IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17649.html

The Delayed Acceptance of Female Research in Economics

Author

Listed:
  • Bruns, Stephan B.

    (Hasselt University)

  • Doucouliagos, Anthony

    (Coles Group)

  • Doucouliagos, Chris

    (Deakin University)

  • König, Johannes

    (University of Kassel)

  • Stanley, T. D.

    (Deakin University)

  • Zigova, Katarina

    (University of Zurich)

Abstract

We investigate gender differences in the time taken to accept empirical articles. On average, female-authored economics articles take notably longer to accept. Acceptance delay is nine weeks longer when solo-authored and five weeks longer for all female teams. This gender gap cannot be attributed to differences in author affiliation, research productivity, research quality and novelty. Female-authored articles are of higher quality, as measured by citations, reflecting higher research thresholds for female-authored work. The gender composition of editorial boards does not affect acceptance time for female authors. Nevertheless, this gender gap narrows as female representation in an area of research deepens.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruns, Stephan B. & Doucouliagos, Anthony & Doucouliagos, Chris & König, Johannes & Stanley, T. D. & Zigova, Katarina, 2025. "The Delayed Acceptance of Female Research in Economics," IZA Discussion Papers 17649, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17649
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17649.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bransch, Felix & Kvasnicka, Michael, 2022. "Male Gatekeepers: Gender Bias in the Publishing Process?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 714-732.
    2. John P. A. Ioannidis & T. D. Stanley & Hristos Doucouliagos, 2017. "The Power of Bias in Economics Research," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(605), pages 236-265, October.
    3. Shoshana Grossbard & Tansel Yilmazer & Lingrui Zhang, 2021. "The gender gap in citations of articles published in two demographic economics journals," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 677-697, September.
    4. David Card & Stefano DellaVigna & Patricia Funk & Nagore Iriberri, 2020. "Are Referees and Editors in Economics Gender Neutral?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(1), pages 269-327.
    5. Abel Brodeur & Scott Carrell & David Figlio & Lester Lusher, 2023. "Unpacking P-hacking and Publication Bias," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(11), pages 2974-3002, November.
    6. Abel Brodeur & Mathias Lé & Marc Sangnier & Yanos Zylberberg, 2016. "Star Wars: The Empirics Strike Back," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 1-32, January.
    7. Pilar Beneito & José E. Boscá & Javier Ferri & Manu García, 2021. "Gender Imbalance across Subfields in Economics: When Does It Start?," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(3), pages 469-511.
    8. Maria Abreu & Henri L. F. de Groot & Raymond J. G. M. Florax, 2005. "A Meta‐Analysis of β‐Convergence: the Legendary 2%," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 389-420, July.
    9. Heather Sarsons & Klarita Gërxhani & Ernesto Reuben & Arthur Schram, 2021. "Gender Differences in Recognition for Group Work," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(1), pages 101-147.
    10. Zigraiova, Diana & Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana & Novak, Jiri, 2021. "How puzzling is the forward premium puzzle? A meta-analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    11. Manuel Bagues & Mauro Sylos-Labini & Natalia Zinovyeva, 2017. "Does the Gender Composition of Scientific Committees Matter?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(4), pages 1207-1238, April.
    12. Stephen B. Jarrell & T. D. Stanley, 2004. "Declining Bias and Gender Wage Discrimination? A Meta-Regression Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(3).
    13. Eric P. Bettinger & Bridget Terry Long, 2005. "Do Faculty Serve as Role Models? The Impact of Instructor Gender on Female Students," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 152-157, May.
    14. Anusha Chari & Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, 2017. "Gender Representation in Economics Across Topics and Time: Evidence from the NBER Summer Institute," NBER Working Papers 23953, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. George A. Akerlof, 2020. "Sins of Omission and the Practice of Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(2), pages 405-418, June.
    16. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    17. Adam, Antonis & Kammas, Pantelis & Lagou, Athina, 2013. "The effect of globalization on capital taxation: What have we learned after 20years of empirical studies?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 199-209.
    18. Fatematuz Tamanna Ahamed & Muhammad Nurul Houqe & Tony van Zijl, 2023. "Meta‐analysis of the impact of financial constraints on firm performance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(2), pages 1671-1707, June.
    19. Emmanuelle Auriol & Guido Friebel & Alisa Weinberger & Sascha Wilhelm, 2022. "Underrepresentation of women in the economics profession more pronounced in the United States compared to heterogeneous Europe," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119(16), pages 2118853119-, April.
    20. Glenn Ellison, 2002. "The Slowdown of the Economics Publishing Process," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(5), pages 947-993, October.
    21. Misha Teplitskiy & Hao Peng & Andrea Blasco & Karim R. Lakhani, 2022. "Is novel research worth doing? Evidence from peer review at 49 journals," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119(47), pages 2118046119-, November.
