Is Editors' Awareness of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a Determinant of the Journal's Contribution to SDGs?

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the awareness of the editors-in-chief as the leaders of the publishing team of the journals indexed in the health sciences field in the national index (TR-Index) about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the publishing field. The data were collected using Google Forms from editors-in-chief between January and June 2023. The study was completed with 55 editors-in-chief. The first three publishing areas of the articles are medicine, nursing, and health sciences. The result shows that the articles published by TR-Index journals contribute to all SDGs. The goals to which the most contributions were made are SDG3 (good health and well-being), SDG4 (quality education), and SDG5 (gender equality). Four of these journals have signed the SDGs Publisher Compact. The SDGs awareness of journal editors was high, and editors' awareness does not vary according to journals' (such as publication language, SDGs publication policy, knowledge about the SDG Publisher Compact, etc.) and editors' characteristics (such as age, gender, title etc.). Journal editors and publication policies will contribute to raising the awareness of researchers, readers, and other stakeholders about the SDGs.