Peer review and gender bias: : A study on 145 scholarly journals
(2021) In Science Advances 7(2). p.0299-0299- Abstract
- Scholarly journals are often blamed for a gender gap in publication rates, but it is unclear whether peer review and editorial processes contribute to it. This article examines gender bias in peer review with data for 145 journals in various fields of research, including about 1.7 million authors and 740,000 referees. We reconstructed three possible sources of bias, i.e., the editorial selection of referees, referee recommendations, and editorial decisions, and examined all their possible relationships. Results showed that manuscripts written by women as solo authors or coauthored by women were treated even more favorably by referees and editors. Although there were some differences between fields of research, our findings suggest that... (More)
- Scholarly journals are often blamed for a gender gap in publication rates, but it is unclear whether peer review and editorial processes contribute to it. This article examines gender bias in peer review with data for 145 journals in various fields of research, including about 1.7 million authors and 740,000 referees. We reconstructed three possible sources of bias, i.e., the editorial selection of referees, referee recommendations, and editorial decisions, and examined all their possible relationships. Results showed that manuscripts written by women as solo authors or coauthored by women were treated even more favorably by referees and editors. Although there were some differences between fields of research, our findings suggest that peer review and editorial processes do not penalize manuscripts by women. However, increasing gender diversity in editorial teams and referee pools could help journals inform potential authors about their attention to these factors and so stimulate participation by women. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/d704e2d0-858b-40f0-8819-944ee242c3f4
- author
- Squazzoni, Flaminio ; Bravo, Giangiacomo ; Farjam, Mike LU ; Marusic, Ana ; Mehmani, Bahar ; Willis, Michael ; Birukou, Aliaksandr ; Dondio, Pierpaolo and Grimaldo, Francisco
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Science Advances
- volume
- 7
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 0299 - 0299
- publisher
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85099263642
- pmid:33523967
- ISSN
- 2375-2548
- DOI
- 10.1126/sciadv.abd0299
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- d704e2d0-858b-40f0-8819-944ee242c3f4
- date added to LUP
- 2021-01-20 16:42:35
- date last changed
- 2023-12-05 06:49:41
@article{d704e2d0-858b-40f0-8819-944ee242c3f4,
abstract = {{Scholarly journals are often blamed for a gender gap in publication rates, but it is unclear whether peer review and editorial processes contribute to it. This article examines gender bias in peer review with data for 145 journals in various fields of research, including about 1.7 million authors and 740,000 referees. We reconstructed three possible sources of bias, i.e., the editorial selection of referees, referee recommendations, and editorial decisions, and examined all their possible relationships. Results showed that manuscripts written by women as solo authors or coauthored by women were treated even more favorably by referees and editors. Although there were some differences between fields of research, our findings suggest that peer review and editorial processes do not penalize manuscripts by women. However, increasing gender diversity in editorial teams and referee pools could help journals inform potential authors about their attention to these factors and so stimulate participation by women.}},
author = {{Squazzoni, Flaminio and Bravo, Giangiacomo and Farjam, Mike and Marusic, Ana and Mehmani, Bahar and Willis, Michael and Birukou, Aliaksandr and Dondio, Pierpaolo and Grimaldo, Francisco}},
issn = {{2375-2548}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{0299--0299}},
publisher = {{American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}},
series = {{Science Advances}},
title = {{Peer review and gender bias: : A study on 145 scholarly journals}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd0299}},
doi = {{10.1126/sciadv.abd0299}},
volume = {{7}},
year = {{2021}},
}