Mentioning the sample's country in the article's title leads to bias in research evaluation
Mentioning the sample's country in the article's title leads to bias in research evaluation
Psychology research from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) countries, especially from the United States, receives more scientific attention than research from non-WEIRD countries. We investigate one structural way that this inequality might be enacted: mentioning the sample's country in the article title. Analyzing the current publication practice of four leading social psychology journals (Study 1) and conducting two experiments with U.S. American and German students (Study 2), we show that the country is more often mentioned in articles with samples from non-WEIRD countries than those with samples from WEIRD countries (especially the United States) and that this practice is associated with less scientific attention. We propose that this phenomenon represents a (perhaps unintentional) form of structural discrimination, which can lead to underrepresentation and reduced impact of social psychological research done with non-WEIRD samples. We outline possible changes in the publication process that could challenge this phenomenon.
WEIRD, culture, culture/ethnicity, diversity, publication bias, publication practice, structural discrimination
352-361
Kahalon, Rotem
72bc3783-2849-42d1-964f-5f3ec4739614
Klein, Verena
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Ksenofontov, Inna
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Ullrich, Johannes
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Wright, Stephen C.
5146f939-da55-4163-a757-203390d397a5
March 2022
Kahalon, Rotem
72bc3783-2849-42d1-964f-5f3ec4739614
Klein, Verena
ae0b3b07-e55d-4793-bdc0-ceea23f00b9e
Ksenofontov, Inna
9856cd19-f3ff-4178-abd3-bd8c42ce4701
Ullrich, Johannes
cb05f218-ac63-4d7c-b30f-8ee7ce938a20
Wright, Stephen C.
5146f939-da55-4163-a757-203390d397a5
Kahalon, Rotem, Klein, Verena, Ksenofontov, Inna, Ullrich, Johannes and Wright, Stephen C.
(2022)
Mentioning the sample's country in the article's title leads to bias in research evaluation.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13 (2), .
(doi:10.1177/19485506211024036).
Abstract
Psychology research from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) countries, especially from the United States, receives more scientific attention than research from non-WEIRD countries. We investigate one structural way that this inequality might be enacted: mentioning the sample's country in the article title. Analyzing the current publication practice of four leading social psychology journals (Study 1) and conducting two experiments with U.S. American and German students (Study 2), we show that the country is more often mentioned in articles with samples from non-WEIRD countries than those with samples from WEIRD countries (especially the United States) and that this practice is associated with less scientific attention. We propose that this phenomenon represents a (perhaps unintentional) form of structural discrimination, which can lead to underrepresentation and reduced impact of social psychological research done with non-WEIRD samples. We outline possible changes in the publication process that could challenge this phenomenon.
Text
19485506211024036
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More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 July 2021
Published date: March 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article: H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions awarded to Verena Klein (Grant No. 845508). Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship awarded to Rotem Kahalon (Grant No. 2020.0085).
Keywords:
WEIRD, culture, culture/ethnicity, diversity, publication bias, publication practice, structural discrimination
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 474045
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/474045
ISSN: 1948-5506
PURE UUID: 383fa7a0-2385-4925-ba53-e8886362da13
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Date deposited: 09 Feb 2023 17:52
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:16
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Contributors
Author:
Rotem Kahalon
Author:
Verena Klein
Author:
Inna Ksenofontov
Author:
Johannes Ullrich
Author:
Stephen C. Wright
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