Taking Responsibility

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

We are proud to play an active role in promoting and celebrating diversity, equity and inclusion across our company and through our publications and other activities.

At Springer Nature, our mission is to open doors to discovery, enabling millions of researchers, educators, clinicians and other professionals to access, trust and make sense of the latest insights so together we can improve and enrich lives and help to protect our planet for future generations. We believe that diversity, equity and inclusion are essential to achieving this mission. 

We commit to championing diversity, equity and inclusion in the communities we serve, using our networks and brands. We will work to eliminate barriers to creating, discovering and using knowledge, and supporting equitable outcomes in learning and advancing scholarship — from young learners to PhD-level and beyond.
 

    Trapezium

    Opening doors to discovery for all © Springer NatureDEI is one of our highest priorities. 
    Our DEI strategy has two main streams: an internal focus on our organisation; and another external view into the research, education and professional communities that we are part of. 

    Championing diversity, equity and inclusion

    We leverage our internal and external networks, brands and voice to champion diversity, equity and inclusion in the research, education and professional communities we work with. 

     

    In recent years, we have taken steps across our portfolio, aiming to improve representation and amplify the voices of underrepresented perspectives, and to make our products and services more accessible. We know there is more to be done and we commit to driving progress. 

    Read more about why our role in advocating for greater diversity, equity and inclusion extends into our external networks, in this Springboard blog.

    We are truly committed to reducing inequalities in the spheres where we operate. To help us achieve our mission to open doors to discovery for all, we have a strategic framework, outlining where we can make a difference and how we will take action.

    Conference © Shutterstock / Aiempp147

    1. Clearly communicate our position and ambition for DEI by developing and widely sharing the principles on which we base our engagement with our communities and business partners.
    2. Collect and use reliable data on DEI opportunity in our communities to measure, monitor and further our progress by developing best practices of data collection and reporting

    3. In our published content and events: actively promote DEI by positively profiling the work of authors, researchers and academics from underrepresented groups in all stages of their careers and do so accessibly for all audiences. Promote better research practice through our policies.

    4. For our commissioned authors, peer reviewers and editorial board members: further increase diverse representation by engaging and supporting our external networks.

    5. In our supply chain: diversify our publishing supply chain by putting transparent processes in place to create and track new business relationships. 

    6. With the research and education communities that we work, research and understand structural barriers to equality in those communities, by leveraging our networks, brands, voice and convening power to facilitate the wider sharing and discovery of research, data and perspectives.

    7. With our communities, societies, policymakers and funders, address structural barriers to opportunity in publishing by forming partnerships and actively working with others (with focus on the Global South and inherited privilege of elite institutions).


    Commitment to DEI in Springer Nature’s Research Publishing division

    Publishing research that is representative of the entire research community and reflects the growing diversity among researchers, enriches our ability to pose questions and to find solutions to challenges in research and beyond.

    Springer Nature has recently agreed to a set of principles so that expectations are clear about how we will take a more active role in accelerating progress on equality, diversity and inclusion. We hope this will, over time, lead to a greater representation of currently under-represented groups in our published content and events. Our commitment to diversity is now shared alongside our other Springer Nature publishing policies and a more detailed set of priorities for Nature Research. We will be taking action to improve diversity and inclusion in the conferences we organise, and in our commissioned content, the peer review population and editorial boards.

    "Given the extent of Springer Nature’s interactions with researchers, institutions, funders and wider society, we feel we have a duty to do more to actively address diversity in research and to support others in doing so."

    Magdalena Skipper,

    Editor in Chief, Nature & Chief Editorial Advisor, Nature Research

    Journals at Springer Nature

    Diversity © offset.com

    Explore Springer Nature content about diversity, equity and inclusion

    Building partnerships

    We partner with organisations who play a vital role in improving diversity, equity and inclusion. We are a signatory to the Publishers Association’s 10 point Inclusivity Action Plan, the Joint Commitment for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing, the Charta der Vielfalt (German Charter of Diversity) as well as being a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a member of the Valuable 500.