Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?

Male researchers dominate scientific production in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, potential mechanisms to avoid this gender imbalance remain poorly explored in STEM, including ecology and evolution areas. In the last decades, changes in the peer-review process tow...

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Main Authors: Cibele Cássia-Silva, Barbbara Silva Rocha, Luisa Fernanda Liévano-Latorre, Mariane Brom Sobreiro, Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2023-04-01
Series:PeerJ
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peerj.com/articles/15186.pdf
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author Cibele Cássia-Silva
Barbbara Silva Rocha
Luisa Fernanda Liévano-Latorre
Mariane Brom Sobreiro
Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas
author_facet Cibele Cássia-Silva
Barbbara Silva Rocha
Luisa Fernanda Liévano-Latorre
Mariane Brom Sobreiro
Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas
author_sort Cibele Cássia-Silva
collection DOAJ
description Male researchers dominate scientific production in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, potential mechanisms to avoid this gender imbalance remain poorly explored in STEM, including ecology and evolution areas. In the last decades, changes in the peer-review process towards double-anonymized (DA) have increased among ecology and evolution (EcoEvo) journals. Using comprehensive data on articles from 18 selected EcoEvo journals with an impact factor >1, we tested the effect of the DA peer-review process in female-leading (i.e., first and senior authors) articles. We tested whether the representation of female-leading authors differs between double and single-anonymized (SA) peer-reviewed journals. Also, we tested if the adoption of the DA by previous SA journals has increased the representativeness of female-leading authors over time. We found that publications led by female authors did not differ between DA and SA journals. Moreover, female-leading articles did not increase after changes from SA to DA peer-review. Tackling female underrepresentation in science is a complex task requiring many interventions. Still, our results highlight that adopting the DA peer-review system alone could be insufficient in fostering gender equality in EcoEvo scientific publications. Ecologists and evolutionists understand how diversity is important to ecosystems’ resilience in facing environmental changes. The question remaining is: why is it so difficult to promote and keep this “diversity” in addition to equity and inclusion in the academic environment? We thus argue that all scientists, mentors, and research centers must be engaged in promoting solutions to gender bias by fostering diversity, inclusion, and affirmative measures.
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spelling doaj.art-e0f0419f03e34cb0820c7ed43a9ea9312023-12-03T10:28:53ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592023-04-0111e1518610.7717/peerj.15186Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?Cibele Cássia-Silva0Barbbara Silva Rocha1Luisa Fernanda Liévano-Latorre2Mariane Brom Sobreiro3Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas4Department of Plant Biology/Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, BrazilKunhã Asé Network of Women in Science, Salvador, Bahia, BrazilKunhã Asé Network of Women in Science, Salvador, Bahia, BrazilKunhã Asé Network of Women in Science, Salvador, Bahia, BrazilKunhã Asé Network of Women in Science, Salvador, Bahia, BrazilMale researchers dominate scientific production in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, potential mechanisms to avoid this gender imbalance remain poorly explored in STEM, including ecology and evolution areas. In the last decades, changes in the peer-review process towards double-anonymized (DA) have increased among ecology and evolution (EcoEvo) journals. Using comprehensive data on articles from 18 selected EcoEvo journals with an impact factor >1, we tested the effect of the DA peer-review process in female-leading (i.e., first and senior authors) articles. We tested whether the representation of female-leading authors differs between double and single-anonymized (SA) peer-reviewed journals. Also, we tested if the adoption of the DA by previous SA journals has increased the representativeness of female-leading authors over time. We found that publications led by female authors did not differ between DA and SA journals. Moreover, female-leading articles did not increase after changes from SA to DA peer-review. Tackling female underrepresentation in science is a complex task requiring many interventions. Still, our results highlight that adopting the DA peer-review system alone could be insufficient in fostering gender equality in EcoEvo scientific publications. Ecologists and evolutionists understand how diversity is important to ecosystems’ resilience in facing environmental changes. The question remaining is: why is it so difficult to promote and keep this “diversity” in addition to equity and inclusion in the academic environment? We thus argue that all scientists, mentors, and research centers must be engaged in promoting solutions to gender bias by fostering diversity, inclusion, and affirmative measures.https://peerj.com/articles/15186.pdfGender diversityGender equalityInclusionTriple-anonymized policy
spellingShingle Cibele Cássia-Silva
Barbbara Silva Rocha
Luisa Fernanda Liévano-Latorre
Mariane Brom Sobreiro
Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas
Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?
PeerJ
Gender diversity
Gender equality
Inclusion
Triple-anonymized policy
title Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?
title_full Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?
title_fullStr Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?
title_full_unstemmed Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?
title_short Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?
title_sort overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution is the double anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time
topic Gender diversity
Gender equality
Inclusion
Triple-anonymized policy
url https://peerj.com/articles/15186.pdf
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