An Examination of Gender Differences in the American Fisheries Society Peer-Review Process

Abstract

This study investigated the possibility of gender differences in outcomes throughout the peer review process of American Fisheries Society (AFS) journals. For each manuscript submitted to four AFS journals between January 2003 and December 2010, we collated information regarding the gender and nationality of authors, gender of associate editor, gender of reviewers, reviewer recommendations, associate editor’s decision, and publication status of the manuscript. We used hierarchical linear modeling to test for differences in manuscript decision outcomes associated with author, reviewer, and associate editor gender. Gender differences were present at some but not every stage of the review process and were not equal among the four journals. Although there was a small gender difference in decision outcomes, we found no evidence of bias in editors’ and reviewers’ recommendations. Our results support the conclusion that the current singleblind review system does not result in bias against female authors within AFS journals.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Publication Date

9-9-2015

Publication Title

Fisheries

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03632415.2015.1059824

Keywords

Double-blind, Single-blind, Bias, Perceptions, Authorship, Diversity, Journals, Women

Language

English

Format

text

Link to Full Text

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