issue this statement of solidarity with those protesting the enduring racial discrimination against and the brutalization and murders of our community members who are black, indigenous, and people of color. 

The Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) was founded to promote involvement, innovation, and expanded access to leadership opportunities that maximize engagement across identity groups and professional levels among those who work in scholarly communications. We encourage all who work in this field to do everything possible to create welcoming, inclusive spaces for people from traditionally underrepresented groups. 

We acknowledge and applaud the following statements of anti-racism and solidarity issued by some members of our Coalition, and we invite all scholarly communications organizations to join us in showing support for making this Coalition stronger. We do that by making our community more diverse, equal, and inclusive. Join us in this journey by adopting our Joint Statement of Principles and sharing them on your website. Learn more at c4disc.org. 

News, WE Archive

Evaluating equity in scholarly publishing

May 26, 2020 | Simone Taylor, Susan Spilka, Kristen Monahan, Isabel Mulhern, and  Jeri Wachter

The Workplace Equity Project (WE) conducted a global survey in 2018 to map the parameters that define the scholarly publishing landscape, understand the drivers for change, and recommend solutions for delivering improved outcomes. Results find that there are imbalances in diversity inherent in the workforce (96% with a Bachelor’s degree or higher, 76% female, 83% heterosexual, 81% White, and 89% report no disabilities) and that outcomes diverge for respondents based on their gender and ethnicity, highlighting distinct inequities in the workplace. The leadership profile is more male (33% vs. 21%), and more White (91% vs. 81%) than the sample as a whole. Moreover, those respondents with characteristics more reflective of the leadership profile are more likely to report that they believe they are fairly compensated, recognized by the leadership, and have fair opportunities for advancement. The article recommends improvements to current practice in recruitment, sponsorship and advocacy, and staff retention to drive change towards creating a more equitable, inclusive workforce.

Read the full article >>

Published by Learned Publishing

News, WE Archive

Workplace Equity Project Finds a Good Home for its Resources and Research Findings in C4DISC

Recognizing that collective action on a greater scale can accelerate change, WE Project will cease independent operations by year-end

New York, November 25, 2019. The Workplace Equity Project (WE Project), a grassroots organization advancing diversity, inclusion, and equity in scholarly publishing workplaces through research, communication, and advocacy, is pleased to announce that it has contributed its resources and research findings to the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC). C4DISC is a partnership of industry and professional associations that convened in 2017 to address diversity and inclusion.

“We are delighted to have found a good home for the WE Project as part of C4DISC. We are very proud of what we achieved so far with the help of dozens of individuals and organizations. The WE project documented the everyday workplace experiences, practices and realities of colleagues all over the world and gives voice to their relative perceptions of bias and privilege. We look forward to effectively tackling gender equality, ethnic diversity, and persistent barriers to inclusivity through collective action on a greater scale. Integrating the WE Project resources with the industry-wide C4DISC coalition will bolster that effort,” said the WE Project’s co-founders, Susan Spilka, Simone Taylor, and Jeri Wachter.

“Publishing is truly a global enterprise, yet that diversity is not reflected in our collective demographics. Nor is our industry the model of inclusivity it aspires to be. The resources that C4DISC acquired from the WE Project will accelerate our efforts to eliminate these disparities by serving as benchmarks for future research, and providing channels that communicate the multitude of individual perspectives and experiences,” said Melanie Dolechek, Executive Director of the Society of Scholarly Publishing and convener for C4DISC.

The WE Project’s digital assets, including “Global Voices for Workplace Equity: Findings from the WE Survey 2018” and the Voices and Insights blogs, are now found on c4disc.org.

The WE Project’s owned media assets will be shut down by December 31, 2019, including:

WE Project’s social media and followers will be invited to follow C4DISC:

ABOUT C4DISC

C4DISC is partnership of industry and professional associations that addresses diversity and inclusion issues in scholarly communications. Representatives from the 10 founding organizations first met in Boston, MA, at the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) Annual Meeting in June 2017, to discuss shared interests in addressing these challenges and share information about current initiatives to collectively tackle the lack of diversity and inclusion within the industry. Thirty-four organizations have now adopted C4DISC’s Joint Statement of Principles.

