Sage Journals: Diversity, equity, and inclusion pledge

We at Sage believe that diversity is a cornerstone of a vibrant culture.

We are proud to publish high quality, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary content from authors and editors of all backgrounds. We have clear commitments to showcasing a diverse range of content, as well as representations of people and populations, and are committed to platform inclusivity and accessibility.

The mission of Sage and our journals program is to build bridges to knowledge, which means enabling people from all backgrounds to contribute to scholarship and working to ensure our publishing processes are unencumbered by bias and prejudice. 

Our core DEI pledges are below. We will be open, honest, and clear about any areas in which we fall short and invite feedback from our patrons and partners about this at any time at info@sagepub.com. Our journals program will honor the following pledges through actions engendered and facilitated by our four internal working group “streams.” Read an outline and precis of our strategic charter.

Our Pledges

Amplify diverse voices. Our mission is to amplify diverse voices to challenge systems that create barriers for marginalized communities and to better understand the impact our scholarship has on those communities. We pledge to uplift voices that represent diverse interests and perspectives in both our existing and future scholarship, and to amplify underrepresented, silenced, or otherwise marginalized people to better inform public understanding.

Increase representation. We pledge to publish a diverse range of perspectives within our journals, including BIPOC/BAME, different gender groups, LGBTQIA+, and people with disabilities, in order to invigorate academic discourse and improve literature. We aim to increase ethnic, gender, and geographical diversity on our editorial boards, in peer review, and in our author base. We seek to interrogate what is considered cannon in our scholarship and decenter systems of knowledge production that are not intersectional or otherwise inclusive.

Increase visibility and impact of research. We are committed to increasing the visibility and impact of diverse and inclusive research in order to influence policy, practice, and public awareness.

Educate ourselves, our editors, and our societies. We pledge to produce resources and guidance for our staff and journal editors on improving diversity and inclusion in publishing. We aim to learn from each other and from our editors, authors, board members, and society partners. As we do so, we will actively seek to learn from people and groups that represent diverse backgrounds. We will further embed diversity, equity and inclusion in our recruitment and peer review processes, as well as hold all involved – especially Sage staff and journal editors – accountable for maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment. We vow to challenge the status quo in journals publishing.   

Ensure research is widely accessible. We pledge to continually enhance the Sage Journals platform and expand our content delivery to reach to the broadest audience. We are committed to disseminating research and teaching materials widely, and we support informational mining. We strive to embrace accessibility improvements to ensure as many as possible can access our research and journal content.

Encouraging diverse and equitable language and referencing. We pledge to work with our partners to ensure we work from a wide range of scholarly sources, in particular the work of underrepresented racial, ethnic, and indigenous groups; women and other genders; LGBTQIA+ people; and people with disabilities. We aim to ensure that the content published in our journals is free from bias, is representative of our diverse readerships, and that the language is inclusive and sensitive to our communities.

Anti-racism and anti-discrimination. We pledge to continue to publish journal content that promotes anti-racist and anti-discrimination scholarship and practice and educates readers on the latest research on prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination in all its forms. We pledge to agitate existing structures that systemically work against an inclusive research publishing domain.