Accessibility, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Diversity is an integral part of developing a fully encompassing body of technical literature and research. The complete accuracy of data will always rely on the inclusion of skills, expertise, and perceptions garnered from marginalized groups such as women; members of the LGBTQIA+ community; people with disabilities; Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC); and others. ASCE Publications condemns all forms of racism and prejudice, including hate speech. These ideals only serve to cause harm, which is the antithesis to ASCE's unwavering mission to lead the civil engineering profession to sustainably advance and protect the health, safety, and welfare of all.

ASCE Library is committed to ensuring digital accessibility to the widest possible audience.

We follow guidelines that explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities, which makes the website more user friendly for all users. Although we strive to provide a website in compliance with the latest accessibility guidelines and standards, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. To support this commitment, the ASCE Library endeavors to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level A compliance with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

We acknowledge that our industry is not immune to these wrongs. In the technical publishing field, identity-based aggressions, prejudice, harassments, and systemic discrimination harm people and harm the profession.

We also acknowledge that words are not enough. We intend for this page to reflect our living commitment to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion in publishing, documenting our aspirations and actions.

Current Initiatives

• Reviewer Guide to include detailed instructions for guidance on use of artificial intelligence for peer review
• Member of the National Information Standards Organization’s Accessibility Remediation Metadata (ARM) Working Group

Record of Work

• 2013: Created first Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) for ASCE Library 
• 2020: Support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) with the creation of the Diversity & Inclusion journal special collections
• 2021: Introduced a name change policy to support confidential post-publication name changes for authors who change their name
• 2021: Became a signatory to the UN SDG Publishers Compact
• 2021: Joined the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Joint Commitment for Action on Inclusion and Diversity in Publishing
• 2021: ASCE Publications Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee formed
• 2021: Adopted Coalition for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) principles
• 2022: Created content portal dedicated to Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals through Publishing in the ASCE Library
• 2022: Support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) goals with creation of Gender Equality and Sustainability journal special collections
• 2022: Plain Language Summaries added to technical content
• 2022: Launched a Conference Video Collection to expand our conference proceedings content beyond print to serve all audiences, and deliver the latest technical research to those unable to travel to ASCE technical events
• 2022: Began ongoing review of ASCE taxonomy to eliminate terms that were neither gender inclusive nor gender neutral
• 2022: Updated the ASCE Ethics guide
• 2023: Launched ASCE’s first open access journal, ASCE OPEN, which is the foundation for future open access journals
• 2023: Introduced the ASCE Open Research and Open Equity Fund in coordination with the ASCE Foundation, to support unfunded researchers around the world who wish to publish their work in ASCE OPEN
• 2023: Reviewer Guide updated to include detailed instructions for ASCE reviewers and guidance on use of AI for peer review
• 2023: Participated in Kudos Sustainable Development Goals knowledge cooperative showcase
• 2023: Increased outreach to minority-serving institutions
• 2023: Introduced dedicated ASCE Publications Director-level staff role committed to Publications DEIA strategy
• 2023: Developed and launched an interactive Standards platform, ASCE AMPLIFY, that will serve all audiences

Accessibility Information

Google Chrome is the preferred browser for ASCE Library. Should you encounter accessibility issues on ASCE Library, please contact us. In your message, include a detailed description of the issue, including URL, screenshots, and the technology version you are using. Your feedback helps us improve our site, and we welcome you to contact us if you would like to be an accessibility tester.

Phone: +1 703 295 6300
E-mail: [email protected]

VPAT
A copy of our Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), dated February 26, 2024, is available.


This page was last updated on February 26, 2024.