SAGER Guidelines and Gender Equity

The editorial team and authors publishing in Intercom must observe the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines whenever sex and/or gender are variables relevant to the object of study. Intercom also observes gender equity in the composition of its editorial board.

The SAGER guidelines aim to promote systematic reporting of sex and gender in research, offering researchers, authors, reviewers, and editors a common tool to standardize this reporting and raise awareness of the issue. Not all SAGER items apply to every type of study — SAGER therefore encourages authors, editors, and reviewers to assess, case by case, whether sex and gender are relevant to the study's topic, following the guidelines wherever applicable.

Distinction between Sex and Gender

• Sex: refers to the biological, genetic, or physiological characteristics of an individual.

• Gender: refers to gender identity and socially, behaviorally, and culturally constructed roles (for example: woman, man, non-binary person, trans identities).

What Manuscripts with Empirical Research Should Report

Manuscripts based on empirical research (surveys, interviews, focus groups, netnography, reception analysis, audience studies) should, whenever sex and/or gender are relevant to the object of study:

• In the abstract: clearly state the sex and/or gender of the study's participants.

• In the methods section: explain how sex and/or gender data on participants were collected (for example, self-declaration on forms, structured interviews, secondary data), and justify cases where the research focused on a single sex or gender, or where this variable was not considered in the sampling design.

• In the results and discussion: present data disaggregated by sex and/or gender where relevant, avoiding generalist use of terms such as "users" or "receivers" when the data indicate relevant differences between groups.

• In the study's limitations: discuss any unintended imbalances in the sex/gender composition of the sample and their possible effects on the interpretation of the results.

It is also recommended that data collection forms and instruments avoid strictly binary categorizations when the object of study requires greater social depth, including options for non-binary and transgender identities.