Canadian Science Publishing signs the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Publishers Compact

At the end of last year, world leaders met in Glasgow, UK, for the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to discuss action on the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. COP26 explored how countries could deliver more ambitious pledges and make stronger commitments to dramatically reduce emissions to limit climate change.

While the meeting did produce an agreement, many were disappointed that the meeting failed to directly provide support and resources to vulnerable countries that are facing some of the worst impacts of climate change. The message is clear that action in this decade is crucial.

The very first key point in the draft COP26 document “recognizes the importance of the best available science for effective climate action and policymaking”, and stresses the urgency of increased ambition and action by all nations to reduce emissions and global warming. It is clear that science is at the core of what is required to improve the understanding of climate change drivers, its impacts, and potential solutions.

At Canadian Science Publishing (CSP), we have been reflecting on the outcomes of COP26 and this has inspired us to think about ways that we can drive positive social change.

A natural first step was for CSP to become a signatory of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Publishers Compact. This means that CSP has made a commitment to developing sustainable practices and to act as champions of the SDGs during the Decade of Action (2020-2030).

The 17 SDGs cover a broad range of global challenges including gender equality, zero hunger, reduced inequalities, no poverty, and quality education. We will focus on publishing content that will help inform, develop, and inspire action to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

In addition to our broad commitment to all 17 goals, our main focus in 2022 will be Goal 13: Climate Action, Goal 14: Life Below Water, and Goal 15: Life on Land. CSP is already at the forefront of these SDGs through its publications in environmental sciences, life sciences, and engineering.

NEW | Read our free access SDG Collections

Relevant content that supports and amplifies the SDGs

In 2021, a special issue devoted to celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research (CJFR) highlighted impactful papers exploring the evolution of forest science as a discipline and as the foundation of evidence-based sustainable forest management. A quick glance at the list of most read papers published recently in CJFR shows that readers are most interested in learning about adapting to future wildfire regimes, climate-smart forestry, optimal forest management, and the state of remaining old-growth forests (highly productive ecosystems that serve as climate change refugia) that we are losing due to logging in western Canada.

Our fully open-access journal, Arctic Science, publishes research focusing on science and engineering in the northern polar regions, a part of the globe that is experiencing the effects of rapid climate change. Some of the most popular papers that have been discussed in blogs, social media platforms, and news outlets in the last 5 years include:

• Trends in body condition in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from the Southern Hudson Bay subpopulation in relation to changes in sea ice
• Tundra shrub expansion may amplify permafrost thaw by advancing snowmelt timing
• Patterns of uncertainty in life-history and extinction risk for Arctic vertebrates
• Social-ecological changes and implications for understanding the declining beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) harvest in Aklavik, Northwest Territories
• Vulnerability of northern water supply lakes to changing climate and demand

Many of these papers also accompany jargon-free plain-language summaries on the Arctic Science Medium webpage so scientists can expand the reach of their work.

Photo | Sarah Schembri

We have featured blog posts on the CSP blog about SDG-related articles published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Recent posts shed new light on the ecological impacts of oil spills, how anthropogenic debris including plastics ended up in the stomachs of freshwater birds, and why young rockfish were thriving after an unusually warm marine heatwave in the Pacific Ocean.

Our multi-disciplinary open-access journal, FACETS, has just launched a call for papers, to examine science-based approaches for integrating climate change into the design, monitoring, and management of Canadian marine conservation areas. The journal publishes papers in a unique Integrative Sciences section that provides a platform to discuss the role of science in our society to fill knowledge gaps in critical areas. Many of these papers have been well-cited and downloaded thousands of times by researchers, educators, policy makers, resource managers, industry practitioners, and the public.

It is evident that the research we publish in our journals engages directly with the SDGs by providing solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges associated with climate change, global health, sustainability, and food security.

In 2022, we will create a dedicated place on our website to highlight the content we have published that aligns with each of these goals, with the aim of making this content more discoverable to a wider audience. Our editorial team will focus on showcasing relevant research articles, cross-journal themed collections, interviews with experts, and other new initiatives aligning with the key themes of these SDGs. We are also looking forward to raising awareness about sustainability issues among our colleagues and empowering them to bring this knowledge to the work that they do at CSP.

