Overview
A citation diversity statement is a short paragraph, included before the References section of a paper, where the authors consider their own biases and provide data on the proportion of identities represented by authors cited in the reference list. The goal of citation diversity statements are to help expand the diversity of voices represented in research!
A citation diversity statement includes:
(i) Expressing the importance of citation diversity.
(ii) The percentage breakdown (or other diversity indicators) of citations in the paper.
(iii) The method by which percentages were assessed and its limitations.
(iv) A commitment to improving equitable practices in your field of research.
Each component indicates the value of developing means for supporting citation diversity and diversity in academic research overall (Zurn, Bassett, & Rust, 2020).
In today’s module, we introduced the concept of citation politics. What and who you choose to cite is a reflection of your positionalities. You come to research bringing your own experiences, opinions, access to information, and skill sets to the table. These positionalities affect who you include in your research and who you exclude.
A citation diversity statement is a space you can create within your research paper to make transparent your intentions and why you might choose to cite certain resources over others. It holds us accountable for the research we do and the creations we produce. Who you cite matters!
Activity
For this activity, you will practice writing your own citation diversity statement.
Begin by identifying a reference list you have already created that you can write a citation diversity statement about. This reference list could be from a paper you are currently working on or from research you have conducted in the past.
Next, determine the approach you might take to quantifying the diversity of voices represented within your reference list. Read an example of a citation diversity statement to get an idea of what this could look like. For more ideas, read the article “The Citation Diversity Statement: A Practice of Transparency, A Way of Life.”
Now it’s time to draft your citation diversity statement. Include all four components outlined in the activity overview, making space to reflect on why citation diversity is important to you!
Reflection
- What did you learn from looking into the identities held by the authors in your reference list?
- Was it difficult to find demographic information about these authors? What strategies did you use to find this information?