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Scientists can change their names on previously published papers starting in October, the American Chemical Society's Publications division has announced.

The new policy, created in response to a call from transgender researchers, allows authors who have changed their name for any reason, including gender transition, marriage, divorce or religious conversion, to request that articles are updated to reflect their new name.

"We're pleased to be the first chemistry publisher, and among the first scholarly publishers in any field, to have adopted this policy," Sarah Tegen, senior vice president of ACS Publications, said in a statement. "Being tied to a previously used name is an obstacle for many researchers, as they may be faced with the decision to omit their publication from their resumé, risk missing out on credit for their scholarly work, or explain to colleagues and potential employers why their name was changed. This issue disproportionately impacts transgender scientists and women, and our new policy will lift a crucial barrier to inclusion and career mobility for our authors."

To protect the individual's privacy, no proof or documentation of the name change will be required, and editors and coauthors of prior publications will not be notified of the update. No notice of the name change will be posted on the article. ACS' policy also ensures that all other references to the author's identity, including pronouns, salutations, captions and other elements of the paper, are updated. Next, ACS plans to develop a procedure to update author names in citations.

"We will make our policy, implementation documentation and lessons learned available publicly to assist any publisher embarking on a similar path. This is a crucial step toward equality that the scientific community can take together," James Milne, president of ACS Publications, said in a statement.

Irving Rettig, a chemistry Ph.D. candidate at Portland State University and an activist for transgender rights in STEM, helped ACS develop the policy.

"I'm thrilled that ACS has made this change, and it is a tremendous step for transgender scientists," Rettig said in a statement. "As a trans author positively impacted by the changes ACS Publications is enacting, I encourage all publishers and journals to support the academic excellence of trans authors and move toward inclusive name change policies. However, trans authors pursuing the same endeavor at other major publishers continue to encounter barriers to carrying out these policies. I encourage other publishers to follow ACS' lead in implementing policies that work to eliminate discrimination in the publishing community."

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