COMMUNITY TOWN HALL: Standing Together Against Bullying: Creating Respectful, Safe, and Supportive Professional Communities in Scholarly Publishing

Bullying and harassment, whether overt or subtle, have no place in scholarly publishing. Yet many professionals across editorial offices, publishing organizations, and volunteer‑driven societies still encounter behaviors that undermine psychological safety, limit inclusion, and erode trust. In this recorded Town Hall, leaders from four major organizations—the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), the International Society of Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), the International Society of Technical and Medical Editors (ISTME), and the Council of Science Editors (CSE)—come together for an open, solutions‑focused conversation on how our community can address these challenges with clarity, compassion, and shared purpose. The discussion explores what bullying looks like across professional settings, including social media and other digital communication spaces, workplaces, volunteer committees, conferences, and other interactions, and why addressing it is essential to maintaining integrity, equity, and excellence in our field. Panelists focus on the policies, practices, and cultural commitments these organizations are putting in place to foster respectful engagement and to support individuals who experience inappropriate behavior. Viewers will gain insight into constructive conflict resolution, bystander intervention, and leadership strategies that promote healthier team and community dynamics. The conversation also highlights opportunities for collaboration across societies to establish shared expectations for conduct and to strengthen accountability across the publishing ecosystem. This session offers practical tools and a united message: creating a safe and welcoming environment is everyone's responsibility—and it is achievable when we work together. This discussion will explore what bullying looks like across professional settings, including social media and other digital communication spaces, workplaces, volunteer committees, conferences, and other interactions, and why addressing it is essential to maintaining integrity, equity, and excellence in our community. Conversation will focus on the policies, practices, and cultural commitments these organizations are putting in place to foster respectful engagement and to support individuals who experience inappropriate behavior. Attendees will gain insight into constructive conflict resolution, bystander intervention, and leadership strategies that promote healthier team and community dynamics. The webinar will also highlight opportunities for collaboration across societies to establish shared expectations for conduct and to strengthen accountability across the publishing ecosystem. This session will provide practical tools and a united message for everyone: creating a safe and welcoming environment is everyone’s responsibility, and it is achievable when we work together.

Publication Date

February 2026

David Allen

1

Senior Partner, A&M Editorial Solutions and Board Member, ISMTE

Emilie Gunn

1

Journals Director, American Society of Clinical Oncology and President, Council of Science Editors

Jennifer Regala

8

Senior Director, Publishing and Product Development, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Randy Townsend

5

Randy Townsend, MPS, (he, him, his) is President of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) and has served in leadership positions for the Council of Science Editors, and AM&P Network’s Association Council, and has co-chaired DEIA Committees for AM&P Network and SSP. He has actively supported C4DISC and contributed to the development of many of their freely available resources. At Origin Editorial, Randy takes innovative approaches to lead and implement peer review strategies. Randy was the inaugural Editor in Chief for the GW Journal of Ethics in Publishing and is an Associate Professor of the MPS in Publishing program in the College of Professional Studies at George Washington University.

Rebecca McLeod

5

Managing Director, Harvard Data Science Review

Rebecca McLeod is the Managing Director for the Harvard Data Science Review (HDSR,) the open access platform of the Harvard Data Science Initiative. In this role, she oversees all business, publishing and program operations of HDSR including business development, production and editorial activities, and marketing. Rebecca has decades of experience in scholarly communications having worked in marketing, editorial development, operations, and relationship management roles for both nonprofit and commercial organizations including ThRebecca is very active in the scholarly communications industry having chaired and served on multiple committees for the Association of University Presses, the Professional and Scholarly Division of the American Publishers’ Association and the Society for Scholarly Publishing. She is a founding member of the Boston Women Information Network, a former member of the Board of Directors for the Society of Scholarly Publishing, and currently serves on the Steering Committee for the Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) and the Board of Directors for the National Information Standards Organization (NISO).e MIT Press, Aries Systems, and Copyright Clearance Center.