How we're doing

 

 

We are proud to be involved in helping research fulfil its potential and supporting the wider research community in doing the right things and earning their trust.

We hold ourselves to account and make sure we stay true to our commitments and the promises we make.

Statement of intent

We recognise that the publishing sector can make an important contribution towards the realisation of a sustainable future for all, and Emerald is driving positive action. This is why, in 2018, we launched our Real impact manifesto, marking our intent to challenge the status quo and lead the publishing charge towards meaningful impact.

Since signing the UN SDG Publishers Compact in 2021, with membership of the SDG Publisher Compact Fellows soon after, our focus as a core member and supporter of the recommended top action tips, has been to ensure the best research on the SDGs is available to those that need it, in a format that can drive action, both inside and outside of academia. This includes publishing books and journals that will help inform, develop and inspire action, to affect change in society as well as creating more equitable publishing practices. 

The Compact outlines clear targets, giving further impetus to move forward in a number of specific areas. For example, as we explored new forms of content beyond the research article and ways to present research and recommendations to non-specialist audiences, we've implemented a number of initiatives:

  • Accelerated the publication of policy briefs. Positive impact has been evidenced through citation of these publications in policy outputs, including the European Institute for Gender Equality document and a European Commission document on disaster risk management.
  • Created a library of over 100 podcasts, each one distilling research findings into a digestible format that is accessible to all.
  • Launched a new kind of article – the impact article – to celebrate and make explicit the impact of the underpinning research.
  • Provided guidelines to help authors craft a strong and compelling statement as part of their research article, emphasising the importance of a structured abstract that acts as a pointer to readers around potential relevance and application beyond academia.
  • Encouraged authors to create plain language summaries to help promote their work, a selection of which are hosted by Kudos.
  • Actively promote the SDG Publishers Compact Fellows top action tips and other resources by signposting to them on key campaigns and SDG Goal webpages.

The Compact represents a long-term commitment to measurable action for the benefit of society, one which challenges all publishers to think differently about content and supporting processes, to ensure even greater equity both in publishing and the wider research ecosystem. Emerald remains committed to driving positive change in partnership with our communities and other stakeholder groups, including for example, academic and professional associations, institutions, policy makers and funders, and we encourage all to adopt a similarly collaborative approach.

Working closely with our communities of editors and authors, many Emerald journals differentiate themselves by focusing on engaging practitioner audiences. Examples include:

  • The International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, which distils research papers down to two or three pages, with a writing style aligned to the needs of practitioners.
  • The Journal of Professional Capital and Community introduced a new initiative called voices from the field, which provides a forum for practitioners to contribute their insight, experiences, and feedback in relation to research published.  

Emerald has also collaborated with leading researchers in the impact and knowledge mobilisation space, to provide tools for research managers and academics to develop their impact knowledge and plans, from the outset of the research itself, with Impact Services.

You can see our full progress so far on the UN SDG Publishers Compact 10 commitments, which is regularly updated.
 

Tony Roche, Chief Officer: Publishing & Strategic Relationships, Emerald Publishing

Our progress on

SDG Publisher Compact 10 recommendations

In January 2021 we became a founding signatory of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) Publishers Compact and since then we have been working hard to embed the 10 actions across everything we do as a business.

5 key highlights on our progress so far since 2023:

  • Grown the % of content mapping to UN SDGs at article and chapter level from 29% in 2023 to 32% in 2024. Our goal is 40% in 2026. 
  • Introduced a new Goal - Sustainable Structures and Infrastructures - to specifically champion engineering research that can contribute to creating a fairer and more sustainable society.
  • Became a Publishing Declares signatory to reinforce our commitment to take action on climate change and educate and advocate for sustainability.
  • Launched 4 more fully open access journals to add to our collection, each one aligned to one or more UN SDG goal to ensure they address many of the existential challenges facing our planet and society today. 
  • We've partnered with OpenOrg to bring full transparency to our working practices as well as with Radical Recruit and RefuAid to support our recruitment efforts.

