Are you aware of gender bias in peer review?

Last month, Dina Balabanova, (Associate Professor in Health Systems Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM); Section Editor for BMC Health Services Research) and Jamie Lundine (Research Fellow at LSHTM), hosted a workshop at LSHTM to discuss gender equality in peer review. The specific aim was to discuss ways to address women’s equal participation in the peer review process as authors, peer reviewers and editors in health journals. The workshop was attended by a diverse group of people with a range of backgrounds and experience including PhD students, researchers, editors, publishers and funders. Dina set the scene by referring to one of the main messages from the Fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research that we can “learn lessons both from poor and rich nations to address the inequities that exist in all communities”. This was with respect to building strong health systems which protect the poor and promote equity. The message struck a chord for Dina, not only in terms of her own experience in health systems and policy research, but also in terms of parallel issues with respect to gender in peer review. Gender bias in journals Many of the editors she [Jamie Lundine] spoke with appeared unaware of any gender bias and felt that their editorial boards were gender balanced (when in fact they were not!) Gender bias is a potential issue for journals across a range of different fields, not just health journals. A recent study of gender b...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Publishing Equity Gender bias peer review Source Type: blogs