Harris M, Macinko J, Jimenez G, Mullachery P. Measuring the bias against low-income country research: an Implicit Association Test. In these cases, authors were contacted to obtain English-language transcripts, if possible. The predicted odds for review score prediction for “Paper from the U.S.” are 1.01 [95% CI (0.66–1.55)]. As such, we determined a priori that a narrative synthesis would be the most appropriate method to compare eventual findings. A narrative synthesis of included articles was performed to identify common findings. In such scenarios, country development status, an extrinsic cue, is used to infer product quality. A flowchart outlining the study selection process can be found in Fig. This systematic review identified three RCTs that investigate the role of geographic bias in research evaluation and peer review. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK; 2008. See the uniRank degree levels and areas of study matrix below for further details. HI and JR revised subsequent drafts for important intellectual content. In the humanities and social sciences and increasingly in the biomedical sciences, some academic institutions in HICs are beginning to re-evaluate their curricula to challenge predominantly western narratives and include more diverse voices and bodies of thought [39]. Though journals hold a significant and valuable place in the academic community and will continue to do so, the practices employed by organizations such as F1000 may have a lasting impact on leveling the playing field between research from HICs and LICs. The predicted odds for review score prediction for “Same country as reviewer” are 1.15 [95% CI (0.71–1.86)], Results from Christakis et al. Often, it is clear whether the institution can be associated to a particular country. Some notable databases such as PubMed already hide author affiliation until the moment that the link is accessed and the reader is redirected to the specific journal. The search strategies for each source can be made available upon request. Of those, 347 (63.0%) clinicians also completed the second wave of surveys. Srinivasan N, Jain SC, Sikand K. An experimental study of two dimensions of country-of-origin (manufacturing country and branding country) using intrinsic and extrinsic cues. Available from: http://www.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmj.38069.518137.F6. J Assoc Inf Sci Technol [Internet]. This is already done at the peer review level for many journal types through single, double, triple, and even quadruple-blinded approaches [10]. 1998;280(3):246–7. 2004 22 [cited 2018 Jul 2];328(7450):1229–32. Extrinsic cues, such as COO (equating LMICs with low-quality research) may guide the decision-making process. Harris [27] and Christakis [29] were deliberate in their descriptions (describing the survey as a “speed-reading survey” to “enhance anchoring and fast-thinking,” (Harris) or citing an “[examination] of how physicians use information from the medical literature” (Christakis)), thus reducing the possibility of eliciting the types of behaviors they were seeking to investigate. Further, the parallel and factorial study designs used by Tomkins and Christakis, respectively, do not provide for within-individual comparisons. Cite this article. However, paying for fees associated with open access publishing, and remunerating authors for their expenses, may remain a privilege enjoyed by those affiliated with institutions in HICs, thus creating another barrier to parity in publication. Privacy Dominance and leadership in research activities: Collaboration between countries of differing human development is reflected through authorship order and designation as corresponding authors in scientific publications. Find out rankings and reviews of all Universities in the United Kingdom, Search for courses and scholarships with the uniRank World Universities Search Engine, Explore a list of all recognized Universities in Europe by country, Site last updated: Friday, 2 October 2020. The role of journal attribution per se was investigated by two studies [27, 28]. Available from: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1049732312452938. We find that there are few substitutes for a well-conducted, randomized, controlled crossover trial to investigate within-individual bias. While randomization controls for confounding, neither Tomkins nor Christakis discusses in detail how randomization was carried out. Only three (whether the single most common country among the paper’s authors was the U.S., whether the reviewer was from the same country as the first author, and whether the paper originated from one of the top 50 global computer science universities) were relevant to the purpose of this review. J Informetr [Internet]. An investigation of journal attribution bias. Verlegh PWJ, Steenkamp J-BEM. Ross JS, Gross CP, Desai MM, Hong Y, Grant AO, Daniels SR, et al. 2017;36(11):1997–2004 Available from: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0773. However, had an institution been used that neither has strong brand recognition, nor obvious geographic affiliation, then the external country cue might not be as clear, and the extent to which any elicited bias was due to geographic bias would have been uncertain. To a greater or lesser extent, COO effects are elicited by the institution name. Peters DP, Ceci SJ. Important: admission policy and acceptance rate may vary by areas of study, degree level, student nationality or residence and other criteria. Although geographic bias may not be restricted only to the axis of HICs versus LICs and it may occur at local, regional, and national levels, it is likely that LICs are most affected by elicited biases. Spec Issue Sci Prod Commun Public Health [Internet]. Cochrane Database Syst Rev [Internet]. Reviewers may see “Harvard University,” and through a series of reasonable assumptions arrive at the conclusion that Harvard produces high-quality research (blue arrows). Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673602078169. Available from: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/2jvpsj/science_ama_series_im_rebecca_lawrence_managing/, Computer Science & Information Systems [Internet]. Learn more here. Bornmann L, Stefaner M, de Moya Anegón F, Mutz R. What is the effect of country-specific characteristics on the research performance of scientific institutions? Both authors assessed the quality of reviewed articles. Top Universities. Within-individual comparisons permit observations to be attributed to bias, as each individual serves as their own control. Victora CG, Moreira CB. Mean differences in impression scores associated with attribution of an article or an abstract to the NEJM were 0.71 [95% CI (− 0.44–1.87)] and 0.50 [95% CI (− 0.87–1.87), respectively. BMJ [Internet]. Therefore, on the balance of the evidence reviewed, we find that the descriptive studies have been corroborated. Available from: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep00902. Available from: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1751157711000617. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/cardiovascres/article-lookup/doi/10.1016/S0008-6363(02)00712-5. This generated an aggregate review score between 5 and 25 for each abstract/article. Harris et al. Studies using implicit association test methodology have found that unconscious bias toward research from LMICs is prevalent [19]. The Lancet [Internet]. Available from: http://www.journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0140525X00011183. 5. As the journals investigated were the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM, a high IF journal), and the Southern Medical Journal (SMJ, a low IF journal), both containing an explicit geographic association in their names, we included this study in our analysis.