LB 6-52 - Barriers to Publishing in the Ecological Sciences

Two significant changes in the ecological research landscape are occurring simultaneously: new commitments to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in Ecology and a shift towards Open Access (OA) publishing through author-pays models. Conversations around these issues are largely independent of one another. However, the issues are interwoven and considering them in isolation could exacerbate barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Given the importance of scholarly publishing in hiring and promotion, it is critical to consider the disproportionate impacts of barriers to publishing to underrepresented and marginalized groups.With support from the National Science Foundation, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) conducted a community survey in late summer 2022 to quantify barriers to publishing, with particular attention to potential impacts of the shift to OA publishing models. The survey was widely distributed to recent authors in ecology; 842 participants from 64 countries who represent a range of experience responded to the survey. Demographics of survey respondents provide insight into the current diversity of ecology authors. Half of the early career respondents identify as female, but that percentage declines markedly among those with more years of experience. Similarly, US authors from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups are best represented among early career researchers, but still only reach a maximum representation of one in seven respondents - a figure vastly out of line with current US demographics. Further, the survey results show significant gaps in publishing history based on gender, race, and geography. While publishing was most highly correlated to years of experience, females published significantly fewer papers than males (7.2 articles versus 11.9 articles per three years). Funding was the only significant barrier reported during the pre-submission phase of publishing. 73% of respondents said that they did not publish their last paper in an open access format due to lack of funds. Females and respondents from outside the US and Europe reported a significantly higher barrier score for funding than males and authors from the US and Europe. Further, the cost of publishing open access is a concern that prevents authors from submitting to their top-choice journal, especially for females and Hispanic respondents. Of those respondents that published open access, 19% reported using personal funds to finance the publication. These results show that an uneven field already exists in scholarly publishing and suggest that barriers to publishing will be exacerbated as more publishers move to author pays models for publishing.