Study Reveals Bias Reduction in Peer Review through Anonymizing Authors

A recent study has found that when the affiliations of manuscript authors are concealed from peer reviewers, unconscious bias is reduced during the review process. The research, which focused on ecology manuscripts, revealed that papers from authors in lower-income nations or with lower English proficiency fared worse than those from higher-income, English-speaking nations. Anonymizing authors significantly mitigated this bias. The study also indicated that authors from wealthy nations received preferential treatment when their identities were known. Implementing double-blind peer review, where both authors and reviewers remain anonymous, could help address these biases and level the playing field in scientific publishing.

Source: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2435.14259

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