DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9cnp5hqz7
title: Data from: Scientific societies must revisit their mission statements to continue to support their membership

description: The data and analysis assess the extent to which scientific societies
 across North America have aligned their mission statements with the stated
 commitments to equity and inclusion principles. The mission statements and
 other formal documents were collected from 195 scientific societies that
 are members of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences
 (AAAS) or the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)and coded
 across 10 areas of focus. We further assigned these areas of focus to
 supporting communities or practice (the meritocracy of science) or
 communities of care (our communities of scientists). Finally, we
 identified whether organizations had issues formal statements about
 commitments to DEI-related ideals.
description: # Data from: Scientific societies must revisit their mission statements to
 continue to support their membership Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.9cnp5hqz7](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9cnp5hqz7) ##
 Description of the data and file structure We used a current list of AAAS
 and AIBS members as our study set. Member societies were excluded if they
 had specific university affiliation (the group was associated with a
 single University) or otherwise lacked cross-institutional nature (e.g.,
 some institutes or independent museums) (N = 44). We used
 missions/purpose/objective statements as stated in the governing documents
 for the organization. If the organization lacked any publicly-accessible
 by-laws or other governing documents, it was excluded (N = 39). This
 approach left 195 societies in the data set to be coded. We searched for
 published statements about commitments to DEI both within the society
 websites and google searches using the society name + “diversity” “equity”
 or “inclusion”. We also looked at society governing documents for
 committees with DEI missions. In some cases, our google search recovered
 webpages that contained statements by the society committing to DEI goals
 or principles, however the webpage was no longer accessible from the
 society website itself or no longer hosted by the society. We coded these
 instances as an affirmative for DEI statement issuance by a society even
 though they have since been removed. We coded mission or purpose
 statements from the governing documents as inclusive or not inclusive of
 listed values, as described for each value type below. ### Files and
 variables #### File: MissionStatements.R **Description:** This file
 contains the R script used to generate analyses and figure associated with
 resulting publication. #### File:
 MissionStatementsData_consensus_wDEI_2026.csv **Description:** This file
 contains all coded data as well as links to sources for society mission
 statements ##### Variables * SocietyTitle: The society name. *
 MembershipSize: Appx size of the society (individual memberships only). *
 DEIStatement: 1/0 as Y/N for whether a DEI statement has been issued by
 this society. * DEIlink: Link to source for determination of DEI statement
 code. If the organization did not have a DEI statement (coded as 0
 in DEIStatement column), this cell is empty/blank. *
 PractitionerTitleinName: 1/0 as Y/N for whether the SocietyTitle refers to
 the individual members (Practitioners of the discipline; 1) or is
 disciplinary (0). * MissionorPurposeInGoverningDocs: Yes/No for inclusion
 of mission or purpose statement in governing docs of societies.
 'No's were excluded from further analysis. *
 MissionStatementLink: Link to source of mission statement *
 YearOfRevision: The most recent year in which posted governing documents
 were revised or amended. For societies in which no year of revision or
 evidence of revisions could be identified, the cell was left empty. *
 MissionWordCount: Count of words in mission statement. *
 VisionAndMissionStatement: Extracted text of mission statement from linked
 source. * ScientificDiscovery: Value code (1/0 for Y/N) to indicate
 whether the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this value.
 Scientific discovery was defined as the generation of new knowledge. Any
 use of the phrase "advancing” scientific understanding or knowledge
 in the field was coded as inclusive of scientific discovery. *
 Dissemination_Field_unidirectional: Value code (1/0 for Y/N) to indicate
 whether the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this value.
 Dissemination to the field was defined as the communication of knowledge
 and advances to professionals within the field (includes mention of
 scientific journals, conferences). Advancing a field through “professional
 practice” was included as dissemination/communication to the field. This
 category is appropriate for all *unidirectional* communication about the
 field. * FacilitatingScientificDisc: Value code (1/0 for Y/N) to indicate
 whether the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this value.
 Facilitating scientific discourse was defined as promoting and increasing
 opportunities for interaction among professionals, especially creating
 opportunities for *bidirectional* discussion about scientific information.
 * Dissemination_GeneralPublic: Value code (1/0 for Y/N) to indicate
 whether the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this value.
 Dissemination to the general public was defined as the communication of
 field-specific knowledge and information to general public spheres
 (inclusive of all outreach activities unless policy audience is
 specified). * Advocacy_PolicyorPracticeRelated: Value code (1/0 for Y/N)
 to indicate whether the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this
 value. Advocacy for policy or practice was defined as the communication of
 field-specific knowledge and information to inform or motivate policy,
 including conservation action or educational priorities.  *
 Advocacy_toIncreaseFieldSpecificResources: Value code (1/0 for Y/N) to
 indicate whether the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this
 value. Advocacy for the benefit of the field (esp. regarding resources
 like grant funds) was defined as advocacy that occurs to benefit the
 field/members of the field. This includes “promoting” the field or
 research area or otherwise advertising or communicating with the explicit
 goal of improving the perception of or importance of the field/profession.
 * Education_FieldSpecificTopics: Value code (1/0 for Y/N) to indicate
 whether the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this value.
 Education about field-specific topics was defined as supporting or
 engaging in teaching field-specific information (primarily in
 undergraduate or graduate contexts). *
 ProfessionalDevelopment_CareerStageNonSpecific: Value code (1/0 for Y/N)
 to indicate whether the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this
 value. Professional development that was career stage non-specific was
 defined as the development of professional skills or professionalism that
 lacks a target audience **OR** is specifically targeting extant
 professionals/members of the field (i.e., established members). *
 MentoringYoungProfessionals: Value code (1/0 for Y/N) to indicate whether
 the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this value. Mentoring
 young professionals was defined as specific support for training and
 development of young professionals or scientists, including students.  *
 StrengtheningInclusionEquity: Value code (1/0 for Y/N) to indicate whether
 the Vision and Mission statement are inclusive of this value.
 Strengthening inclusion and equity was defined as a specific emphasis on
 improving equity and inclusion for the field and/or professionals in the
 field. * CommPractice: Value code (1/0 for Y/N) - This column codes for
 whether the mission or vision statement was inclusive of any values that
 fall within or support a community of practice, which included scientific
 discovery, dissemination to the field, facilitating scientific discourse,
 and advocacy for field-specific resources. * CommCare: Value code (1/0 for
 Y/N) - This column codes for whether the mission or vision statement was
 inclusive of any values that fall within or support a community of care,
 which included professional development (career-stage non-specific),
 strengthening inclusion and equity, and mentoring young professionals. *
 Notes: Designates societies that were included based on membership within
 AIBS only (all others are either AAAS member societies or AAAS **and**
 AIBS member societies). ## Code/software The R script for analysis and
 visualization was run in R v4.1.2. ## Access information Other publicly
 accessible locations of the data: * N/A Data was derived from the
 following sources: * Sources are cited in the data document.