How can journal authors contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

Dr. Liette Vasseur, Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Botany, UNESCO chairholder, and Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Brock University offers her perspectives below on how botanists can contribute directly or indirectly to the SDG goals 13, 14, and 15 by engaging in fundamental or applied research:

Dr. Vasseur adds, “On a personal level, all of us have the power to contribute to some of the other SDGs. As reported by the OECD (2020), 107 of the 169 goals can only be achieved at the local level. Therefore, we all have a role to play to contribute to their achievements.”

Photo | Devin Empey

What has CSP achieved so far?

Our commitment to the Compact is reflected in our practices to improve the standards of research reporting in the scientific literature that we publish. The actions outlined below have either been implemented recently or are in the final stages of implementation and align with several of the SDG goals.

• CSP supports Research4Life, which provides developing countries with free or low-cost access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content online (Goal 4: Quality Education).
• CSP endorses the SAGER guidelines (Sex and Gender Equity in Research) and encourages authors to include sex and gender considerations where relevant (Goal 5: Gender Equality).
• We are currently developing author guidelines for reporting the steps authors have taken to reduce the environmental footprint of their work (e.g., by limiting travel, using recyclable materials) (Goal 13: Climate Action).
• In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we created a Coronavirus Research collection consisting of all our coronavirus and related content and made all the content freely accessible to help support and inform researchers, public health professionals, policymakers, and the general public. The articles we published addressed the pandemic’s impacts on human physical and mental health, the education system, scientific research and related operations, the environment, and the economy within Canada and across the globe. Many of these issues are at the heart of many of the SDGs including Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), Goal 4 (Quality Education), and Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities).

Photo | Christina Linkem

Where do we go from here?

There are several other projects and initiatives we are undertaking that aim to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. For example, while reflecting upon the communities that we support and with encouragement from the editorial board, we recognized that the Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems needed to be renamed as the term “unmanned” was neither gender neutral nor gender inclusive. We changed the name of the journal to Drone Systems and Applications effective January 1, 2022 (Goal 5: Gender Equality).

As a not-for-profit, mission-driven organization, CSP is taking action to build a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive culture both within the company and within its journal communities. In 2020, CSP partnered with the Laurier Centre for Women in Science (WinS) to conduct an analysis of our existing publication and peer review data through an equity, diversity, and inclusion lens.

The study results will give CSP a baseline understanding of the identities represented in our journal communities (editors, authors, reviewers) and how they have affected the science we publish. Equipped with this information, CSP will be better positioned to begin the work of identifying and deconstructing barriers that omit or limit participation of underrepresented groups in our journals. (Goal 5: Gender Equality).

We eliminated print runs for our journals for the 2023 subscription year and onwards. We are also committed to looking more closely at our company’s environmental sustainability initiatives, for example, by reviewing the paper type that we use for printing in the office, evaluating our carbon footprints if we resume business-related travel in the new year, and requiring our vendors and distribution partners to comment on their sustainability measures (Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production).

At the end of next year, we will report on CSP’s progress towards fulfilling the goals of the Publishers Compact and identify gaps to be addressed in future years. We are committed to making a difference and would love to hear your ideas on how CSP can advocate for and support the SDGs.

About Sherestha Saini

Sherestha Saini is the Managing Editor for the Biological and Environmental Sciences Journals portfolio at Canadian Science Publishing. She developed a love for research and scientific communication during a marine biology internship at the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa, India. She moved to the U.S. where she earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology-Rutgers University. Her academic training exposed her to a wide range of environmental problems including coastal pollution, shoreline erosion, and impacts of coastal habitat loss and alteration on species like horseshoe crabs. Prior to joining CSP, she was a Senior Editor at Springer Nature where she worked with researchers around the world to develop and launch new books, major reference works, and journals in Earth & Environmental Sciences. As a scientist-turned-publisher, she is extremely passionate about learning how scientific discoveries are made and communicated. She is excited to explore ways to increase the visibility and discoverability of CSP’s SDG-related content and to lead the company’s commitments to align with the UN SDG Publishers Compact’s objectives.

Updated June 13, 2022