Journal of Cyber Policy launches diversity and inclusion initiative

1 Dec 2022 10:29 AM

Initiative will support the integration of diversity and inclusion practices throughout its processes and publications.

In 2023, the Journal of Cyber Policy will launch a new initiative to support the integration of diversity and inclusion practices throughout its internal processes, and in its publications.

A manifesto, published in full on the journal website, details actions to address three key areas:

Improving gender representation:

The gender disparity of authorship in journals in an ongoing issue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the journal saw a dramatic decrease in submissions by authors identifying as women. Building on the success of ‘50:50 in 2020’ – an initiative led by the Chatham House publication, International Affairs – the journal commits to increasing the authorship of people identifying as women and non-binary and publishing articles that apply a gendered analysis to research.  

It will do this by: 

• Inviting authors to volunteer anonymous gender identity and sexual orientation data;
• Publishing an annual report including gender balance statistics;
• Engaging with organizations committed to increasing diversity and inclusion in technology and cyber policy.

Increasing diversity of authorship

The dominance of Anglo- and Eurocentric voices in the cyber policy discourse is not reflective of the global reach of cyber policy and cyber-related issues. The initiative commits the journal’s editorial board and team to amplifying diverse voices from around the world by:

• Increasing the diversity of published voices beyond the Eurocentric ones; 
• Ensuring the journal includes a diverse range of methodological and philosophical perspectives beyond traditional academic practices; 
• Promoting scholarship on new, emerging, or under-explored areas of cyber policy to encourage more diverse voices to contribute to the journal;
• Mentoring authors who belong to an under-represented community or are at an early-career stage;
• Publishing a special ‘mentored’ issue of the journal in 2026.

Ensuring transparency and accountability  

The initiative acknowledges that achieving diversity and inclusion is a continuous process that must be reflected upon and tailored regularly. The journal’s annual diversity and inclusion report will hold the publication to account by reporting on the previous year’s activities and outlining the journal’s evolving diversity and inclusion goals. The first report will be published at the end of 2023.
 
Chair of the journal’s editorial board, Dr Patricia Lewis, said:

‘Efforts to improve diversity and inclusion in cyber policy – and in publishing – have been largely limited to increasing diverse participation and representation.

‘These efforts are important, but it is critical to recognize that diversity and inclusion must go beyond representation. We need to embed diverse practices and inclusive values throughout all aspects of a journal’s work. Our initiative is ambitious, but its commitments are overdue and necessary. We hope that our initiative will encourage change to make the field more accessible, inclusive and diverse. The Journal of Cyber Policy should be a space that amplifies diverse voices.’