Editors’ Note: Second Annual Report Regarding JAACAP’s Antiracist Journey

In 2020, we wrote to you of our dedication and vision for this Journal “to be antiracist at every level,” outlining the following 6 initiatives “to reshape the Journal to pursue this vision:” (1) Issuing a Call for Papers on racism and its impacts on child development and children’s mental health; (2) updating our Guide for Authors to emphasize that we will evaluate articles submitted to the Journal on whether their study designs are inclusive and their discussions consider and address human diversity and structural determinants of health in the context of their research questions and hypotheses; (3) assembling a special collection of Journal articles on bias, bigotry, discrimination, racism, and mental health inequities; (4) accelerating our efforts to make our Editorial Board inclusive and representative of our community of scientists and practitioners as well as the communities we serve; (5) engaging in continuing education and dialogue as an Editorial Board that will include antiracism training and praxis; and (6) critically examining “our editorial and peer review process to ensure it is antiracist.”1Novins D.K. Althoff R.R. Cortese S. et al.Our vision: an antiracist journal.J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2020; 59: 1105-1106https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2020.06.010Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar In this Editors’ Note, we write to update you on our progress, including a new initiative we started in the past year: (7) a new option for authors to add a statement to their manuscripts regarding the inclusion and diversity initiatives and practices they employed in pursuing their work. With the launch this year of JAACAP Open, the Academy's new open access publication and the newest member of the JAACAP family of journals, we have expanded opportunities to pursue these efforts, and look forward to sharing more about JAACAP Open in future updates. 1.Our Call for Papers on the Effects of Race, Racism, Social Justice, and Health Equity on Child and Adolescent Mental Health continues to attract outstanding research, practice, and policy articles to the Journal.2American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. JAACAP author informationCall for papers on the effects of race, racism, social justice, and health equity on child and adolescent mental health.https://www.jaacap.org/content/authorinfoDate accessed: August 31, 2022Google Scholar Since its inception in August 2020 through September 2022, we have received 127 proposals and invited 55 submissions; 6 of these are currently under review, and 27 have been published. We have also received an increasing number of manuscripts on this topic that were not formally submitted under this Call for Papers. The impact of these articles on the content of each 2022 issue of the Journal was again substantial, with at least one article addressing these topics in each issue of the Journal and a total of 33 for the year compared to 27 in 2021 and 4 in 2020. Beginning in the October 2022 issue, articles published as part of a special series, including those resulting from this Call for Papers, will be denoted as such on the title page for increased visibility and awareness. Although manuscript proposals can be sent to us at any time at [email protected], this enduring Call for Papers now has 2 annual deadlines: June and December. In addition, our Book Forum included reviews of 4 books focused on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in 2022. JAACAP Connect, our companion developmental journal, devoted its second issue in 2022 to women in child and adolescent psychiatry. We thank in particular the Assistant Editors for our Book Forum, Julie Chilton and Craigan Usher, and our Connect Editors Anne McBride and J. Corey Williams, for their critical contributions to our work to reshape JAACAP and JAACAP Connect. As a scientific journal, there is perhaps no greater impact that we can have on our goal to support the elimination of racism’s role as a centrally important structural determinant of child and adolescent mental health than publishing articles such as these. 2.In April 2022, we added a Checklist for Reporting of Race and Ethnicity in Medical and Science Journals3Checklist for Reporting of Race and Ethnicity in Medical and Science Journals modified from JAMA.https://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/RaceandEthnicity_Checklist_v2.pdfDate accessed: August 31, 2022Google Scholar to our Guide for Authors.4American Academy of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryJAACAP guide for authors.https://www.jaacap.org/content/authorinfoDate accessed: August 31, 2022Google Scholar The checklist was developed using JAMA’s guidance in this area5Flanagin A. Frey T. Christiansen S.L. et al.Updated guidance on the reporting of race and ethnicity in medical and science journals.https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2783090Date accessed: August 31, 2022Google Scholar by the American Society of Nephrology.6American Society of NephrologyAdapted checklists.https://asnjournals.org/page/checklistsDate accessed: August 31, 2022Google Scholar We adopted this checklist for the Journal with ASN’s permission. The checklist provides detailed guidance regarding when, where, and how to report race and ethnicity in manuscripts.3Checklist for Reporting of Race and Ethnicity in Medical and Science Journals modified from JAMA.https://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/RaceandEthnicity_Checklist_v2.pdfDate accessed: August 31, 2022Google Scholar 3.Our Special Collection of Journal articles on bias, bigotry, racism, and mental health inequities is now continually updated as new articles are published in the Journal.7American Academy of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryBias, bigotry, racism, and mental health disparities special collection.https://www.jaacap.org/antiracismDate accessed: August 31, 2022Google Scholar This collection now includes 93 articles published since January 2018 (36 New Research, 5 special communications, 6 Reviews and Meta-Analyses, 6 Commentaries, 13 Clinical Perspectives and Translations, 6 Letters to the Editor, 10 Book Forum articles, 3 Attachments, and 14 Editorials). Articles in this collection are available at no cost to readers. 