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Homophily in grant evaluations
Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln1,2, Felix Holub3
1WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Berlin, Germany. nicola.fuchs@wzb.eu.
Nature Human Behaviour
|August 14, 2026
Summary
Reviewers award higher scores to grant applicants from their own country or with matching citizenship, indicating potential bias in scientific funding. This bias also appears at the panel level, affecting advancement.
Area of Science:
- Science funding and grant review processes.
- Research evaluation and scientific policy.
Background:
- Grant funding is crucial for scientific advancement.
- Potential for bias in grant review processes, including shared demographics between reviewers and applicants.
- Previous research suggests bias can influence funding decisions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of shared country of work and citizenship on grant review scores.
- To determine if shared gender influences grant review outcomes.
- To examine the effect of demographic alignment on panel-level advancement of grant applications.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 37,073 European Research Council grant applications with multiple reviews.
- Statistical comparison of scores awarded by reviewers with and without shared country of work or citizenship.
- Correlation analysis of panel composition (chair/member demographics) and application advancement.
Main Results:
- Reviewers who share an applicant's country of work or citizenship award significantly higher scores.
- The effect of shared demographics is strongest when both country and citizenship align.
- Shared gender has a smaller, but still positive, effect on scores.
- Applicants are more likely to advance when panel members share their country of work or citizenship.
Conclusions:
- Country of work and citizenship represent significant sources of bias in international grant review.
- Demographic alignment, particularly country and citizenship, influences funding decisions beyond scientific merit.
- Addressing these biases is crucial for equitable distribution of research funding.
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