    22. Bornmann, Lutz & Tekles, Alexander & Zhang, Helena H. & Ye, Fred Y., 2019. "Do we measure novelty when we analyze unusual combinations of cited references? A validation study of bibliometric novelty indicators based on F1000Prime data," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4).
    23. Heather Sarsons, 2017. "Recognition for Group Work: Gender Differences in Academia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 141-145, May.
    24. Krawczyk, Michał & Smyk, Magdalena, 2016. "Author׳s gender affects rating of academic articles: Evidence from an incentivized, deception-free laboratory experiment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 326-335.
    25. Emily Oster, 2019. "Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 187-204, April.
    26. Bruns, Stephan B. & Doucouliagos, Anthony & Doucouliagos, Hristos & König, Johannes & Stanley, T.D. & Zigova, Katarina, 2026. "The delayed acceptance of female research in economics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    27. Abel Brodeur & Nikolai Cook & Anthony Heyes, 2020. "Methods Matter: p-Hacking and Publication Bias in Causal Analysis in Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3634-3660, November.
    28. Zohid Askarov & Anthony Doucouli & Hristos Doucouli & T D Stanley, 2023. "The Significance of Data-Sharing Policy," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 1191-1226.
    29. Mathias Wullum Nielsen & Carter Walter Bloch & Londa Schiebinger, 2018. "Making gender diversity work for scientific discovery and innovation," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(10), pages 726-734, October.
    30. Diane Alexander & Olga Gorelkina & Erin Hengel & Richard Tol, 2023. "Gender and the time cost of peer review," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 23-044/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    31. Donna K. Ginther & Kathy J. Hayes, 2003. "Gender Differences in Salary and Promotion for Faculty in the Humanities 1977–95," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1).
    32. Juster, F Thomas & Stafford, Frank P, 1991. "The Allocation of Time: Empirical Findings, Behavioral Models, and Problems of Measurement," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(2), pages 471-522, June.
    33. Marianne A. Ferber & Michelle Teiman, 1980. "Are Women Economists at a Disadvantage in Publishing Journal Articles?," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 6(3-4), pages 189-193, Aug-Oct.
    34. David Klinowski, 2025. "Voicing Disagreement in Science: Missing Women," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 107(6), pages 1743-1753, November.
    35. Ichiro Iwasaki & Kazuhiro Kumo, 2019. "J-Curve in Transition Economies: A Large Meta-analysis of the Determinants of Output Changes," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(1), pages 149-191, March.
    36. James J. Heckman & Sidharth Moktan, 2020. "Publishing and Promotion in Economics: The Tyranny of the Top Five," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(2), pages 419-470, June.
    37. Erin Hengel, 2022. "Publishing While Female: are Women Held to Higher Standards? Evidence from Peer Review," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(648), pages 2951-2991.
    38. Wang, Jian & Veugelers, Reinhilde & Stephan, Paula, 2017. "Bias against novelty in science: A cautionary tale for users of bibliometric indicators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1416-1436.
    39. Anusha Chari & Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, 2017. "Gender representation in economics across topics and time: evidence from the NBER," Staff Reports 825, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    40. Lorenzo Ductor & Sanjeev Goyal & Anja Prummer, 2023. "Gender and Collaboration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1366-1378, November.
    41. Cassandra M. Guarino & Victor M. H. Borden, 2017. "Faculty Service Loads and Gender: Are Women Taking Care of the Academic Family?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 58(6), pages 672-694, September.
    42. Amanda Bayer & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 2016. "Diversity in the Economics Profession: A New Attack on an Old Problem," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 221-242, Fall.
    43. Lee, You-Na & Walsh, John P. & Wang, Jian, 2015. "Creativity in scientific teams: Unpacking novelty and impact," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 684-697.
    44. Cecilia Rouse & Claudia Goldin, 2000. "Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of "Blind" Auditions on Female Musicians," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 715-741, September.
    45. Floridi, A. & Demena, B.A. & Wagner, N., 2019. "Shedding light on the shadows of informality," ISS Working Papers - General Series 642, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    46. Laura Hospido & Carlos Sanz, 2021. "Gender Gaps in the Evaluation of Research: Evidence from Submissions to Economics Conferences," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 590-618, June.
    47. Francesco Aiello & Graziella Bonanno, 2019. "Explaining Differences In Efficiency: A Meta‐Study On Local Government Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 999-1027, July.
    48. Rachel Croson & Uri Gneezy, 2009. "Gender Differences in Preferences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 448-474, June.
    49. Andrew Hussey & Sheena Murray & Wendy Stock, 2022. "Gender, coauthorship, and academic outcomes in economics," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 465-484, April.
    50. Kasey Buckles, 2019. "Fixing the Leaky Pipeline: Strategies for Making Economics Work for Women at Every Stage," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 43-60, Winter.
    51. Cristina Blanco-Perez & Abel Brodeur, 2020. "Publication Bias and Editorial Statement on Negative Findings," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(629), pages 1226-1247.