It’s a long-term commitment but our progress is detailed in this infographic. You can either download the PDF infographic or read the accessible version below.

Download the infographic (PDF)


 

1.    Committing to the SDGs

Our responsible business strategy focusses on SDG 4, 10 and 13 and are the golden thread in everything we do. This is a statement of our intent on this emerging international trend. 

2.    Actively promoting and acquiring content that advocates for themes represented by the SDG

  • Our goal: To grow % of content mapping to UN SDGs at article and chapter level to 40% in 2026 (29% in 2023 and 32% in 2024). 
  • Developed our commissioning strategy, identifying five Emerald Goals, each encompassing overlapping SDGs. 
  • Provide important how-to guides to aid dissemination and discovery beyond academia, such as ‘How to write for a practitioner audience.’ 
  • Promote new or ‘beyond the article’ content types, such as: 

- Policy briefs
- Podcasts 
- Blog posts 
- Impact articles

  • 90% of our books frontlist titles align to the SDGs. 
  • A sample of SDG-related books we publish:

- Children and the Climate Migration Crisis
- Attaining the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of Quality Education
- Communicating Climate
- Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Late or too late?

3.    Annual reporting on progress towards achieving SDGs

Coming soon:

  • 2024 Responsible Publishing Report
  • Carbon Accounting Report (including SECR & Scope 3 emissions)

4.    Nominating a person who will promote SDG progress

Our established Publishing Development Manager roles focus on broad, SDG-related areas, supported by external thought leaders as goal advisors:


5.    Raising awareness and promoting the SDGs among staff

  • Established an Inclusion Steering Group and Network as well as a team of ‘SDG champions’.
  • Developed and launched an on-demand resource for ED&I.
  • Established a Neurodiversity working group.
  • Improved and restructured our recruitment practices so that every individual has the chance to apply for positions at Emerald.
  • Partnered with Radical Recruit and RefuAid to support our recruitment efforts.

6.    Raising awareness and promoting the SDGs among suppliers

  • Launched an ethical procurement process.
  • Follow guidelines set out as a signatory of ‘Publishing Declares’.


7.    Becoming an advocate to customers and stakeholders by promoting and actively communicating about the SDG agenda

  • Clearly display our commitment to UN SDGs and SDG Publishers Compact on our corporate website.
  • Address global challenges facing society by bringing communities together to share knowledge and foster debate through mission campaigns:

- Quality of life: key to social equity?
- Health citizenship: is participation always effective?
- Gender equality: what’s taking us so long?
- Education for sustainable development and global citizenship
- Can smart cities address the challenges of ageing infrastructure?


8.    Collaborating with other signatories and organisations to develop, localise and scale projects that will advance progress on the SDGs

Here’s a selection of just some of the organisations we’ve supported or collaborated with this year:

  • DORA
  • SDG Publishers Compact
  • Publishing Declares
  • SDG Publishers Compact Fellows
  • STM
  • HESI
  • ALPSP
  • Research 4 Life


9.    Dedicating budget and other resources towards accelerating progress for SDG-dedicated projects and promoting SDG principles

  • Our aim is to increase female and non-binary representation across editorial boards by 2030
  • Dedicate curated, ungated SDG missions content collections within our Emerald Goals. 
  • Organised a Neurodiversity panel session with industry collaborators to address what needs to change in academic publishing. 
  • Contributed to the IPA SDG 1000 actions campaign.


10.    Taking action on at least one SDG goal 

Our responsible business strategy is underpinned by our 3 pillars. Take a look at what action we’ve taken within our Planet pillar so far.
 

 

Our progress on DORA commitments


In May 2023, DORA celebrated their 10-year anniversary. As a signatory of DORA, we recognised the milestone by reflecting on our progress so far against their 10 recommendations to help improve how research is assessed.

View our progress so far

Environment & sustainability


Like so many people and organisations, our goal is to make measurable changes to the planet, not only as a business but as individuals too.

More on environment & sustainability