Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Vol 18(6), Dec 2025, 793-804; doi:10.1037/dhe0000612
Epistemic exclusion is a form of scholarly devaluation that studies suggest disproportionately and negatively affects faculty from marginalized groups (e.g., women, people of color). In the present study, we describe the development and initial validation of the Faculty Epistemic Exclusion Scale, a scale designed to measure experiences of epistemic exclusion in higher education. We developed and evaluated the scale by (a) drawing upon the theoretical and empirical literature in higher education and related fields to refine our definition of epistemic exclusion and develop an initial pool of items, (b) submitting the initial items to expert review and cognitive pretesting, and (c) pilot testing the items on a sample of 604 faculty primarily drawn from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. During the scale evaluation process, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed two reliable scales of epistemic exclusion, each with two subscales: formal exclusion (criteria exclusion and application exclusion) and informal exclusion (legitimacy exclusion and comprehension exclusion). The scale’s convergent and divergent validity was supported by its correlation with other scales assessing workplace mistreatment and personality traits. There was also variability in epistemic exclusion across race–gender groups. Implications of the Faculty Epistemic Exclusion Scale for future research and policy in higher education are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)