Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
in Sage Research Methods
Sage Research Methods collections are curated to provide a comprehensive resource to support research skills training, and to help users learn about research from start to finish. As a product team, we are committed to publishing a diverse range of content, perspectives, and tools, as well as representations of people and populations throughout these collections. We also have commitments regarding platform inclusivity and accessibility.
Our core diversity, equity, and inclusion pledges are below, followed by a list of our product priorities in 2024. We invite feedback from our customers and partners about this at any time; please be open and clear with us about any areas you would like to see changed or improved. If you have comments or feedback about these aims, please direct them to librarymktg@sagepub.com or for a personal contact, to Michael Carmichael, Senior Director, Editorial Library at michael.carmichael@sagepub.co.uk.
Our pledges
Representing diverse research topics. We pledge to be extra vigilant in our practice to publish content that explores social science research relating to diverse communities of people, including BIPOC/BAME and different gender groups, LGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities. Our aim is for all our readers and viewers to find themselves and their experiences reflected in our content.
Placing inclusive design and accessibility at the heart of our product design principles. We pledge to ensure our platform is designed with inclusion at its heart, avoiding designs that will exclude any user. We pledge to achieve high standards for accessibility for these platforms, specifically to maintain a minimum of WCAG AA conformance and Sections 504 and 508 compliance (Rehabilitation Act of 1973) so that our users are engaged and not excluded.
Showcasing a diversity of voices. We pledge to include a diverse range of voices and perspectives within our content from across the academic spectrum, to assist academic conversations and to heighten educational and research attainment for our end users.
Encouraging a diverse referencing practice. We pledge to work with our contributors to ensure that their content cites or references work from a wide range of scholarly sources, in particular the work of racial and ethnic groups, women, LGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities.
Anti-racism, anti-discrimination, and decolonization. We pledge to continue to publish content that promotes anti-racist and anti-discrimination scholarship and practice and educates readers and viewers on the latest research insights into themes of diversifying and decolonizing research practice.
Key initiatives underway in 2024
The Editorial team is working to significantly expand and diversify its author, contributor, and peer review networks by engaging with researchers, groups, and organizations that are under-represented. This work will be applied to both new and updates of existing Sage Research Methods products.
Related to this, the same team has started capturing voluntary, self-reported, and anonymous demographic data of our published authors and contributors. Data collected through a secure questionnaire is being used by the Editorial team as a guide to inform progress around the representation aims as expressed in the above pledges.
In connection with our final pledge above, the Product team is working on a new multimedia collection for launch in 2024 entitled Diversifying and Decolonizing Research. An external Editorial Advisory Board is being assembled to guide our internal Editorial team in its content planning and direction.
In preparation for this new launch and to support our wider pledges, a program of work to audit any platform decolonization and diversification needs has begun in earnest, especially in relation to the product ontology and Methods Map, and will be completed by the start of 2024.
Finally, as part of our mission to support a more optimized, accessible, and inclusive experience on the SRM platform, a project is underway to address accessibility-related issues on the platform identified by a third-party accessibility evaluator, Tech For All. The assessment was done by expert consultants who live with disabilities themselves, and this work should be completed by mid-2024. This work will fit into four broad categories of accessibility: 1) labeling and semantics; 2) screen reader and keyboard navigation; 3) text arrangement; and 4) color contrast set-up.