Program Schedule

Inclusive language in scholarly communication is crucial to conducting ethical and rigorous research while promoting accuracy, fairness, and inclusivity. Especially in biomedical informatics, language that affirms lived experiences accurately describes diverse perspectives, and challenges biased and harmful narratives advances equity in health and medical research, improving health outcomes for all individuals. This spring, the AMIA DEI Committee released its first edition of the AMIA Board of Directors-approved Inclusive Language and Context Style Guidelines (ILCSG) to provide four guiding principles (plurality, precision, transparency, and destigmatization) and educational resources for the community in scholarly communications. While an important consideration during publishing results, language also impacts how we conduct research throughout the entire research lifecycle, including research question formation, target population definition and recruitment, data collection, quantitative and qualitative analyses, and interpretation and discussion. Given this, it is important for the AMIA community to thoroughly understand, investigate, and critique our suggested principles and their application. Building on a successful workshop in 2022 that introduced the ILCSG resource in scholarly communications, we plan to facilitate another interactive workshop to promote these guiding principles and discuss best practices in incorporating these principles across the entire research lifecycle in biomedical informatics. For 2023, our goals include promoting the ILCSG resource to the AMIA community and providing strategies and best practices for using inclusive language to promote equity and inclusion in biomedical informatics research. We also will use this opportunity to solicit feedback and participation from the AMIA community to improve the ILCSG.