Resources & Tools

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Research Publishing

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are at the forefront of strategic priorities at Springer Nature. We are committed to serving a diverse and global research community.

Springer Nature believes a truly inclusive publishing landscape should represent all communities, globally and across multiple dimensions of diversity. At Springer Nature, we are committed to addressing gender imbalance in research and publishing. Our latest report offers a comprehensive analysis of gender representation across multiple stages of the publication journey. We believe that transparency is essential to driving meaningful change—and we’re proud to share these insights with the global research community. Explore the report further.

As editors, you play a pivotal role in championing inclusive practices and ensuring we reflect our diverse communities through our publication process. We have created this hub with actionable guides, data insights, reports, case studies, and more to inform, inspire and support you in developing inclusive publishing practices. 

Get the information and inspiration you need to be a DEI champion and to make your journals, books and published works inclusive, and representative.

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Addressing Unconscious Bias

Unconscious bias (also known as implicit bias) occurs without deliberate effort in all of us, as the brain makes automatic judgements about situations and people by relying on stereotypes and often incorrect assumptions. In the research and publishing ecosystem, it can affect decisions about funding, hiring, promotion, collaboration, credit, recognition, and publication. 

Learn more about unconscious bias and how to address it through our customized resources. Our new short course, Addressing Unconscious Bias, explores how unconscious bias works and introduces some strategies for challenging it as we work to create more open, diverse, and inclusive cultures within our professional/research communities.

Download this primer for a handy summary of key information from the short course.

DEI landing page

Resources and guides for inclusive publishing

Wondering how you can incorporate and promote inclusive publishing practices? Use these resources and guides to take intentional steps toward greater inclusion. 

Inclusive Language Guide and Sensitivity Reading Guide

How we communicate research findings can have an impact on their interpretation and wider application.  Find out more about Springer Nature’s Inclusive Language Guide and Sensitivity Reading Guide – two resources to support editors, and others (including authors and peer reviewers), to use bias-free language and presentation in research communication.

Inclusive Language Guide
Inclusive Language Guide
(PDF, 597.58 KB)
Sensitivity Reading Guide
Sensitivity Reading Guide
(PDF, 298.73 KB)

Ensuring diversity and inclusion in editorial board and peer reviewer recruitment

It is vital that our editorial decision makers and our peer reviewers are representative of the global and diverse communities we serve. In these easy-to-use guides on editor and peer reviewer recruitment, you will find practical tips and resources for what to consider when creating diverse and representative editorial boards and peer reviewers.

Find out more about diversity and inclusion in editorial boards and peer reviewers.

Intentional Content Strategy: Embedding representation and inclusion into your content strategy

We can influence, and inform our readers, the communities we serve and the broader research environment through what we publish. Find out more in this infographic which sets out some practical ideas for how to develop an intentional content strategy with a focus on representation, equity and inclusion.

Inclusion and ethics in global research collaborations

9783030157456Learn about the actions Springer Nature journals are taking to improve inclusion and equity in global research collaborations, and how to avoid helicopter research and ethics dumping using the TRUST Code: a global code of conduct for Equitable Research Partnerships.

Find out more: 

scientist image © Springer Nature 2023Inclusion in research study design

Learn about how Nature Portfolio journals are providing guidance to authors on how to report on sex and gender, race and ethnicity and other socially constructed categories in published research studies.  

Find out more about why and how to design research studies to be inclusive:

Data and insights on the state of DEI in research and publishing

Get the insights and data you need to understand the landscape of DEI in research publishing and take action supported by data.

Closing the Gender Gap: Peer Review at Nature Portfolio

Despite progress over the past two decades in improving representation of women across the research community, women continue to remain underrepresented in key disciplines and regions, with the gender gap widening with seniority. At Springer Nature, we are committed to addressing this imbalance. Our latest report offers a comprehensive analysis of gender representation across multiple stages of the publication journey. We believe that transparency is essential to driving meaningful change—and we’re proud to share these insights with the global research community. Explore the report further.

Editor Diversity at Springer Nature Journals

Our first benchmarking report examining geographic and gender diversity of our academic editors. We recognise that to facilitate change we must first understand our current editor demographics. This report provides an initial benchmarking analysis of editor diversity at Springer Nature, a community of over 100,000 academic editors, including Editors-in-Chief (EICs) and other editors for a group of approximately 3,000 Springer Nature journals. Browse the report to see what we discovered. 

Global Research Pulse: China 

Chinese research outputs have been steadily on the rise, and a shift from quantity to quality is apparent. Springer Nature's first Global Research Pulse report takes a look at the evidence of improvement in China's research quality, and the strategy that makes this possible. It offers essential insights to editors on the Chinese research landscape, so they can effectively engage with China and have the tools to make informed decisions.

DEI: why it matters in publishing

As the global research community grows in geographic and cultural diversity, and Early Career Researchers, in the US, Europe and beyond, become the most diverse generation of researchers yet – it is imperative that stakeholders in research publishing reflect the make-up of the research community. Learn about why diversity, equity, and inclusion matters in research publishing and how editors and all researchers can make a difference from this primer and presentation.

The state of DEI in the global research community

This report provides insights into the perceptions and experience of DEI within the global research community. Find out what researchers consider to be the leading barriers to advancing on DEI, how they perceive and evaluate DEI initiatives, and learn about the challenges of underrepresented groups in the research community.