The name change service allow researchers to more effortlessly own their academic work throughout the years
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, announced the beginning of a partnership with seventeen other national laboratories, as well as prominent scientific publishers and journals, to support name change requests from researchers on past published papers.
This agreement allows researchers who wish to change their names for any reason the ability to more effortlessly claim work from all stages of their careers. The partnership enables the individual researchers’ respective institutions to directly pursue name changes on their behalf with the publishers and journals.
In previous years, individual researchers shouldered the burden of initiating name change requests with each publisher of their past papers. As name change requests became more common, publishers were independently updating their own policies to accommodate the changes. This partnership streamlines these previously ad hoc processes and offers an official validation mechanism to all involved.
The initiative specifically addresses the administrative and emotional difficulties some transgender researchers have experienced when requesting name changes associated with past academic work. For transgender researchers specifically, the change ensures they can rightfully claim ownership of prior work without fear of reprisal under their lived name and be known in their respective fields primarily through their merits as published authors. As several researchers have attested, having their name updated on previous publications allows them to best represent their full suite of accomplishments and the volume of their work over time.
“Today's announcement is a positive step in supporting our colleagues to ensure they receive full credit and recognition for their research contributions. The collaboration and partnership between other national laboratories and the publishing industry provides a model for addressing inclusivity in the workplace,” says Jefferson Lab Human Resources Director, Rhonda Barbosa.
The partnership between the national laboratories and major scientific publishers and journals represents a commitment to creating a more inclusive culture in STEM fields and STEM publishing in particular. The participating national laboratories will facilitate requests for name changes for any reason, including religious, marital, or other purposes, where supported by the policies in place at our publishing partners.
All U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories are pursuing this work in alignment with their respective diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, not as a result of any new federal policy, and welcome new partners as the effort advances.
To learn more about diversity, equity and inclusion at the Jefferson lab, visit the lab’s diversity, equity and inclusion page.
LIST OF PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS
| Publishing Organizations & Services |
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● American Association for the Advancement of Science American Chemical Society ● American Physical Society ● American Society for Microbiology ● arXiv ● Clarivate ● eLife ● Elsevier ● Hindawi ● Royal Society of Chemistry ● protocols.io ● Scopus ● Springer Nature ● Wiley |
● Ames National Laboratory ● Argonne National Laboratory ● Brookhaven National Laboratory ● Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory ● Idaho National Laboratory ● Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ● Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ● Los Alamos National Laboratory ● National Energy Technology Laboratory ● National Renewable Energy Laboratory ● Oak Ridge National Laboratory ● Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ● Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory ● Sandia National Laboratories ● Savannah River National Laboratory ● SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory ● Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility |
Further Reading:
Scientific Publishing Organizations and National Laboratories Partner on Transgender-Inclusive Name-Change Process for Published Papers
Contact: Lauren Hansen, Jefferson Lab Communications Office, jlabinfo@jlab.org