To drive change, C4DISC will conduct market research; provide training resources, best practices, toolkits, and documentation; and establish outreach programs, curricula, events, and publications. C4DISC welcomes other scholarly communications organizations to adopt the Joint Statement of Principles C4DISC; please contact Melanie Dolechek for more information.

 

ABOUT WORKPLACE EQUITY PROJECT (WE PROJECT)

The WE Project is an independent, nonprofit organization that explores and assesses workplace experiences, practices, and opportunities in scholarly publishing. It aims to measurably advance equity in the industry by incorporating perspectives from a wider range of voices than is evident from current leadership structures. The WE Project employs research, communications, and advocacy to raise awareness and promote solutions for organizations across the industry.  It was co-founded by Susan Spilka, Simone Taylor, and Jeri Wachter in 2017 and its resources and industry contributions became part of C4DISC in November 2019.  Its independent owned media (www.workplaceequity.org, @WEsurvey, www.linkedin.com/company/workplace-equity-project-we/, and  www.facebook.com/workplaceequityproject/) will shut down by December 31, 2019.  For more information, please contact Susan Spilka.

News

Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion Releases Joint Statement of Principles

Ten Scholarly Communications Industry Associations Collaborate on D&I Initiative

C4DISC_logomark_alone_RGB

October 4, 2018 — The Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications has released a Joint Statement of Principles to demonstrate the commitment of participating organizations to promoting involvement, innovation, and expanded access to leadership opportunities that maximize engagement across identity groups and professional levels. The Joint Statement of Principles can be viewed at: https://c4disc.org

The Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) is currently comprised of ten trade and professional associations that represent organizations and individuals working in scholarly communications. These organizations include the Association of University Presses, Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, Canadian Association of Learned Journals, Council of Science Editors, International Society of Managing and Technical Editors,  Library Publishing Coalition, NASIG, Open Access, Scholarly Publishers Association, and the Society for Scholarly Publishing.

The Coalition was formed in June 2017 to discuss and address the issues of diversity and inclusion within our industry. In principle and in practice, collectively, these organizations value and seek diversity and inclusive practices within the scholarly communications ecosystem.

A number of surveys in recent years have shed light on the lack of diversity in scholarly communications as whole.  Whether it is gender equality or the noticeable lack of ethnic diversity among our workforce, there is an awareness that, as an industry, we are not a model of inclusivity. Publishing is truly a global enterprise, yet in many respects, our workforce is very homogeneous and that is reflected in our own collective member demographics.

Representatives from these organizations met in Boston, MA, at the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) Annual Meeting in June 2017, to discuss challenges and current initiatives in progress to address the lack of diversity and inclusion within the industry. We agreed to continue discussions and collaborate on possible projects starting with a Joint Statement of Principles.

“Working collectively, we can combine resources and have a greater impact, said Melanie Dolechek, SSP Executive Director. “Due to the overlap in our memberships, it makes sense to collaborate on this initiative.”

The Coalition invites other organizations and companies to adopt the Joint Statement of Principles to show their support for and commitment to improving diversity and inclusion in scholarly communications. Organizations of any type can register their adoption of the Principles on the Coalition’s website.

The Coalition is currently evaluating proposals for international market research into diversity and inclusion in scholarly publishing, via a survey that will be repeated every three years for up to 10 years. The study will serve as a benchmark or a baseline measure for progress. The survey will included all types of publishers—for-profit, not-profit, government, library, university, etc.—as well as publishing services suppliers.

The C4DISC would like to thank Yael Fitzpatrick, Consulting Art Director and Brand Manager of Gazelle Design Consultancy, for developing the C4DISC logo.

Organizations interesting in joining the Coalition and participating in the future development of resources and outreach should contact Melanie Dolechek, SSP Executive Director.

For more information, contact:
Melanie Dolechek
SSP Executive Director
mdolechek@sspnet.org or c4disc@gmail.com