Review
Ecology
Charles W. Fox, Jennifer Meyer, Emilie Aime
Summary: There is substantial evidence that systemic biases influence the scholarly peer review process. The effectiveness of double-blind peer review in reducing these biases is uncertain, as few randomized trials have manipulated blinding of author identities for journal submissions.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Adina R. Kern-Goldberger, Richard James, Vincenzo Berghella, Emily S. Miller
Summary: This systematic review explores the impact of double-blind vs single-blind peer review on publication rates by perceived author gender. The results show mixed findings, but there is reasonable evidence suggesting the existence of gender bias in scientific publishing and the potential for double-blind review to mitigate its impact. It is important to further evaluate the processes in place to create unbiased evidence in fields with a majority of female professionals, such as obstetrics and gynecology.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Olivia M. Smith, Kayla L. Davis, Riley B. Pizza, Robin Waterman, Kara C. Dobson, Brianna Foster, Julie C. Jarvey, Leonard N. Jones, Wendy Leuenberger, Nan Nourn, Emily E. Conway, Cynthia M. Fiser, Zoe A. Hansen, Ani Hristova, Caitlin Mack, Alyssa N. Saunders, Olivia J. Utley, Moriah L. Young, Courtney L. Davis
Summary: A meta-analysis of peer-review data from over 300,000 biological sciences manuscripts indicates that authors from historically excluded groups experience worse review outcomes, and there is limited data on interventions to address bias in peer review. The study highlights the need for evidence-based strategies to mitigate bias and improve diversity in the peer review process, as well as the lack of implementation of such policies in current journals.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Uma V. Mahajan, Harsh Wadhwa, Parastou Fatemi, Samantha Xu, Judy Shan, Deborah L. Benzil, Corinna C. Zygourakis
Summary: Publications are crucial for academic advancement, and this study assessed the status of women in academic neurosurgery publications. The study found that although women are underrepresented in the field, their rates of entering residency, achieving board certification, and publishing papers are increasing. The introduction of double-blind peer review did not impact female authorship rates in the two top neurosurgical journals.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGERY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stephen A. Gallo, Karen B. Schmaling
Summary: In peer review, the evaluation of research proposal risks is a stronger predictor of scores than the evaluation of proposal strengths. Reviewer scoring leniency predicts overall and criteria scores. The interpretation of proposal risks contributes to reviewer scoring variability.
Article
Anthropology
Elena De Gioannis, Federico Bianchi, Flaminio Squazzoni
Summary: Stereotypes can contribute to the gender gap in STEM by shaping people's expectations on their own and others' performance, even when information on individual abilities is available.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Misha Teplitskiy, Hao Peng, Andrea Blasco, Karim R. Lakhani
Summary: This study investigates the association between novelty and manuscript acceptance, finding that higher novelty is consistently associated with higher acceptance. Disagreement among peer reviewers was not related to novelty or conventionality, and editors tend to select manuscripts with higher novelty. This challenges the perception that peer review is inherently resistant to novelty.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Review
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Ritesh Noothigattu, Nihar B. Shah, Ariel D. Procaccia
Summary: This paper addresses the issue of inconsistency in peer review by introducing a framework inspired by empirical risk minimization to learn the community's aggregate mapping. By choosing hyperparameters for L(p, q) loss functions and utilizing computational social choice, the absence of ground truth in the problem is dealt with, resulting in the application of the approach to reviews from IJCAI 2017.
JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Cibele Cassia-Silva, Barbbara Silva Rocha, Luisa Fernanda Lievano-Latorre, Mariane Brom Sobreiro, Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas
Summary: Male researchers dominate scientific production in STEM, while potential mechanisms to avoid gender imbalance in ecology and evolution areas remain poorly explored. Our study tested the effect of the double-anonymized (DA) peer-review process in promoting female representation in EcoEvo articles and found that it did not significantly increase the percentage of female-leading authors. These findings suggest that adopting the DA system alone may not be sufficient in achieving gender equality in scientific publications.
Review
Information Science & Library Science
Marie Biolkova, Tom Moore, Karen Schindler, Karl Swann, Andy Vail, Lindsay Flook, Helen Dick, Greg Fitzharris, Christopher A. Price, Norah Spears
Summary: This study examined the impact of author, associate editor, and reviewer gender on publication outcomes and the presence of gender bias in reviewer selection in the journal Reproduction. Analysis of 4289 research manuscripts submitted between 2007 and 2019 revealed that both male and female associate editors appointed more male reviewers, but female associate editors were more likely to appoint female reviewers. Manuscripts with female authors that were reviewed by female reviewers received higher scores compared to those with male authors reviewed by female reviewers. However, there was no significant correlation between gender and acceptance rates for manuscripts, regardless of author or associate editor gender. These findings suggest that there is no bias against female authors during the peer review process in this reproductive biology journal.
LEARNED PUBLISHING
(2023)
Editorial Material
Ecology
Stephanie Brodie, Andre Frainer, Maria Grazia Pennino, Shan Jiang, Laura Kaikkonen, Jon Lopez, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Carl A. Peters, Samiya A. Selim, Natasa Vaidianu
Summary: The proposal of 'triple-blind review' for peer-reviewed journals suggests keeping author identities and affiliations blind to manuscript editors until after the initial appraisal, aiming to reduce biases and support equity in scientific publishing, especially for under-represented and minority scientists.
