Meeting Abstract

P3-55   -   Title: Gender and ethnic bias in peer-review duration Young, VKH*; Feth, E; Harrell, J; Agwick, A; Verble, RM; Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN; Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO; Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO; Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN; Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO vyoung@saintmarys.edu https://vanessakhyoung.weebly.com/

Disparities in gender and racial representation are well-recognized issues in academia. Such gaps in representation are particularly stark among higher academic ranks, to which advancement is largely contingent on one’s publication record. One factor that may influence overall scholarly output is the length of time work is in review prior to acceptance for publication; prolonged review times prevent work from being published in a timely manner or – if not accepted– delay revision and submission to an alternate journal. To determine whether length of review time was correlated with perceived author identity, we examined author gender and ethnicity in publications among three journals of varying impact and size over 10 years. We found that the composition of author ethnicity and gender drove the disparities observed with more skewed ethnic compositions creating more ethnic biases. Likewise, we found that gender, particularly of the anchor author, has a significant effect on the length of review for a manuscript. These results suggest that gender and ethnic bias in the peer review process may contribute to attrition in academia as scholars seek career advancement. Our results also highlight the importance of reducing bias during the peer review process, for example, by adopting double-blind peer review strategies.