Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2023.2840
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Academic publishing requires linguistically inclusive policies
Author Arenas-Castro, H.; Berdejo-Espinola, V.; Chowdhury, S.; Rodríguez-Contreras, A.; James, A.R.M.; Nussaïbah, B.R.; Dunne, E.M.; Bertolino, S.; Emidio, N.B.; Derez, C.M.; Drobniak, S.M.; Fulton, G.R.; Henao-Diaz, L.F.; Kaur, A.; Kim, C.J.S.; Lagisz, M.; Medina, I.; Mikula, P.; Narayan, V.P.; O'Bryan, C.J.; Oh, R.R.Y. ORCID logo ; Ovsyanikova, E.; Pérez-Hämmerle, K.-V.; Pottier, P.; Powers, J.S.; Rodriguez-Acevedo, A.J.; Rozak, A.H.; Sena, P.H.A.; Sockhill, N.J.; Tedesco, A.M.; Tiapa-Blanco, F.; Tsai, J.-S.; Villarreal-Rosas, J.; Wadgymar, S.M.; Yamamichi, M.; Amano, T.
Source Titel Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences
Year 2024
Department BioP
Volume 291
Issue 2018
Page From art. 20232840
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10386753
Supplements https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/suppl/10.1098/rspb.2023.2840
Keywords language barriers; academic publishing; inclusivity; biological sciences; society journals
Abstract Scientific knowledge is produced in multiple languages but is predominantly published in English. This practice creates a language barrier to generate and transfer scientific knowledge between communities with diverse linguistic backgrounds, hindering the ability of scholars and communities to address global challenges and achieve diversity and equity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). To overcome those barriers, publishers and journals should provide a fair system that supports non-native English speakers and disseminates knowledge across the globe. We surveyed policies of 736 journals in biological sciences to assess their linguistic inclusivity, identify predictors of inclusivity, and propose actions to overcome language barriers in academic publishing. Our assessment revealed a grim landscape where most journals were making minimal efforts to overcome language barriers. The impact factor of journals was negatively associated with adopting a number of inclusive policies whereas ownership by a scientific society tended to have a positive association. Contrary to our expectations, the proportion of both open access articles and editors based in non-English speaking countries did not have a major positive association with the adoption of linguistically inclusive policies. We proposed a set of actions to overcome language barriers in academic publishing, including the renegotiation of power dynamics between publishers and editorial boards.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=28946
Arenas-Castro, H., Berdejo-Espinola, V., Chowdhury, S., Rodríguez-Contreras, A., James, A.R.M., Nussaïbah, B.R., Dunne, E.M., Bertolino, S., Emidio, N.B., Derez, C.M., Drobniak, S.M., Fulton, G.R., Henao-Diaz, L.F., Kaur, A., Kim, C.J.S., Lagisz, M., Medina, I., Mikula, P., Narayan, V.P., O'Bryan, C.J., Oh, R.R.Y., Ovsyanikova, E., Pérez-Hämmerle, K.-V., Pottier, P., Powers, J.S., Rodriguez-Acevedo, A.J., Rozak, A.H., Sena, P.H.A., Sockhill, N.J., Tedesco, A.M., Tiapa-Blanco, F., Tsai, J.-S., Villarreal-Rosas, J., Wadgymar, S.M., Yamamichi, M., Amano, T. (2024):
Academic publishing requires linguistically inclusive policies
Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci. 291 (2018), art. 20232840 10.1098/rspb.2023.2840