Now in its fourth year, this annual report highlights ACS Publications' ongoing DEIR efforts and provides a demographic overview of our author, reviewer, editorial, and Editorial Advisory Board communities.
ACS Publications has released its fourth annual Diversity Data Report, providing an in-depth analysis of its ongoing DEIR efforts and the demographic composition of its author, reviewer, editorial, and EAB communities. This data serves as a critical tool for identifying opportunities to enhance representation and assessing the effectiveness of targeted strategies aimed at addressing inequity within our journals and ensuring our journal communities are reflective of the global nature of science.
Key Highlights
Current Diversity Initiatives
ACS Publications remains committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and respect. Building upon the commitments made in June 2020, we continue to envision new ways of advancing these goals as well as implementing new programs. These initiatives complement our ongoing efforts to diversify our journal communities and create a more equitable publishing ecosystem.
Demographic Data
The demographic data for this report come from information provided by ACS Publishing Center (formerly ACS Paragon Plus) users with their consent to analyze and report exclusively in aggregate. Users were prompted to update their profiles with demographic information at first login starting in May 2023, and they may choose to defer providing responses or update their responses at any time. Change over time is reported as change in relative proportions of demographic groups, with year-over-year changes in demographic distributions evaluated for statistical significance.
Gender Representation
The proportion of authors, reviewers, editors, and EAB members who identify as women underwent notable increases between 2022 and 2024 , while men comprised the largest percentage of ACS journal user groups by gender identity during this time. Women comprise significantly higher proportions of editors and EAB members compared with their representation among authors and reviewers in 2024, and the 10-year trend in editor and EAB member gender demographics continued to show a consistent increase in the proportion of women in these ACS journal user groups. This is the first ACS Publications Diversity Data Report to share demographics of transgender identity among ACS journal user groups; 1.5-1.8% of ACS journal authors, reviewers, editors, and EAB members identified as transgender.
Geographic Representation
The geographic regions most highly represented among ACS journal communities between 2022 and 2024 have been East Asia & Pacific, Europe & Central Asia, South Asia, and the United States & Canada. Most authors and reviewers are located in countries of East Asia & Pacific; the proportion of both authors and reviewers from this region increased over time. Authors and reviewers from South Asia increased as a percentage of total authors and reviewers between 2022 and 2024, and this is the region with the fourth highest representation. The United States & Canada is the most highly represented region among editors and EAB members, though proportional representation from individuals located in East Asia & Pacific, as well as South Asia among editors and EAB members increased over time in a trend similar to that observed among authors and reviewers during the 2022-2024 period captured in this report.
Race Representation
ACS Publications’ 2024 Diversity Data Report is the first to distinguish between racial and ethnic identity, as these were separated into two different demographic questions for the first time. Individuals identifying as East Asian or Pacific Islander and White together comprise >80% of ACS journal authors, reviewers, editors, and EAB members.. Statistically significant changes in demographic distributions of authors and reviewers occurred between 2022 and 2024, with an overall trend of increasing representation of most racial identity groups balanced by a decrease in the percentage of individuals identifying as White.
Ethnicity Representation
The ethnic identity groups with highest representation among ACS journal authors and reviewers in 2024 were East & Central Asia, Eastern Europe, South & Southeast Asia, and Western Europe, together accounting for ≥85% of authors and reviewers. Approximately 90% of editors and EAB members have an ethnicity of East and Central Asian, Eastern European, South and Southeast Asian, or Western European. The ethnic identity group with the largest increase in representation among authors and reviewers between 2022 and 2024 was South & Southeast Asian.
Career Stage Representation
The demographics of ACS journal user groups by career stage (defined by number of years post-doctorate completion) notably shifted to higher representation by early career researchers, with the largest gains made among reviewers completing reviews and all authors of published manuscripts. Representation of early career researchers as editors and EAB members also increased between 2022 and 2024, albeit at lower rates; this growth is supported by the expansion of early career researcher-focused roles at ACS journals: topic editors and early career advisory board (ECAB) members.
Disability and Accessibility
The 2024 Diversity Data Report is the first version of this report to share data on the prevalence of disabilities impacting how ACS journal users may read, review, and/or submit manuscripts to ACS Publications, as well as the use of assistive technology tools to complete those tasks. Similar proportions of author and reviewer groups reported an applicable disability in 2024 (1.3-1.6%), with 0.9% of editors and 1.3% of EAB members indicating the same. The most frequently used assistive technology tools among all ACS journal user groups in 2024 were screen readers, text readers, and assistive keyboards; approximately 90% of ACS journal users do not utilize any accessibility tools.
In the Future
ACS Publications continues to leverage the data from this report, community feedback, and broader scholarly industry discussions to develop and assess changes to our procedures and programs. These adjustments will aim to address systemic issues in peer review, editor selection, accessibility, and other factors impacting diversity in scientific publications. We aim to ensure that the demographics of individuals involved in creating content and deciding what is published in ACS journals are representative of the demographics of the global chemistry community.