PIXABAY, HANSAmong 20 physical science journals, women represent just 20 percent of peer reviewers, which constitutes an underrepresentation when compared to rates of women’s authorship and presence in the field, according to a study published in Nature this week (January 25). The researchers say that women decline offers to review papers more often than men do, and that they receive fewer invitations from editors to review submissions.
“These findings underline the need for efforts to increase female scientists’ engagement in manuscript reviewing to help in the advancement and retention of women in science,” coauthors Jory Lerback of the University of Utah and Brooks Hanson of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) wrote in their report.
The duo analyzed authorship, reviews, and acceptances of papers submitted to any of 20 journals published by the AGU between 2012 and 2015. Although 27 percent of first authors were women and 28 percent of the AGU membership is female, the researchers found that editors and authors recommended female reviewers only 15 percent to 22 percent of the time.
“We thought that women might be recommended less than men as reviewers, but expected this to be largely age-related, ...
