Threats to objectivity in peer review: the case of gender

Abstract

Scientists strive to be objective in their peer review of grant applications and manuscript submissions. Nevertheless, all humans are susceptible to biases in decision-making. To illustrate how cognitive bias unrelated to the merit of the science could influence scientific peer review we describe the potential impact of applicant gender on the judgment of reviewers. Table 1 describes some different types of cognitive biases and Table 2 describes conditions that might facilitate the operation of cognitive biases in peer review.