Gender gap in journal submissions and peer review during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A study on 2329 Elsevier journals.

Flaminio Squazzoni,Francisco Grimaldo,Giangiacomo Bravo,Mike Farjam,Bahar Mehmani,Daniel García-Costa,Alberto Baccini

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0257919

Flaminio Squazzoni, Francisco Grimaldo + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257919

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Abstract

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an unusually high submission rate of scholarly articles. Given that most academics were forced to work from home, the competing demands for familial duties may have penalized the scientific productivity of women. To test this hypothesis, we looked at submitted manuscripts and peer review activities for all Elsevier journals between February and May 2018-2020, including data on over 5 million authors and referees. Results showed that during the first wave of the pandemic, women submitted proportionally fewer manuscripts than men. This deficit was especially pronounced among more junior cohorts of women academics. The rate of the peer-review invitation acceptance showed a less pronounced gender pattern with women taking on a greater service responsibility for journals, except for health & medicine, the field where the impact of COVID-19 research has been more prominent. Our findings suggest that the first wave of the pandemic has created potentially cumulative advantages for men.

Highlights

The recent pandemic has spurred a flood of COVID-related research [1, 2]
Our analysis shows that while the number of manuscripts submitted to journals generally increased during the first wave of the pandemic, the number of manuscripts submitted by men was higher than those submitted by women (Fig 1A)
Results confirmed that women submitted fewer COVID-19 related manuscripts in 2020 in health & medicine journals (Table 5)

Summary

Introduction

The recent pandemic has spurred a flood of COVID-related research [1, 2]. Over 125,000 COVID-19–related papers were published in the first 10 months after the onset of the pandemic in 2020, of which more than 30,000 hosted by preprint servers [3]. The pandemic even increased the opportunities for publication in completely COVID-unrelated fields, such as ophthalmology [4]. Systemic challenge affecting most the aspects of society, the pandemic has stimulated research on various health, economic, social and psychological factors [5], posing a challenge to journals called to handle an unprecedented volume of submissions at extraordinary speed [6]. From the onset of the pandemic, governments in many countries have enforced severe lockdown measures, requiring most academics to work from home.

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