Back to Search
Start Over
Confronting Racism in Chemistry Journals
- Source :
- ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci, ACS central science, vol 6, iss 7, ACS omega, vol 5, iss 25, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Washington, D.C. : American Chemical Society, 2020, 12 (26), pp.28925-28927. ⟨10.1021/acsami.0c10979⟩, ACS Central Science, ACS Central Science, Vol 6, Iss 7, Pp 1012-1014 (2020), ACS Med Chem Lett, ACS Omega, Vol 5, Iss 25, Pp 14857-14859 (2020), ACS Omega
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- American Chemical Society (ACS), 2020.
-
Abstract
- The following joint Editorial was originally published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c10979). We confront the terrible reality that systemic racism and discrimination impacts the daily personal and professional lives of many members of the scientific community and broader society. In the U.S., the brutal killing of George Floyd while in police custody is one of the most recent examples of the centuries of systemic violence suffered by Black Americans. This moment and its aftermath lay bare the legacies of racism and its exclusionary practices. Let us be clear: we, the Editors, Staff, and Governance Members of ACS Publications condemn the tragic deaths of Black people and stand in solidarity with Black members of the science and engineering community. Moreover, ACS condemns racism, discrimination, and harassment in all forms. We will not tolerate practices and viewpoints that exclude or demean any member of our community. Despite these good intentions, we recognize that our community has not done enough to provide an environment for Black chemists to thrive. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology said, “So far, we have gotten by with a STEM workforce that does not come close to representing the diversity of our nation. However, if we continue to leave behind so much of our nation’s brainpower, we cannot succeed.”(1) Indeed, the U.S. National Science Foundation notes that Blacks and other under-represented minority groups continue to be under-represented in science and engineering education and employment.(2) What is abundantly clear in this moment is that this lack of representation is a symptom of systemic racism across all levels of education and professional life. We know that supportive words are not enough. We must develop and implement a concrete plan for changing our trajectory. Publications and citations are academic currency, and while we like to think publishing a manuscript is “just about the science”, we know that is not true for everyone. We have seen the biases (largely through the lens of gender and in Western countries because of the limitations in bibliometric analyses) and applaud our colleagues at the RSC for their massive study that explored these gender barriers in the publishing pipeline(3) and their recent Inclusion and Diversity Framework.(4) At the present time, unfortunately, less is known about the effects of race and ethnicity on publishing success. A study published in PeerJ, however, found that unprofessional reviewer comments had a disproportionate effect on authors from under-represented groups.(5) As the world’s leading society publisher, we have a responsibility to aggressively combat bias in all aspects of the publishing process, including systemic under-representation of Blacks in this endeavor (no ACS journal is currently led by a Black Editor-in-Chief). Within ACS Publications, we actively track gender and geographic diversity of editors, advisors, authors, and reviewers, and we anecdotally report on race of editors. Diversity encompasses many more dimensions than these, and we acknowledge that we can do much more than we have. We affirm that diversity and inclusion strengthen the research community and its impact, and we are committed to developing, implementing, tracking, and reporting on our progress to ensure that our editors, advisors, reviewers, and authors are more diverse and that all authors receive the same fair treatment and opportunity to publish in our journals. We acknowledge that we do not have all the answers now, but we seek to hear from and listen to our community on how we can improve our journals to be more diverse and inclusive. As first steps, we commit to the taking the following actions: Gathering and making public our baseline statistics on diversity within our journals, encompassing our editors, advisors, reviewers, and authors; annually reporting on progress Training new and existing editors to recognize and interrupt bias in peer review Including diversity of journal contributors as an explicit measurement of Editor-in-Chief performance Appointing an ombudsperson to serve as a liaison between Editors and our Community Developing an actionable diversity plan for each ACS journal These are only initial plans and the start of a conversation: other ideas are beginning to germinate, and we commit to sharing them with you regularly. We invite you contribute your ideas on how we can do better via our Axial website. We are listening carefully. We encourage you to take immediate action in your own circles. In a recent editorial, JACS Associate Editor Melanie Sanford(6) offered practical steps to take now. Take a moment to find out more about these actions and how to bring them into your work and your life. We all have a responsibility to eradicate racism and discrimination in the science and engineering community; indeed, to make a real difference, we need to be antiracist. The tragic events we have seen in the Black community provide great urgency to this goal. The work will be difficult and will force us to confront hard realities about our beliefs and actions. We fully expect that you, and everyone in the community, will hold us accountable.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Polymers and Plastics
General Chemical Engineering
02 engineering and technology
Commit
Toxicology
Equity and Inclusion
Biochemistry
01 natural sciences
Racism
Analytical Chemistry
lcsh:Chemistry
[SHS.HISPHILSO]Humanities and Social Sciences/History, Philosophy and Sociology of Sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Drug Discovery
Electrochemistry
Pharmacology (medical)
10. No inequality
Waste Management and Disposal
Spectroscopy
Water Science and Technology
media_common
Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
0303 health sciences
010304 chemical physics
Publications
030302 biochemistry & molecular biology
Surfaces and Interfaces
Art
General Medicine
Public relations
16. Peace & justice
Pollution
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Surfaces, Coatings and Films
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Editorial
Chemistry (miscellaneous)
Publishing
Workforce
Periodicals as Topic
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
0210 nano-technology
Editorial Policies
Inclusion (disability rights)
Science
media_common.quotation_subject
030106 microbiology
Biomedical Engineering
Library science
Energy Engineering and Power Technology
Bioengineering
Library and Information Sciences
Violence
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)
Education
Inorganic Chemistry
Biomaterials
03 medical and health sciences
Geochemistry and Petrology
Political science
Humans
Chemistry (relationship)
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Theology
Pharmacology
Chemical Health and Safety
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
010405 organic chemistry
Process Chemistry and Technology
Mechanical Engineering
010401 analytical chemistry
Environmental ethics
Materials Engineering
United States
0104 chemical sciences
Black or African American
030104 developmental biology
Complementary and alternative medicine
Space and Planetary Science
Gender balance
0503 education
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Diversity (politics)
0301 basic medicine
Atmospheric Science
Physiology
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
General Physics and Astronomy
Pharmaceutical Science
010501 environmental sciences
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Colloid and Surface Chemistry
Structural Biology
Materials Chemistry
Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous)
General Materials Science
Instrumentation
Ecology
Chemistry
4. Education
05 social sciences
General Engineering
050301 education
Chemical Engineering
Condensed Matter Physics
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Viewpoints
Solidarity
Computer Science Applications
Infectious Diseases
Fuel Technology
General Energy
Molecular Medicine
Biotechnology
Chemistry journals
Materials science
Cognitive Neuroscience
0206 medical engineering
MEDLINE
010402 general chemistry
Catalysis
Bias
020401 chemical engineering
010608 biotechnology
0103 physical sciences
Environmental Chemistry
[CHIM]Chemical Sciences
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
0204 chemical engineering
QD1-999
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
030304 developmental biology
business.industry
Biochemistry (medical)
Organic Chemistry
General Chemistry
Cell Biology
020601 biomedical engineering
010404 medicinal & biomolecular chemistry
lcsh:QD1-999
Chemical Sciences
business
010606 plant biology & botany
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19448252 and 19448244
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....00642aa9758f5775a1dd366558f69baa