Category Archives: referees

Are Journal Editors Biased?

Posted on 17 January 2021 by Athene Donald

Last week a paper by Squazzoni et al appeared, which had analysed submissions to 145 scholarly journals to look for gender bias in acceptances and across the whole editorial process. They claimed not to find it. When I saw the … Continue reading →

Posted in publications, referees, Research, Royal Society of Chemistry, Science Culture, Squazzoni, Women in science | Comments Off on Are Journal Editors Biased?

Friends with Benefits

Posted on 12 May 2019 by Athene Donald

A recent study shows – in Switzerland at least – that nominated referees judge grants more favourably than those unconnected with the applicant. I’m afraid I didn’t find the conclusion of the study a surprise. Additionally I suspect that having … Continue reading →

Posted in ERC, grants, Matthew effect, panels, referees, Science Culture, Science Funding | Comments Off on Friends with Benefits

Judging on Potential (or Not)

Posted on 22 July 2018 by Athene Donald

I was trying to lay my hands on a quote I heard recently on the radio about creativity by Wolfgang von Goethe to kickstart this blogpost, and instead (amongst 100’s of others of his quotes) I came upon this: ‘Girls … Continue reading →

Posted in Equality, Goethe, promotion, referees, Royal Society, Women in science | Comments Off on Judging on Potential (or Not)

Hypothesising about Interdisciplinarity

Posted on 19 October 2012 by Athene Donald

How often have I heard it said that ‘the policies are good but the implementation is shaky’?  I could make that comment about many of the issues around women in science, where the best-intentioned policies are defeated by negativity, implicit … Continue reading →

Posted in Biological Physics, Doug Kell, grant proposal, hypotheses, Interdisciplinary Science, referees, Research Council | Comments Off on Hypothesising about Interdisciplinarity