For inclusive science | The Press

(Washington) The quest for diversity and inclusion has generated its fair share of controversy in the scientific community lately. At the last annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), at the beginning of March in Washington, the editors of major scientific journals debated the question.

Third World

Between 2018 and 2021, the proportion of women among scientists submitting studies to journals in the Science group increased from 20% to 30%. At the American Geophysical Union (AGU), which publishes several scientific journals, the proportion of women receiving awards for their publications increased from 20% to 40% between 2014 and 2021. Cochrane, a group that publishes “systematic reviews of literature in the medical field, has doubled to 17% the proportion of members of its board who come from the Third World.

“We are aware that certain groups, for example racialized people, women and gender minorities, are underrepresented among our authors”, underlines Mia Ricci, director of publications at the AGU, who made a presentation during the last congress of the AAAS in Washington.

Helping third-world researchers to publish and become reviewers also helps prevent the brain drain to rich countries, notes Shan Mukhtar, of science editor Wiley, who moderated the AAAS session. “Reducing barriers to publication and reviewers’ tenure for Third World researchers is one of the main aims of the Joint Diversity Pledge, a movement launched in 2020 by the Royal Chemical Society to which 47 publishers have signed up. ‘see you now’, note M^me Mukhtar, who is director of diversity, equity and inclusion for Wiley’s research. Major scientific publications generally submit the studies submitted to them to reviewers, who together decide whether they will be published.

Quotas

A year ago, postings of positions reserved for women, aboriginals, people with disabilities and visible minorities at Université Laval made headlines. But major scientific journals do not consider coercive means such as quotas to increase diversity among their authors. M^me Mukhtar hesitates when asked about quotas at Wiley. “We don’t question our core publishing practices,” she says. Rather, we rely on interventions on our internal systems to make publication easier to access and eliminate potential biases against certain groups of authors. Same thing – and same hesitation – about quotas on the part of M^me Ricci from AGU. “It’s an interesting question,” said Mr.^me Ricci. We don’t have a specific policy, but we send a letter to reviewers asking them to consider their potential biases in their assessment of a study. The discussion between the presenters in Washington and the questions from the floor did not address the debate over affirmative action to increase diversity in American college faculty. “I think everyone wanted a productive discussion where the different scientific publications would discuss the challenges of diversity,” says Ms.^me Mukhtar.

LANGUAGES

The presentation by Cochrane’s CEO, Karla Soares-Weiser, emphasized the diversity of languages. But this is not the language in which the studies are written, but rather translations of “systematic reviews”, which report on the best treatments for certain diseases.

About 15 translation languages ​​have been introduced in recent years, Ms.^me Soares-Weiser, who is of Brazilian descent. More than 90% of systematic reviews are translated into Spanish, and 60% into French. As for the studies that are included in the Cochrane systematic reviews, more than 95% are in English and only 0.3% in French.

Costs

Another important effort is made to facilitate access to scientific publications by third world researchers. “We are making efforts both to reduce the cost of subscriptions, but also to subsidize the costs of preparing manuscripts for researchers for whom this is an obstacle,” says Ms.^me Ricci.

Mentoring

One of the promising avenues for stimulating the activity of Third World editors is through mentoring. “We launched a highly successful co-revision program in 2022, with 700 Third World participants in just 10 months,” says Ms.^me Ricci. We also have mentoring for the writing of studies, for the authors. »

Reluctance

One of the problems in the struggle to increase diversity in scientific journals is the reluctance of researchers to provide data. “Only a quarter of authors respond to our voluntary questionnaire,” says Ms.^me Ricci. There seems to be a fear that disclosing data on ethnic origin or sexual orientation could be harmful to their careers. Even in the United States? “There seems to be a change in culture, people are more reluctant to reveal personal data,” said Ms.^me Mukhtar.

Classes

At another session on diversity in the world of scientific research, a researcher from the University of Montreal, Vincent Larivière, revealed results on the under-representation of women and ethnic minorities in American universities. “It’s a problem with a lot of ramifications,” says Mr. Larivière. For example, between March and August 2020, the number of female researchers who were the primary author of a study dropped by 20% to 25%. It may be because of the work overload for women, with the children being homeschooled. And more generally, a female researcher who is the main author will be 10% less cited than a male colleague. » In terms of the under-representation of ethnic minorities in research, some studies have recently emphasized the impact of social class: for example, among researchers from visible minorities, those who are the first in their family to going to university represent a higher proportion. “Of course, social class has a role to play in the under-representation of ethnic minorities,” says Mr. Larivière. But even taking this into account, there is still a significant under-representation. »

The example of Lancet

In 2018, the newspaper Lancet Infectious Diseases had 5 women and 22 men on its editorial board. Editor John McConnell wrote to 11 of the men on the council reminding them of the importance of a better gender balance. Ten of them then decided to resign and the editorial board moved to parity.