Elsevier

Clinics in Dermatology

Volume 40, Issue 6, November–December 2022, Pages 820-821
Clinics in Dermatology

Editorial Lawrence Charles Parish, MD, MDC(Hon), Editor-in-Chief
The essential role of dermatology publications in enhancing professional diversity, equity, and inclusion

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clindermatol.2021.07.016Get rights and content

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Organizational aspects

  • Worldwide coordination of dermatological organizations is necessary to foster DEI in the dermatology literature.

  • Dermatology journals and other media should ensure diversity and inclusion in their editorial boards, peer review communities, and management teams.

Publications and content

  • Dermatology journals and their reviewers should challenge prejudice in submitted articles whenever encountered. Journals should consider rejecting papers describing results from patient cohorts that do not represent the wider patient population from the region.

  • Editorial content should be broadened to include DEI efforts and programs. Journals should invite articles targeted at diversity topics and reach out to authors from underrepresented communities. Periodic reports quantifying diversity

Research and development

Journals and professional media have an important role and responsibility in disseminating new information. The data collected should be of the highest possible quality. For that reason:

  • Electronic health records should contain prompts to ensure recording of skin color and diversity of gender identification and racial and ethnic background, and the detailed reporting of these data should be in accepted articles.

  • Drug companies, clinical research organizations, and institutions should ensure that

Conclusions

Although the above list is not exhaustive, and precise methodology must be developed, the intention is to drive change and support efforts to improve DEI in dermatology and other specialties. It requires all of us to integrate DEI considerations into every facet of dermatology publishing to ensure we lead the way in wider societal change.

Conflict of interest

S.B. and L.A.G. receive editorial stipends from VisualDx. N.C.D. receives an authorship honorarium from VisualDx. J.R.I. receives a stipend as Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Dermatology and an authorship honorarium from UpToDate. He is a consultant for UCB Pharma, Boehringer Ingelheim, ChemoCentryx and Novartis and has served on advisory boards for Viela Bio and Kymera Therapeutics in the field of hidradenitis suppurativa.

References (2)

  • S Burgin et al.

    Dermatological education for the 21st century: prioritizing diversity

    Br J Dermatol

    (2021)
  • UK Okoji et al.

    Equity in skin typing: why it is time to replace the Fitzpatrick scale

    Br J Dermatol

    (2021)

Cited by (0)

Introduction You have to note that this was published simultaneouly in the Br J Dermatol 2021; 185:473-474

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