4.We have continued our efforts to make our editorial board and entire masthead inclusive and representative of our community of scientists and practitioners as well as the communities we serve. To reflect on diversity and inclusion and to monitor change over time, we now ask editors, reviewers, and authors to voluntarily provide sociodemographic information. Metrics for the 2022 JAACAP masthead and participants in our developmental programs are summarized in Tables 1 and 2. We will continue to report on the makeup of our masthead on an annual basis.Table 1JAACAP Masthead Self-Reported Demographic InformationEntire MastheadSenior EditorsEditorial Board2021 (n = 55)2022 (n = 58)2021 (n = 9)2022 (n = 10)2021 (n = 25)2022 (n = 25)Gender Intersex000000 Man2931441413 Nonbinary / Third Gender / Two-Spirit000000 Other000000 Transgender000000 Woman2427561112 Unanswered / prefer not to say200000Race American Indian or Alaska Native000000 Asian450122 Black or African American471123 More than one / mixed010000 Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander000000 Other000000 White4445882020 Unanswered / prefer not to say300010Ethnicity Hispanic or Latinx130001 Not Hispanic or Latinx50559102424 Unanswered / prefer not to say400010Note: “Senior Editors” is inclusive of the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor, and Deputy Editors. Entire Masthead includes these Senior Editors, Assistant Editors, Consulting Editors, award positions (John F. McDermott Assistant Editor-in-Residence, and the AACAP DEI Emerging Leaders Fellowship), Editorial Board, International Editors-at-Large, and Editors-at-Large for Methodology and Statistics. Data were collected from Editorial Manager and AACAP’s membership database. The schema used for data collection is currently under review and may be updated in future years. Open table in a new tab Table 2JAACAP Developmental Program Participants Self-Reported Demographic InformationParticipants2021 (n = 18)2022 (n = 18)Gender Intersex00 Man711 Nonbinary / Third Gender / Two-Spirit00 Other00 Transgender00 Woman910 Unanswered / prefer not to say22Race American Indian or Alaska Native00 Asian23 Black or African American22 More than one / mixed01 Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander00 Other00 White1014 Unanswered / prefer not to say41Ethnicity Hispanic or Latinx34 Not Hispanic or Latinx1116 Unanswered / prefer not to say41Note: Developmental Program Participants is inclusive of Contributing Editors, award positions (John F. McDermott Assistant Editor-in-Residence, and the AACAP DEI Emerging Leaders Fellowship), and JAACAP Connect Editorial Board Members (some overlap with JAACAP masthead). Data were collected from Editorial Manager and AACAP’s membership database. The schema used for data collection is currently under review and may be updated in future years. Open table in a new tab Note: “Senior Editors” is inclusive of the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor, and Deputy Editors. Entire Masthead includes these Senior Editors, Assistant Editors, Consulting Editors, award positions (John F. McDermott Assistant Editor-in-Residence, and the AACAP DEI Emerging Leaders Fellowship), Editorial Board, International Editors-at-Large, and Editors-at-Large for Methodology and Statistics. Data were collected from Editorial Manager and AACAP’s membership database. The schema used for data collection is currently under review and may be updated in future years. Note: Developmental Program Participants is inclusive of Contributing Editors, award positions (John F. McDermott Assistant Editor-in-Residence, and the AACAP DEI Emerging Leaders Fellowship), and JAACAP Connect Editorial Board Members (some overlap with JAACAP masthead). Data were collected from Editorial Manager and AACAP’s membership database. The schema used for data collection is currently under review and may be updated in future years. In 2022, building upon our efforts to make the criteria for becoming a member of the Journal’s masthead more transparent and to reduce bias in the selection of candidates, we used the process that we developed in 20218Novins DK, Althoff RR, Cortese S, et al. Editors’ note: first annual report regarding JAACAP’s antiracist journey. 2021;(60)12:1448-1451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2021.10.002Google Scholar when we selected the next John F. McDermott Assistant Editor-in-Residence. This was particularly timely, as it coincided with the final year of the terms of many members of the masthead, including 6 deputy editors, 3 consulting editors, 2 assistant editors, 3 international editors-at-large, and 7 editorial board members. We used an open application process. First, positions were posted on the Journal’s website and promoted through AACAP and JAACAP distribution lists, AACAP committee meetings, and social media. This posting included information on the central importance of “a demonstrated history of strong peer reviewing is an essential qualification for consideration for future editor and editorial board roles” and provided links for individuals to indicate an interest in peer reviewing for the Journal and/or apply for masthead roles.9American Academy of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryEditorial Opportunities.https://www.jaacap.org/editorial-opportunitiesDate accessed: August 31, 2022Google Scholar Drawing on the applications for editorial positions that we received, we assessed candidate qualifications using specific, a priori criteria, had selection committee members review applications independently, and worked toward consensus. The result is one of the most talented and diverse editorial teams in the Journal’s 60-year history. The same process was also used to recruit JAACAP Open’s inaugural masthead. Compared to 2021, the shifts in