INSAR President's Message - February 2020.
INSAR is moving meetings and mentors beyond rich Western labs to grow autism science worldwide.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mundy (2020) wrote a short president’s letter. It updates members on INSAR board moves, journal numbers, and new global meetings.
No experiment was run. It is a snapshot of where the autism research society stood in early 2020.
What they found
The letter found INSAR pushing hard on two fronts. The group wants more countries at its yearly meeting and more researchers from outside the U.S. and Europe.
Free keynote webinars are now online. Anonymous (2020) gives the same news in an even shorter note.
How this fits with other research
The plan echoes Malott (2004). That paper told behavior analysts to plant funded pioneers in new nations so the field can grow. Peter shows INSAR now follows the same playbook.
Bailey (2008) launched the society journal Autism Research. Twelve years later Peter shares fresh stats, making the 2020 note a status report on that same journal.
Ahlborn et al. (2008) warned that autism work still centers on rich Western labs. Peter’s letter is the answer: move meetings, money, and mentors to the rest of the world.
Peters et al. (2013) added an ethics map for low-income studies. Peter nods to cultural diversity but does not detail ethics, so the two pieces fit side-by-side.
Why it matters
If you train students, supervise RBTs, or sit on an ethics board, this letter is your cue. Push for posters, talks, and data sets from under-represented regions. Offer remote mentorship. Ask for local partners before you run your next study abroad. Small moves like these turn the president’s plan into real science and better care.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Spotlight on the Student & Training Committee, updates on the society journal Autism Research, and the Globalization of INSAR through the Cultural Diversity Committee, Global Senior Leaders Committee, and global INSAR meetings. One of the INSAR Strategic Initiatives is providing development and opportunities for the next generation of autism researchers. The Student & Trainee Committee (STC) plays a primary role in meeting this goal within INSAR. For more information about the activities of this committee, please see the link to January edition of STC newsletter https://www.autism-insar.org/page/STC. The STC will also have a new event to help students master networking at INSAR 2020 in Seattle! For more information, and to apply for the STC Networkshop, please see: https://www.autism-insar.org/page/STCevents. The Editor of Autism Research, David Amaral, and Melissa Asaro, Senior Publishing Manager for Neuroscience at Wiley Publications, have provided an update on publication statistic for the society journal. Submissions were up to 430 papers in 2019 compared to 350 papers submitted in 2018 (23% increase). The acceptance rate was 173 out of 430 submission, or 40%. Finally, David, as editor, successfully made improvement of review turn-around times a goal for the journal in 2019. The average time to completion of first reviews was approximately 36 days (with a goal of 30 days). The average time to final reviews and recommendations for submissions was 56 days, which is very competitive editorial processing time relative to comparable journals. The globalization of INSAR continues to be an ambition of the society. The motivation for globalization reflects the desire to extend the equity and inclusion of INSAR membership worldwide. Globalization is also vital to having the international collaborations necessary for the types of informed research studies that can best be used by individual nations to provide more effective clinical care for people with autism in their countries. A third, and equally important reason for globalization is that the current membership of about 2000 scientists and researchers is simply too small to address the complexities of autism science as rapidly as needed. We will need a larger global scientific work force across the next decades to make more rapid progress for people with autism who are in need. The Cultural Diversity Committee provides a main vehicle for globalization within the society. In recognition of the increased need for the autism field to incorporate global perspectives and issues of cultural diversity in scientific research on autism, the Cultural Diversity Committee provides a forum for professional development, information sharing and collaborative activities among researchers and clinicians interested in racial/ethnic/cultural and socioeconomic diversity in autism. For more information please see the INSAR webpage and the new edition of the INSAR Cultural Diversity Quarterly Newsletter https://www.autism-insar.org/page/CultDiv. Enhancing the globalization movement, Past-President, Simon Baron-Cohen initiated the development of the Global Senior Leaders Committee (GSLC) and network. This society initiative is moving forward rapidly. The Co-Chairs of the GSLC, Declan Murphy and Petrus de Vries, have recruited an outstanding group of founding members of the committee. The committee will soon begin its efforts to identify and recruit designated Global Senior Leaders for autism research in countries around the world. On another front, the INSAR Board has also reviewed many requests and suggestions about broadening the geographic locations of the INSAR Annual Meetings. This is especially important to the globalization of autism research and the feasibility of more global meetings. The success of the INSAR Regional Meetings, which have been held in China (Shanghai), South Africa (Stellenbosch) and most recently in Chile (Puerto Varas) since 2015, supports this expanded global direction for INSAR Meetings. The process of globalizing the INSAR Annual Meetings would involve expanding meeting locations beyond North America and Europe. The Board is actively pursuing a plan for such an expansion with trial run possible in the 2022, 2023, 2024 conference cycle. The application for the Slifka/Ritvo Innovation in Autism Research Award for 2020 is open until February 25th, 2020. Through this award, INSAR and the Alan B. Slifka Foundation seeks to promote innovative research on autism spectrum disorder that will lead to novel treatments and improvements in the quality of life of individuals with autism, as well as novel discoveries regarding the basic science of autism. Voting will start soon for your new INSAR President-Elect. The newly elected President-Elect will serve one year in this role and then transition to President for a two-year term. Current INSAR Full and Student members are eligible to vote. Please watch for the e-mail notification, review the nominee bios and cast your vote for our future INSAR President! Registration for INSAR 2020 in Seattle, Washington, USA will be open by the end of the month. Register early to take advantage of Early Bird Registration rates!
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2020 · doi:10.1002/aur.2281