The Role of Journal Editors in Implementing Equity-Focused Research.

Waldron et al. (2023) wrote a how-to guide for journal editors who publish intellectual and developmental disability research. The paper lists concrete steps editors can take to make research teams more inclusive of people with IDD.

It is a position paper, not an experiment. The authors draw on equity literature to spell out policies editors can adopt today.

The authors found that editors hold the keys to fairer science. When editors ask for community co-authors, plain-language summaries, and accessible consent forms, studies start to include the very people they study.

No new data are reported. Instead, the paper offers a checklist editors can paste into their submission guidelines.

The paper extends Symons (2019). That earlier AJIDD editorial set the journal’s mission; Waldron et al. (2023) add the equity toolkit that makes the mission real.

It echoes Kornack et al. (2019). Both call on behavior analysts to remove systemic barriers—Kornack et al. focused on language access for LEP families, while A et al. target research partnerships with people with IDD.

It also nods to McIntyre et al. (2002). The old paper showed US authorship dominance; the new one tells editors how to widen the circle beyond academic insiders.

If you sit on an editorial board, insert the checklist into your next call for papers. If you review manuscripts, flag submissions that lack IDD co-authors or accessible language. Even as a reader you can email editors and ask where the community voices are. Small editorial nudges can shift the whole field toward research with, not just about, people with IDD.