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Correspondence to Dr Bolajoko O Olusanya; bolajoko. olusanya@ uclmail. net © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Reuse permitted under CC BYNC. No commercial reuse. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. The endemic discrimination in global health has attracted unprecedented attention since the killing of George Floyd and other black people in the USA in 2020. Several academic journals mostly in highincome countries (HICs) have responded by pledging editorial reforms to eradicate racism and other forms of discrimination in research publications. It is pertinent to mention that the call for equity, equality, diversity and inclusiveness (EEDI) in global health has been longstanding before the renewed antiracism campaign. In the past, the focus was on the need to ensure equitable research undertakings by institutions from HICs in lowincome and middleincome countries (LMICs). This included efforts to build local research capacity and to ensure researchers from LMICs who are involved in multiinstitutional research actively contribute to the resultant manuscripts as authors. Some journals even pledged not to publish studies that used data, infrastructure, or personnel in an LMIC that do not involve at least one scientist from that country as an author. Additionally, some journals have gone further to address the racial imbalance in the order of authorship between first or last author and discourage the unfair exclusion of contributors to local research in LMICs as authors because their involvement was not considered as substantial. 8 Lately, a growing number of journals have pledged actions to (further) diversify the composition of editorial boards and the selection of peerreviewers. 9 10 Some journals have openly admitted complicity in systemic racism by inadvertently fostering bias in research and scholarship; and pledged to strive harder to correct those injustices and amplify marginalised voices. They also promised to monitor research that may perpetuate racism and now invite readers to assess their progress and hold them accountable for broken promises. Academics from the region are also now encouraged to openly tell their own story. The principles of EEDI in the context of global health need clarification. Equity is about treating the target beneficiaries fairly and respectfully, while equality is the recognition that all men and women are created equal with unique and complementary endowments. Equity also embodies a commitment to closing health gaps by actions to reduce or eradicate social disadvantage and injustice. Equality confers full opportunity to serve and be served regardless of race, gender, nationality, socioeconomic status, and disability. Diversity is about representativeness to ensure that those affected by a policy are enlisted into the decisionmaking panel. Inclusiveness is ensuring that the decisionmaking process does not deliberately exclude a group that is likely to be impacted by a planned policy. In essence, diversity is about getting a balanced mix and composition while inclusion is about Summary