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Business, Finance
Yuan-Lin Hsu, Hung-Ling Chen, Po-Kai Huang, Wan-Yu Lin
Summary: The study finds that women are more regret averse, while men are more prone to self-attribution, illusion of control, and confirmation biases. However, for those with a high level of financial literacy, gender differences in behavioral biases are less pronounced.
FINANCE RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Review
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Dana Strauss, Sophia Gran-Ruaz, Muna Osman, Monnica T. Williams, Sonya C. Faber
Summary: This article proposes key mechanisms underlying racial bias and censorship in the editorial and peer review process, using compelling case study examples from APA and other leading international journals. It highlights the need for more diverse researchers, perspectives, and topics in the field of psychology to meet the mental health needs of communities of colour. The article calls for several recommendations to ensure the APA can prioritize racial equity throughout the editorial and review process.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jurgen Huber, Sabiou Inoua, Rudolf Kerschbamer, Christian Konig-Kersting, Stefan Palan, Vernon L. Smith
Summary: This paper examines the bias of status in peer review and measures its extent through a field experiment. The findings demonstrate that more researchers accepted the invitation to review a paper when the name of a prominent author was shown, and a higher percentage recommended rejecting the paper when the only author shown was relatively unknown.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Mariam Aly, Eliana Colunga, M. J. Crockett, Matthew Goldrick, Pablo Gomez, Franki Y. H. Kung, Paul C. McKee, Miriam Perez, Sarah M. Stilwell, Amanda B. Diekman
Summary: This article critically examines the peer-review system in psychology and neuroscience and highlights initiatives that aim to improve the culture of peer review. By making changes to the peer-review system, it can promote diverse perspectives and identities, and enhance the quality and impact of science.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-GENERAL
(2023)
Article
Ornithology
Tim R. Birkhead, Jamie E. Thompson, John D. Biggins, Robert Montgomerie
Article
Biology
Amelia R. Cox, Raleigh J. Robertson, Adam Z. Lendvai, Kennedy Everitt, Frances Bonier
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2019)
Article
Ecology
Amelia R. Cox, Raleigh J. Robertson, Wallace B. Rendell, Frances Bonier
Review
Biology
Tim R. Birkhead, Robert Montgomerie
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
History & Philosophy Of Science
Vida Javidi, Robert Montgomerie
Summary: The Taylor White Collection of 18th-century paintings at McGill University Library illustrates 832 birds from around the world, representing a substantial proportion of known bird species from the time. A comparison of these paintings with modern bird guides showed that less than 3% contained errors, usually limited to one of the 28 body regions assessed. Two paintings depicted species that could not be matched convincingly to any known species.
NOTES AND RECORDS-THE ROYAL SOCIETY JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ornithology
Tim R. Birkhead, Jamie E. Thompson, Amelia R. Cox, Robert D. Montgomerie
Summary: The study of Common Murre eggs on Skomer Island showed significant variations in ground colors and maculations among females, with eggs laid in different years by the same female being more similar to each other. This indicates a consistency in the appearance of eggs laid by female Common Murres within and between breeding seasons.
Article
Ornithology
Tim R. Birkhead, Juergen Fiebig, Robert Montgomerie, Karl Schulze-Hagen
Summary: An examination of museum specimens revealed that the Great Auk had two lateral brood patches instead of the previously assumed single central one, similar to its relative the Razorbill. This implies that the Great Auk likely incubated in a horizontal posture, a behavior that may have influenced their breeding density estimates.
Article
Ornithology
John D. Biggins, Robert Montgomerie, Jamie E. Thompson, Tim R. Birkhead
Summary: Bird eggs have varying shapes, and Frank W. Preston's formula from 70 years ago provides the most accurate representation for their shapes. By estimating the parameters using least squares method and using a few measurements, Preston's formula can obtain virtually perfect representations of egg shape. Digital photographs of eggs confirm the effectiveness of Preston's formula, which should be the standard for studying avian egg shapes.
Article
Ornithology
Barbara E. Kus, Rebecca T. Kimball, Robert D. Montgomerie
Editorial Material
Ornithology
Barbara E. Kus, Rebecca T. Kimball, Robert D. Montgomerie
ORNITHOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Ornithology
Ian L. Jones, Fiona M. Hunter, Sampath S. Seneviratne, Jeffrey C. Williams, Robert Montgomerie
Summary: The function of elaborate avian feather ornaments remains uncertain, despite their use in courtship and social displays. Male and female Whiskered Auklets have four facial feather ornaments that serve both courtship and mechanosensory functions. We conducted a study on the left-right symmetry of these ornaments in 721 marked individuals and found that ornament asymmetry was not sexually dimorphic, but was influenced by factors such as tarsus length and ocean climate during molting. The findings suggest that ornament asymmetry may be an indicator of environmental stress in this seabird species.
Book Review
History & Philosophy Of Science
Robert Montgomerie
ARCHIVES OF NATURAL HISTORY
(2023)
Article
History & Philosophy Of Science
Robert Montgomerie
Summary: Casey Albert Wood's book "The fundus oculi of birds", published in 1917, provides a detailed description and illustration of the retinas of approximately a hundred bird species, with particular attention to the number, size, structure, and position of the pecten. This book continues to serve as a useful starting point for the study of birds' eyes, as the function and evolution of the avian pecten are still poorly understood.
ARCHIVES OF NATURAL HISTORY
(2022)
