Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282857 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. TI 2023-044/V
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
In this paper, we investigate one factor that can directly contribute to-as well as indirectly shed light on the other causes of-the gender gap in academic publishing: length of peer review. Using detailed administrative data from an economics field journal, we find that, conditional on manuscript quality, referees spend longer reviewing female-authored papers, are slower to recommend accepting them, manuscripts by women go through more rounds of review and their authors spend longer revising them. Less disaggregated data from 32 economics and finance journals corroborate these results. We conclude by showing that all gender gaps decline-and eventually disappear-as the same referee reviews more papers. This pattern suggests novice referees initially statistically discriminate against female authors, but are less likely to do so as their information about and confidence in the peer review process improves. More generally, they also suggest that women may be particularly disadvantaged when evaluators are less familiar with the objectives and parameters of an assessment framework.
Subjects: 
Gender Inequality
Statistical Discrimination
Research Productivity
Peer Review
JEL: 
A11
D8
J16
J24
J7
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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