The impact of gender on researchers' assessment: A randomized controlled trial

This randomized controlled trial aimed to test whether women or men would be preferred with identical curriculum vitae (CV); and the impact of the career stage in the evaluators' choice.

A simulated post-doctoral process was carried forward to be assessed for judgment. Level 1 and 2 Brazilian fellow researchers in the field of Dentistry were invited to act as external reviewers in a post-doctoral process and were randomly assigned to receive a CV from a woman or a man. They were required to rate the CV from 0 to 10 in scientific contribution, leadership potential, ability to work in groups, and international experience.

For all categories of CVs evaluated, CVs from men received higher scores compared to the CVs from women. Robust variance Poisson regressions demonstrated that men were more likely to receive higher scores in all categories, despite applicants' career stage. For example, CVs from men were nearly three quarters more likely to be seen as having leadership potential than equivalent CVs from women.

Gender bias is powerfully prevalent in academia in the dentistry field, despite researchers' career stage. Actions like implicit bias training must be urgently implemented to avoid (or at least decrease) that more women are harmed.