Inclusionary data collection provides demographic information on individuals involved in scholarly research and publishing. The Joint Commitment for action on inclusion and diversity in publishing, a collective of publishers led by the Royal Society of Chemistry, has developed a standardized approach to collecting self-reported gender identity, race, and ethnicity (GRE) data. A set of standardized GRE schemas, endorsed in April 2022 by the Joint Commitment, are available for all publishers wishing to present the standardized GRE questions. This approach offers the potential for global analysis and benchmarking across a shared set of anonymized self-reported GRE data.
EM features two options for inclusionary data collection.
The experience for end-users is virtually the same with both data collection options. The only difference is that publishers using their own external system may choose to change the survey questions, which then requires users to access the survey again.
Users access the survey via a link contained in a question presented in EM on the Registration Questions page. The question is presented to all new and existing users logging in with the Author role. Other roles can be excluded from presentation of this question.
The system presents the question to existing users the first time they log in (with a role that is not excluded) after the feature is enabled. The question is presented to new users when they log in after registration confirmation. The question also appears on the Update My Information page, which allows users to change their responses at any time.
Publishers can integrate an external system with EM via API to present a survey to users and store the responses in the external environment. Publishers are encouraged to follow the guidelines from the Joint Commitment when designing their inclusionary data collection system.
If the publisher updates its survey questions in the external system, a new EM question must be configured and the original one retired. The new question will be presented to all Authors (and other roles that are not excluded) the next time they log in and to new users when they log in after registration confirmation.
EM questions that have been retired from use are suppressed on user-facing pages and will no longer appear on the Update My Information page and Search People – Update Information page.
This option provides a standardized three-question diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) survey. New users and existing users logging in with a role that is not excluded are required to access the survey and respond to each of the three questions. "Prefer not to disclose" is available as a valid response. User responses are stored in a cloud database hosted by Aries, and each publisher owns its own data.
Publications using the standardized option can run reports on the anonymized DEI data from within EM. Editors with permission can access this report via an Inclusionary Data Collection Report link on the Reports page. This tool enables Editors with permission to define and save reports, view results onscreen, and download report results.
For more information and to enable this feature, contact your Aries Account Coordinator.
For integration with an external system via API, configurations are made by the Account Coordinator based on the publication’s requirements. Wording of the instructional text presented on the EM question can be customized, and wording of the link label directing the user to the external survey can be customized.
For the standardized option, survey questions and wording of the instructional text and link presented in the EM question are all standard and are not customizable.
For both options, presentation of the question that links to the survey can be limited by role.
Go to PolicyManager > Registration and Login Policies > Configure Inclusionary Data Collection.
A system administrator can edit settings for role exclusions.
The wording of instructions and link text presented to users on the Registrations Questions page is shown on this page. For the external system option, previous versions that have been retired from use appear in gray text below the active question.
To enable Editor roles to use the report tool for the standardized option, go to RoleManager > Editor Roles. Grant permission to the applicable Editor roles:
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