{"id":78176,"date":"2021-11-16T17:57:19","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T17:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=78176"},"modified":"2021-11-16T18:17:57","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T18:17:57","slug":"uri-researcher-works-for-diversity-inclusion-in-sciences-one-journal-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/uri-researcher-works-for-diversity-inclusion-in-sciences-one-journal-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 researcher works for diversity, inclusion in sciences, one journal at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 16, 2021 \u2013 A 溏心vlog免费B站 researcher and colleagues who study invasive species have published a series of articles in the journal Biological Invasions<\/em> aimed at identifying and addressing concerns about diversity, equity and inclusion in the journal, which they believe will lead to a better understanding of invasive species around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Laura Meyerson, 溏心vlog免费B站 professor of natural resources science and deputy editor-in-chief of Biological Invasions<\/em>, led a survey of the journal\u2019s editorial board, authors and reviewers to \u201cdefine who we are and where we\u2019re located,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            They found that the board was \u201coverwhelmingly American, overwhelmingly white, and with more men than women,\u201d Meyerson said. \u201cAnd most of our papers were published by Americans and Europeans, though there were many from New Zealand as well. English-speaking countries dominated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The self-study of the journal\u2019s diversity was inspired by discussions among many researchers in recent years about diversity and inclusion in the sciences. Meyerson hopes that this effort will inspire other journals in other disciplines to follow suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cIt\u2019s the right thing to do, because it\u2019s important that everyone is included,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also important to improve the science. Invasion science is a global science. Invasions come from one region to another region, and if we\u2019re not understanding where species are coming from or how they behave, then we only have a partial picture and we don\u2019t know as much as we think we know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            For example, in a global report Meyerson is preparing on invasive species, she has noted wide gaps in data from Africa and Asia because few papers have been published by scientists in those regions in peer-reviewed journals in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cWhat that means is that if people from those regions haven\u2019t been able to publish their work, our science is depauperate,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re making assumptions and hypotheses and coming to conclusions with only partial information. It means the likelihood of success in combatting species invasions is going to decline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Meyerson\u2019s co-authors on the new papers are Daniel Simberloff, University of Tennessee, the editor-in-chief of Biological Invasions<\/em>; Sara Kuebbing, University of Pittsburgh; Martin Nu\u00f1ez, University of Houston; Mariana Chiuffo,\u00a0Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina; Hanno Seebens,\u00a0Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Germany; Matt McCary, Rice University; Deah Lieurance, University\u00a0of Florida; and Bo Zhang, Oklahoma State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cBy publishing these numbers and findings, I hope that we signal that disproportionate representation of editors based on nationality, race, ethnicity, and gender relative to the general global population, is important for underlying ethical reasons as well as for increasing the global reach and diversity of perspectives in invasion biology,\u201d said Kuebbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The authors argue that increased diversity and inclusion in the journal will enrich the science by including data from more places around the world. And the inclusion of scientists from different cultures will bring new insights and perspectives on data interpretation and understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cThe risk of ignoring most of the planet when it comes to understanding ecological processes, such as biological invasions, is that we may end up with the wrong idea of how nature works,” said Nu\u00f1ez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            As a result of the self-study of the journal, Meyerson said that the editorial board of Biological Invasions<\/em> is increasing its geographic, racial and ethnic diversity. It is also working with reviewers and editors to ensure that submitted papers are not rejected due primarily to deficiencies in English grammar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cAuthors shouldn\u2019t suffer an English tax,\u201d she said. \u201cIf their science is good, we don\u2019t want to reject it because they didn\u2019t use the right adverb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The journal editors are also proactively seeking papers from regions seldom covered, including Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Abstracts of papers will also be published in multiple languages at the request of the authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            In addition, authors, editors and reviewers are being encouraged to use gender neutral language in their papers when possible. And in an effort to be respectful of the transgender community, name changes can be incorporated retroactively to past publications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Meyerson said that other scientific journals are beginning to make diversity statements and attempting to address similar concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cWhen we look at the sciences, they tend to be dominated by North Americans and Europeans, mostly by white males,\u201d she said. \u201cThere has been huge progress in recent years, and countries like Japan and China and India have produced fantastic science and are leading us in so many ways. But in general, it\u2019s still an issue across the sciences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The papers will be published together in an introductory section of the January 2022 issue of Biological Invasions<\/em>, but they will be available online Nov. 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 16, 2021 \u2013 A 溏心vlog免费B站 researcher and colleagues who study invasive species have published a series of articles in the journal Biological Invasions aimed at identifying and addressing concerns about diversity, equity and inclusion in the journal, which they believe will lead to a better understanding of invasive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78176"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78184,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78176\/revisions\/78184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}