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Little race or gender bias in an experiment of initial review of NIH R01 grant proposals

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Listed:
  • Patrick S. Forscher

    (University of Wisconsin–Madison
    University of Arkansas)

  • William T. L. Cox

    (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

  • Markus Brauer

    (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

  • Patricia G. Devine

    (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

Abstract

Many granting agencies allow reviewers to know the identity of a proposal’s principal investigator (PI), which opens the possibility that reviewers discriminate on the basis of PI race and gender. We investigated this experimentally with 48 NIH R01 grant proposals, representing a broad range of NIH-funded science. We modified PI names to create separate white male, white female, black male and black female versions of each proposal, and 412 scientists each submitted initial reviews for 3 proposals. We find little to no race or gender bias in initial R01 evaluations, and additionally find that any bias that might have been present must be negligible in size. This conclusion was robust to a wide array of statistical model specifications. Pragmatically, important bias may be present in other aspects of the granting process, but our evidence suggests that it is not present in the initial round of R01 reviews.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick S. Forscher & William T. L. Cox & Markus Brauer & Patricia G. Devine, 2019. "Little race or gender bias in an experiment of initial review of NIH R01 grant proposals," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(3), pages 257-264, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:3:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1038_s41562-018-0517-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0517-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Bol, Thijs & de Vaan, Mathijs & van de Rijt, Arnout, 2022. "Gender-equal funding rates conceal unequal evaluations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    2. Paul Siu Fai Yip & Yunyu Xiao & Clifford Long Hin Wong & Terry Kit Fong Au, 2020. "Is there gender bias in research grant success in social sciences?: Hong Kong as a case study," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Bonnielin K Swenor & Beatriz Munoz & Lisa M Meeks, 2020. "A decade of decline: Grant funding for researchers with disabilities 2008 to 2018," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-11, March.
    4. Lu Liu & Benjamin F. Jones & Brian Uzzi & Dashun Wang, 2023. "Data, measurement and empirical methods in the science of science," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(7), pages 1046-1058, July.

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