As editors who come from and/or received medical training in Nigeria (A.C.O. and O.A.), Argentina (M.E.) and India (G.K.), we are pleased to have commissioned this global edition of the journal, guest edited by Professor Savvas Andronikou and Dr. Hansel Ontero and honoured to have been invited by them to contribute an article [1]. In that article, we summarise the disparities in research publications from low- and lower middle-income countries (LIC and LMIC, respectively) and call for greater collaboration between researchers across the globe to understand and subsequently breakdown the barriers to equity in the funding, conduct and publication of research.

Given the scale of the problem, our efforts may be a mere drop in the ocean. Nevertheless, in this article, we outline five key areas for intervention that we, as editors of Pediatric Radiology and advocates of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) hope will promote the submission and publication of an increased number of articles from LIC and LMIC in our journal.

  1. 1.

    Support research from LIC/LMIC:

    1. (a)

      We will do all we can to avoid/discourage authorship parasitism (also known as helicopter research, parachute research or neo-colonial research).

    2. (b)

      We will work with the World Federation of Pediatric Imaging (WFPI) to identify mentors from LMIC/LIC who have emigrated to high-income countries (HIC) and can help mentor authors from their countries of origin in the conduct of high-quality research and scientific writing.

  2. 2.

    Support peer reviewers from LIC/LMIC:

    1. (a)

      Pediatric Radiology depends on and is very grateful for the goodwill of our reviewers, without whom there would be no journal. We are constantly on the lookout for new peer reviewers, as evidenced by the call earlier this year (2023) by G.K. inviting established reviewers to mentor junior colleagues.

    2. (b)

      We will actively review the diversity of our reviewer pool.

    3. (c)

      We will pilot a peer reviewer mentoring scheme between mentor reviewers (in upper middle-income countries and HIC) and mentee reviewers (in LIC/LMIC).

    4. (d)

      We will be proactive in considering the diversity of reviewers invited to consider any given manuscript for potential publication in Pediatric Radiology.

  3. 3.

    Support publications from authors in LIC/LMIC:

    1. (a)

      We will build upon the exemplary work already being done by M.E. to support authors from LMIC and LIC in editing/re-writing their manuscripts to meet the standards of Pediatric Radiology and directing them to available resources.

    2. (b)

      We will pilot pyramid-support systems in LIC/LMIC, whereby manuscripts will be internally peer-reviewed prior to submission to Pediatric Radiology for consideration. We will pilot this through the national radiology societies of a few selected countries such as India, Nigeria, South Africa and Peru.

  4. 4.

    Diversify our editorial board membership:

    1. (a)

      With the help of our readers, we aim to identify paediatric radiologists across the globe who are suitably qualified to join our editorial board, so that the editorial board is truly representative of the four societies our journal is affiliated with.

  5. 5.

    Support access to publications/research by researchers in LIC/LMIC:

    1. (a)

      We will advertise and encourage researchers in LIC/LMIC to make use of the resources available to them through such schemes as Research4Life [2].

    2. (b)

      Last year, the journal published a mini symposium on EDI [3]. We will consider what other special issues/minisymposia we can commission in this area (either ideas that we think of or that you, our readers, authors and reviewers, suggest).

The five points listed above may all be summarised under one umbrella, that being education. A.C.O. will work with WFPI to organise a course delivered as a series of webinars to be made freely accessible that will support researchers in LIC/LMIC in manuscript writing and review and in raising awareness of available resources and opportunities. In addition, the editors will work with the radiology/paediatric radiology organisations of their countries of origin to organise manuscript writing/reviewing seminars for the members of their national societies.

We are impressed and humbled by the work that others are doing in this arena, as published in this Special Edition. We thank all contributing authors, and we hope that paediatric radiologists across the globe will enjoy reading and learning from the articles as much as we have done.