April 3, 2013

Gender Bias Found in How Scholars Review Scientific Studies




Study Abstracts Rated as Higher Quality with Male Authors

A scientist’s gender can have a big impact on how other researchers perceive his or her work, according to a new study.

Young scholars rated publications supposedly written by male scientists as higher quality than identical work identified with female authors.

The research found that graduate students in communication -- both men and women -- showed significant bias against study abstracts they read whose authors had female names like “Brenda Collins” or “Melissa Jordan.”