Exploring the SDGs: Resources and content

Research that can help deliver insights and solutions towards the reduction of hunger, as targeted by SDG 2, is a major publishing focus of Springer Nature’s SDG Programme, whether in biotechnology or in geography, whether in agronomy or in economics, whether in nutrition or in international law. On our SGD 2 hub you can find a selection of books, journals and magazines content that highlights our commitment to addressing SDG 2.

Have a look at our interviews with Gidon Eshel, a professor of environmental physics and Kerstin Damerau, an environmental scientists about how their work relates to the international year of fruit and vegetable.

As a global publisher we are committed to playing our role in advancing progress towards achieving SDG3 by both supporting researchers and being an active voice, promoting an interdisciplinary evidenced-based approach to all targets and indicators within this goal. Find more information on our SDG 3 hub.

Collaborative evidence-based approaches to public policy and healthcare policy and practice are essential not only in addressing inequalities, but also in building trusted sustainable ways forward in which to ensure good health and wellbeing for all. Through the research we publish we hope to play our role in not only supporting researchers in both the publication and development of their work in this area, but also in enabling greater access to high-quality content to assist policy-makers, governments and humanitarian organisations, in making research-backed decisions to advance the international wellbeing agenda.

Explore our content on Disability, Health across the life course, Healthcare policy and LGBTQ+ and find more information such as our campaigns around good health and well-being, content around public health emergencies and discussions on health here.

Ending gender identity-based discrimination, violence (in all its forms) and harmful practices, recognizing the contribution of all women, as well as transgender and nonbinary individuals, in all spheres of life, ensuring equitable representation, enabling universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and providing equitable access to technology and economic resources are some of the tenants of the UN’s SDG 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls. Explore Springer Nature content on these topics on our SDG 5 hub.

Springer Nature publishes primary research, policy and opinion pieces on the myriad of manifestations of gender inequality, placing us uniquely in a position to disseminate information, facilitate communication and enable change. With community-facing efforts like the Nature Research Awards for Inspiring and Innovating Science, Research4Life, and LGBTQ+ Pride. This hub brings together a curated collection of content on SDG 5 and provides an invaluable resource for scholars, policy and decision makers.

Many hundreds of millions lack access to good water, and well over a billion lack access to basic sanitation. The targets of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6 address these challenges. On our SDG 6 hub we highlight contributions in our books, journals and magazines towards progress: in technological and systems approaches to water management, monitoring of drinking water quality and why water in crisis is a threat for life.

Check out our SDG 8 hub where you can find these articles The Creation and Measurement of Value Economics in Relation to SDGs, Gender-Based Wage and Employment Differentials in Africa and Diversifying readership through open access.

Publication across the programs and imprints of Springer Nature seeks to illuminate all aspects of economic activity from a variety of disciplines, perspectives and methodologies, with an aim to enhance practice and policy in ways that can ultimately provide greater and more inclusive opportunity.

Have a look at our SDG 9 hub with state-of-the-art content to help advance research and development in the field, and also by being an active voice, promoting an interdisciplinary evidenced-based approach to all targets and indicators within this goal.

In 2020, growth in manufacturing and other industrial sectors was adversely affected by the global pandemic. We have a dedicated page with content around engineering in the context of sustainability. Additionally we have interviewed Springer Nature author and professional engineer, Dr. Pamela Norris, who shares her experience as a woman at the forefront of the women in STEM movement. New technologies such as machine learning are empowering researchers to progress on SDGs and are paving the way for engineering the future.

Even as we publish peer-reviewed, cutting-edge research that approaches these issues from academic and policy points of view, we also work internally to attain a more equal workplace through our Diversity & Inclusion initiatives and employee networks. We set a 2023 target for 45% women in the most senior leadership tiers. As highlighted in our Sustainable Business Report, in 2020 the figure reached 43%, up from 39% in 2018.

We are also working on increasing accessibility on our platforms. In 2020, we started employing accessibility specialists to help support teams to improve the accessibility of our products and, in 2021, we will create an accessibility steering group to advise, guide, and review our progress across Springer Nature, to make our content more accessible to all.

Externally, we participate in projects to help achieve a more equal research landscape, such as our founding membership in Research4Life, collective programme that provides developing countries with free or low-cost access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content online. Aiming to build bridges between research and practice to better achieve SDG 10, Springer Nature has here collected a selection of our publishing related to reducing inequalities.

Some of what we publish relates to issues relevant to all cities – modelling of transport or food systems, for example. Much important research is focused more regionally, or on individual cities. Such research may be conducted by working directly with city officials, or with networks of city planners. It can make an immediate difference to the health (in the broadest sense) and other needs of people who live and work in cities, as well as to the development of more sustainable aspects of citizens’ lives. SDG 11 includes targets for cities that Springer Nature’s publications speak to directly. The blogs below reflect some of that, and the publications that we highlight below point to our commitment to cities research more broadly, across all of our formats and imprints.

We are publishing a number of high-level overviews from research consortia with a view to influencing discussions by heads of state and decision-makers in various sectors of society and policymaking. Explore our special feature on aquaculture including blogs, books, journals, articles, find out how a group of international researchers evaluates the future for ocean economy and read how we can protect coral reefs in this blog post by professor Andréa G. Grottoli, President of the International Coral Reef Society.

The insights of many research disciplines such as content on our SDG 15 hub can illuminate and assist in solving these complex challenges. Sometimes it is essential to focus on regions – the Himalayas or the northern US, for example. New technologies can have a global impact – genome editing and nanoscience, to name just two. The roles of insects and microbes in soils and plants have drawn increasing research attention – in documenting them in large datasets and in analysing them in ecosystem modelling. We also dive into the question if environmental worldviews and distrust in science affect those who care for our land in a blog post by Gabriel Hemery, CEO of the environmental charity Sylva Foundation.

SDG 16 promotes a world that continues to address and reduce violence, trafficking, discrimination, and corruption; a world that ensures equal access to justice for all by developing transparent and inclusive institutions of global governance and protecting the fundamental freedoms of all people. Read here a lawyer’s point of view about why SDG 16 solutions should consider equity and climate change.

Research plays a key role in supporting the development of public policy, in identifying harms, and in promoting a better way forward. Here, Springer Nature brings together cutting-edge research on law, politics, criminology, public policy and more, looking to a future that builds peaceful, just and strong societies and institutions.

SDG 17 seeks to improve international cooperation, infrastructure and equity. Discover our toolkit for researchers to view and track the societal impact of their work, our white paper in collaboration with SDSN, our interdisciplinary journals bringing researchers together, and sign up for our webinar in October on Science for a Sustainable Future on our SDG 17 hub.

Read how Nature is supporting the sharing and communicating of scientific discoveries in Africa, find out what support researchers need to maximize their societal impact and download the white paper on harnessing science for a sustainable future.