our masthead’s demographic profile is largely the result of more members providing demographic information in 2022 consequently having fewer “unanswered/prefer not to say” responses than we did last year. At the end of 2021, there was only 1 open position for the Editorial Board and 1 new position for our developmental programs, which limited our ability to build more diverse and inclusive team. Although the masthead has a relatively strong representation of women (47%), the inclusion of those who are historically under-represented in medicine (URiM) as editorial team members remains a major challenge (eg, 12% of the masthead self-identify as Black or African American, 9% as Asian, and 5% as Hispanic or Latinx). Addressing these inequities in inclusion was a major focus of our recruitment efforts this year (as noted above) and will continue to be in future years, as the number of open masthead positions will allow us to continue to transform the inclusion and representation of the Journal to better reflect our community of scientists and practitioners and the communities we serve. In terms of developmental programs, the Journal is now participating in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Emerging Leaders Fellowship. Our first JAACAP Fellow, Amalia Londoño Tobón, started her 2-year term in 2022. A second fellow will be selected by AACAP’s Diversity and Culture Committee for 2023-2024. As we noted last year, during their 2-year terms, JAACAP DEI Fellows will have the opportunity to build their peer review skills with the support of JAACAP’s senior editors; participate in a mentored scholarly project focused on antiracism, racism, social justice, and health equity in children’s mental health; and learn about scientific publishing, including attending the Council of Science Editors (CSE) Annual Meeting. In 2023, we anticipate issuing a call for applications for 8 positions on our Editorial Board, as well as for 2 of our developmental programs: the John F. McDermott Assistant Editor-in-Residence (1 position) and our Contributing Editors (6 positions). 5.Educational efforts for our masthead included sending members of our senior editorial team to the CSE Annual Meeting in May 2022. Topics covered at the meeting that were particularly relevant to our antiracism work included addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in publishing (highlighting the work of Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications, or C4DISC10Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly CommunicationsAbout the Coalition.https://c4disc.org/Date accessed: August 31, 2022Google Scholar), supporting early-career colleagues, advances in the use of plain language summaries for scientific articles, and the participation of individuals with lived experience in the editorial and peer review process. CSE is updating its Short Course on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (which was offered in May 2021), and we anticipate participating when it is next offered. We also continue to curate a resource library for masthead members with resources and additional reading related to DEI in child and adolescent psychiatry, medicine, and scholarly publishing. This work was also included as a topic at our fall 2022 all-masthead meeting. 6.We continue to explore additional approaches to reduce bias in our editorial and peer review processes. Toward this end, members of our senior editorial team attended the International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication, held in September 2022. Topics covered at the meeting that were particularly relevant to our antiracism work included the work of Joint Commitment for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing to develop and make available standardized questions for self-reported diversity data collection as well as several presentations regarding the diversity of editors, editorial boards, and reviewers.11Royal Society of ChemistryJoint commitment for action on inclusion and diversity in publishing.https://www.rsc.org/new-perspectives/talent/joint-commitment-for-action-inclusion-and-diversity-in-publishing/Date accessed: August 25, 2022Google Scholar In 2023, we plan to conduct a detailed analysis of our decisions to accept (and reject) manuscripts to help us identify biases in the editorial and peer review process. In a preliminary analysis that we conducted this year, we assessed the acceptance rate and authorship status (first-time submitters and AACAP membership) for manuscripts reviewed under our call for papers on the Effects of Race, Racism, Social Justice, and Health Equity on Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Manuscripts reviewed under this call for papers had an overall acceptance rate of 56% compared to all submissions (25%). Corresponding authors for papers submitted under the call for papers were more likely to be non-members (67%) and first-time submitters (58%), suggesting that the call for papers is attracting and providing publication opportunities to individuals who may not have previously considered JAACAP as an outlet for their work. 7.Diversity and Inclusion Statement. As part of our efforts to stay abreast of antiracism work in scientific publishing and to consider its applicability to the Journal, we identified the work of the editors of Cell Press to offer authors the option of including a statement describing the authors and elements of their study design as they relate to diversity and inclusion.12Cell Press inclusion and diversity statement FAQs.https://www.cell.com/inclusion-diversity-statement-faqsDate accessed: August 25, 2022Google Scholar With permission from Cell Press, we adapted the form for the Journal and piloted it from mid-April to mid-May 2022. It is now available to all authors submitting manuscripts to the Journal. The first diversity inclusion statement was published in the October issue of the Journal. Going forward, articles featuring these statements will be identified in the table of contents and in the articles themselves with a newly designed icon. Statements will appear at the end of full-length article abstracts and at the bottom of the first page for articles that do not include an abstract.13Sweet DJ. New at Cell Press: the inclusion and diversity statement. 