    52. Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor, 2013. "Revisiting the Effectiveness of African Economic Integration. A Meta-Analytic Review and Comparative Estimation Methods," Economics Working Papers 2013-13, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    53. Ductor, Lorenzo & Prummer, Anja, 2024. "Gender homophily, collaboration, and output," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 477-492.
    54. Donna K. Ginther & Shulamit Kahn, 2021. "Women in Academic Economics: Have We Made Progress?," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 138-142, May.
    55. Ichiro Iwasaki & Akira Uegaki, 2017. "Central Bank Independence and Inflation in Transition Economies: A Comparative Meta-Analysis with Developed and Developing Economies," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(3), pages 197-235, May.
    56. Anne Boschini & Anna Sjögren, 2007. "Is Team Formation Gender Neutral? Evidence from Coauthorship Patterns," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(2), pages 325-365.
    57. T.D. Stanley & Stephen B. Jarrell, 1998. "Gender Wage Discrimination Bias? A Meta-Regression Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(4), pages 947-973.
    58. Chris Doucouliagos & T.D. Stanley, 2013. "Are All Economic Facts Greatly Exaggerated? Theory Competition And Selectivity," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 316-339, April.
    59. Shelly Lundberg, 2019. "Report: Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP)," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 676-694, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bruns, Stephan B. & Doucouliagos, Anthony & Doucouliagos, Hristos & König, Johannes & Stanley, T.D. & Zigova, Katarina, 2026. "The delayed acceptance of female research in economics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amano-Patiño, Noriko & Faraglia, Elisa & Giannitsarou, Chryssi, 2025. "Economics coauthorships in the aftermath of MeToo," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    2. Nicole M. Fortin, 2025. "Gender differences in career progression among PhDs in Economics," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 58(3), pages 806-830, August.
    3. Datta, Deepa D. & Tzur-Ilan, Nitzan, 2025. "Gender Gaps in the Federal Reserve System," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    4. Daniel Stockemer & Gabriela Galassi & Engi Abou-El-Kheir, 2025. "A Fresh Look at the Publication and Citation Gap Between Men and Women: Insights from Economics and Political Science," Staff Working Papers 25-13, Bank of Canada.
    5. Jenny Bourne & Nathan D. Grawe & Michael Hemesath & Prathi Seneviratne & Maya Jensen, 2024. "The Disappearing Gender Gap in Scholarly Publication of Economists at Liberal Arts Colleges," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 117-134, January.
    6. Singhal, Karan & Sierminska, Eva, 2024. "Inequality in the Economics Profession," IZA Discussion Papers 17584, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Valentina Paredes & M. Daniele Paserman & Francisco J. Pino, 2025. "Does Economics Make You Sexist?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 107(5), pages 1247-1259, September.
    8. Brooks, Chris & Schopohl, Lisa & Tao, Ran & Walker, James & Zhu, Millie, 2025. "The female finance penalty: Why are women less successful in academic finance than related fields?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(4).
    9. Laura Hospido & Carlos Sanz, 2021. "Gender Gaps in the Evaluation of Research: Evidence from Submissions to Economics Conferences," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 590-618, June.
    10. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Friebel, Guido & Weinberger, Alisa & ,, 2021. "Women in Economics: Europe and the World," CEPR Discussion Papers 16686, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    11. Josep Maria Argilés-Bosch & Yuliya Kasperskaya & Josep Garcia-Blandon & Diego Ravenda, 2025. "The interplay of author and editor gender in acceptance delays: evidence from accounting journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 130(3), pages 1939-1965, March.
    12. Deepa Dhume Datta & Robert J. Vigfusson, 2024. "Measuring Inclusion: Gender and Coauthorship at the Federal Reserve Board," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2024-091, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    13. Davies, Benjamin, 2022. "Sex-based sorting among economists: Evidence from the NBER," SocArXiv zeb7a, Center for Open Science.
    14. Smith, Sarah & Sevilla, Almudena, 2020. "Women in economics: A UK Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 15034, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    15. Laura Hospido & Carlos Sanz, 2019. "Gender gaps in the evaluation of research: evidence from submissions to economics conferences (Updated March 2020)," Working Papers 1918, Banco de España, revised Mar 2020.
    16. Davies, Benjamin, 2022. "Gender sorting among economists: Evidence from the NBER," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    17. Verónica Amarante & Marisa Bucheli & Mar�a In�s Moraes & Tatiana P�rez, 2021. "Women in Research in Economics in Uruguay," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 40(84), pages 763-790.
    18. Baltrunaite, Audinga & Casarico, Alessandra & Rizzica, Lucia, 2025. "Women in economics: The role of gendered references at entry in the profession," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    19. Paula Pereda, Fabiana Rocha & Liz Matsunaga & Maria Dolores Montoya Diaz & Renata Narita & Bruna Borges, 2021. "Gender differences in the academic career of economics in Brazil," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 40(84), pages 815-892.
    20. Koffi, Marlene, 2021. "Innovative ideas and gender inequality," CLEF Working Paper Series 35, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination