Investigation of potential gender bias in the peer review system at Reproduction

Biolková, Marie, Moore, Tom, Schindler, Karen, Swann, Karl ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4355-1449, Vail, Andy, Flook, Lindsay, Dick, Helen, Fitzharris, Greg, Price, Christopher A. and Spears, Norah 2023. Investigation of potential gender bias in the peer review system at Reproduction. Learned Publishing 36 (1) , pp. 25-30. 10.1002/leap.1537

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Abstract

This study examined whether publication outcome was affected by the gender of author, handling associate editor (AE), or reviewer, and whether there was gender bias in reviewer selection, in the journal Reproduction. Analyses were carried out on 4289 original research manuscripts submitted to the journal between 2007 and 2019. Both female and male AEs appointed more male reviewers than female reviewers, but female AEs were significantly more likely to appoint female reviewers than male AEs were (p < 0.001). When examining the gender of either first or last author manuscripts, those with female authors that were reviewed by female reviewers received better scores than those with male authors that were reviewed by female reviewers (p < 0.05): where the reviewer was male, no such effect was observed. Acceptance rates of manuscripts were similar for both female and male authors, whether first or last, regardless of AE gender. Overall, there was no significant correlation between gender of first or last author, or of AE, on the likelihood of acceptance of a research paper. These data suggest no bias against female authors during the peer review process in this reproductive biology journal.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0953-1513
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	2 February 2023
Date of Acceptance:	5 January 2023
Last Modified:	03 May 2023 07:56
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/156468

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