2021;184(1):1-2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.12.019Google Scholar The questions that authors answer to generate their statements are listed in Table 3. This initiative is now also available in JAACAP Open.Table 3Diversity and Inclusion Statement QuestionnaireDEI: Introduction and Participation. As part of JAACAP’s ongoing antiracism work, we would like to assess inclusion and diversity initiatives and their impact. To do so, we need information about our authors and your practices. We ask that you complete this inclusion and diversity form. The information that you provide in this form will not have any influence on the scientific consideration of your paper and will not be shared publicly, although it may be evaluated in aggregate with information from other submissions. The purpose of this inclusion and diversity initiative is similar to existing practices in publishing, such as declaration of interests, author contributions, and data and code availability. The form encompasses a wide variety of aspects, including research methodology, sample selection, and (co-)author profiles. Based upon the answers that you provide, you will have the option to include an inclusion and diversity statement in your paper. By adding a statement to your paper, you would have the opportunity to increase transparency, raise awareness concerning inclusion and diversity in the world of academia, and highlight your publication as a best practice example. If you do not wish to participate or publish such a statement alongside your paper, please indicate this preference below. Please check one of these boxes:•I wish to participate in this initiative•I do not wish to participate in this initiativeDEI: Human Participants. Inclusion and diversity relating to the scientific content of the paper. For studies involving human participants, whether recruited (eg, clinical analyses) or enrolled spontaneously (eg, online survey), please check all that apply:•We worked to ensure gender balance in the recruitment of human participants.•We worked to ensure ethnic or other types of diversity in the recruitment of human participants.•We worked to ensure that the study questionnaires were prepared in an inclusive way.DEI: Non-human Subjects or Material. Inclusion and diversity relating to the scientific content of the paper. For studies involving non-human subjects or material, please check all that apply:•We worked to ensure sex balance in the selection of non-human subjects.•We worked to ensure diversity in experimental samples through the selection of the cell lines.•We worked to ensure diversity in experimental samples through the selection of the genomic datasets.•Diverse cell lines and/or genomic datasets were not available.DEI: Authorship and Attribution. Inclusion and diversity relating to authorship and attribution:•One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science.•One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented sexual and/or gender groups in science.•One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as living with a disability.•One or more of the authors of this paper received support from a program designed to increase minority representation in science.•We actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our author group.•We actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our author group.•While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our reference list.•While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our reference list.•The author list of this paper includes contributors from the location and/or community where the research was conducted who participated in the data collection, design, analysis, and/or interpretation of the work.DEI: Statement and Signature. If any of the statements in this questionnaire apply to your paper, you have the opportunity to use them in the paper itself as an inclusion and diversity statement. This is an optional section that we encourage you to include as an opportunity to highlight ways in which you have taken action to promote diversity and inclusion in the context of your paper. Please check this box if:•you and all your co-authors agree to add an inclusion and diversity statement in your paper.DEI: Feedback. If you wish to share any other comments or feedback, we would welcome hearing from you. For example, we would be interested to hear about any other action you may have taken to promote inclusion and diversity in the context of your paper, or suggestions you have for options that we could include in the available list of options in the questionnaire. Also, if you chose not to participate in this initiative, we would be interested to understand your reasoning. The information you provide in this section will not be included in the paper or our broad-based analysis but will help us in further development of this initiative and in our continuing efforts to promote inclusion and diversity. If you have specific questions about how to complete this form needing immediate attention, please send us an email at [email protected]DEI = diversity, equity, and inclusion. Open table in a new tab DEI = diversity, equity, and inclusion. In preparing this editors’ note and reflecting on our journey since we last wrote to you, we acknowledge that this work is ongoing and recognize that a deep restructuring of the Journal is dependent on our sustained and intentional efforts as well as our ability to successfully engage our community of readers, authors, and reviewers in this work. As we noted in 2020 and again in 2021, “this is our fight, and we must hold ourselves accountable. As an editorial team, we pledge to not only hold ourselves accountable, but we also pledge to hold each other accountable,” and to update you on our progress at the end of next year. We look forward to your comments and suggestions and to continuously improving and refining our approach.