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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one 2021-10, Vol.16 (10), p.e0257919-e0257919
Main Authors:	Squazzoni, Flaminio, Bravo, Giangiacomo, Grimaldo, Francisco, García-Costa, Daniel, Farjam, Mike, Mehmani, Bahar
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Biblioteks-och informationsvetenskap Computer science Coronaviruses COVID-19 Datasets Demographic aspects Families & family life Female-male relations Gender Gender aspects Gender Studies Genusvetenskap Home education Information management Information Studies Media and Communications Medicine and Health Sciences Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap Men Pandemics Peer review Periodicals Physical Sciences Research and Analysis Methods Reviews Samhällsvetenskap Social Sciences Women
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Summary:	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.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203