Society for Research in Child Development Receives First of Its Kind Grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Award will fund projects related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Scholarly Publishing and Scientific Review
December 5, 2023 (Washington, DC) – The Society for Research in Child Development was recently awarded more than $400,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to support initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion in scholarly publishing and scientific review. The grant is among the first awarded in support of a new RWJF grant program Working with Journals Toward a Transformed Health Sciences and Knowledge System.
SRCD has specific plans for the grant including, evaluating SRCD’s Sociocultural Policy, auditing the equity of SRCD’s publication processes, evaluating, and expanding SRCD’s Diversity Reviewer Database, and supporting SRCD’s Anti-Racist Developmental Science Summit in Panama City, Panama in 2024.
“We have developed these initiatives to address the problems of bias and racism in the developmental sciences, and specifically in the publishing and peer review processes,” said Dr. Suzanne Le Menestrel, SRCD’s Director of Science Affairs. “These problems are long-standing, pervasive, explicit, and implicit. We know this funding will help SRCD make great strides in its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives.”
SRCD hopes to increase the number of submissions from scholars who are underrepresented in the developmental sciences to SRCD’s flagship journal, Child Development, address and incorporate SRCD’s sociocultural policy in manuscripts and increase the number of scholars who are underrepresented in the developmental sciences submit their information to the Diversity Reviewer Database.
Dr. Le Menestrel will serve as SRCD’s liaison to the Foundation’s community of practice and support DEI and knowledge sharing.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
For more than 45 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are working alongside others to build a national Culture of Health that provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.
About Society for Research in Child Development
The Society for Research in Child Development is one of the world’s most prestigious and respected professional organizations in the field of child development. Founded by the National Academy of Sciences in 1933 as a multidisciplinary, not-for-profit, professional association, SRCD consists of SRCD's membership consists of researchers, practitioners, and human development professionals from more than 60 countries. SRCD advances the developmental sciences and promotes the use of developmental research to improve human lives. This mission is achieved through a variety of programs, publications, and policy advocacy initiatives.