Why does Springer Nature value the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) so highly?

Author: Magdalena Skipper

Editor in Chief, Nature

Because Springer Nature believes the goals provide a framework for new research, partnerships, and collaborations that can drive better outcomes for people and the planet. 

First: What are the SDGs?

The SDGs are a slate of 17 goals addressing worldwide and society-wide challenges, from hunger to healthcare, from economics to politics. And working to reach these goals draws on research from every discipline that Springer Nature publishes. 

Sustainable business: Springer Nature’s report 

In the 2024 Sustainable Business Report, Ritu Dhand, Chief Scientific Officer, and Magdalena Skipper, Nature Editor in Chief, talk about what Springer Nature stands, and focuses, now that we have just passed 2023, the SDG's time horizon midpoint.

Read the entire editorial below — and then the material that follows it — in Springer Nature’s 2024 Sustainable Business Report, available now.  

The SDG Midpoint: Home Stretch or Out of Reach? 

2023 marks the midpoint of the SDGs. Despite concerns about meeting the goals on time by 2030, we remain committed to them. We are intensifying our efforts to amplify the SDGs among our research audiences, creating new routes (journals, books and collections) for researchers to publish relevant insights, and developing engagement programmes for teachers and children worldwide. 

Why? Because the SDGs remain the most visible and concrete way to highlight where governments, businesses and civil society can collectively address urgent global challenges with local, evidence-based solutions. We believe the goals provide a framework for new research, partnerships and collaborations that can drive better outcomes for people and the planet.

At Springer Nature, we want to provide a home for SDG-related knowledge, facilitating the discovery, sharing, use and reuse of research that has true impact. This report outlines our activities throughout the year, building on the past eight years of work since the goals were ratified.

To mark their halfway point, we hosted Science Storytelling for the SDGs, an event with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and The Story Collider. This took place alongside the UN General Assembly Science Summit, where Magdalena Skipper, Editor in Chief of Nature, delivered the opening plenary. We also launched a joint collection from 44 journals across the Nature Portfolio, featuring articles showcasing effective interventions related to the goals at a local, regional and national level to track progress and amplify successes. 

SDG ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN 2023 WERE DOWNLOADED AROUND 123 MILLION TIMES.

While we publish across all 17 SDGs, there is a subset where we believe Springer Nature has a more direct role to play. This year, we expanded this group to include SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). This reflects our dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion and the interdisciplinary nature of each goal and its solutions. We believe we can make a powerful difference in these areas, given our existing priorities.

Our SDG Focus Areas

Behind every piece of research we publish is a team of talented, dedicated editors, without whom world-changing research discoveries would remain undiscovered. We work with more than 100,000 external academic editors, who champion their subjects and uphold the scientific record, ensuring the highest levels of quality and integrity.

SINCE 2015, OUR SDG CONTENT HAS BEEN CITED MORE THAN 13 MILLION TIMES.

Academic and editorial communities facilitate knowledge exchange, encourage global dialogue and identify solutions to worldwide issues – all essential components for realising the SDGs. Our role is to ensure researchers and editors know the impact they can have, and that the world sees the effects of their work.

Read more about our achievements in this area and more in the complete report.

About the authors

Rity Dhand – Chief Scientific Officer 

Ritu Dhand is Chief Scientific Officer at Springer Nature. She is responsible for championing our editors, focusing on promoting and driving external editorial excellence, in partnership with all the journal publishers across Springer and BMC journals. 

Before taking on the role of Chief Scientific Officer in January 2022, Ritu served as VP Nature Editorial, overseeing editorial strategy and management of Nature, Nature Communications, and the Nature Research and Review Journals. 

Ritu holds a PhD in cancer research from University College, London.

Magdalena Skipper – Editor in Chief Nature

As Editor in Chief, Magdalena leads Nature’s magazine and research editorial teams. A geneticist by training, she has considerable editorial and publishing experience: having started in Nature Publishing Group in 2001, she was Chief Editor of Nature Reviews Genetics, Senior Editor for genetics and genomics at Nature, and Executive Editor for the Nature Partner Journals. Before joining Nature as Editor in Chief she was Editor in Chief of Nature Communications. She studied sex determination at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK, and Notch signalling in the vertebrate gut epithelium at the ICRF Laboratories (CRUK today), London. She is passionate about mentorship, research integrity as well as open and equitable research practice.