The world’s largest science publishers wield enormous influence – publishing research and commentary that informs practice and policy globally and advancing the values of health, sustainability, and collaboration. Over the past decade, science publishers have embraced a role and responsibility in promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in research [1], and in particular have, since 2018 amidst the #metoo and #timesup era, taken a leading position to overcome gender inequality, including in their own publishing practices [2–5],
Fig 1. Median gender pay gap over time, UK science publishers and organisations. Source: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0004673
A key dimension of gender equality is valuing women’s work and ensuring their economic empowerment. A key indicator of gender equality in workplaces is transparency and equality of pay. Since 2017, the United Kingdom (UK) has mandated organisations employing more than 250 people to publicly report their annual gender pay gap [https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/]. Eight years of data, across more than 10,000 companies in 2024, are now available to assess the extent to which gaps exist in how leading science publishers pay the women and men on their staff, and to review progress since 2018 when we first wrote in The Lancet about the inequities of gender gaps in pay [6]. Of course, leading publishers don’t just support research – they profit handsomely from it via the massive US$32.1 billion annual science publishing market [7]. Therefore, their employment practices deserve scrutiny especially in light of stated commitments to equality.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
