US AND NON-US SUBMISSIONS - AN ANALYSIS OF REVIEWER BIAS

Context.-Reviewers increasingly are asked to review manuscripts from o utside their own country, but whether they are more likely to recommen d acceptance of such manuscripts is not known. Objective.-To assess wh ether US reviewers or non-US reviewers evaluate manuscripts differentl y, depending on whether the manuscripts are submitted from outside the United States or from the United States. Design and Setting.-A retros pective analysis of all original submissions received by Gastroenterol ogy in 1995 and 1996. Reviewers ranked manuscripts in 4 decision categ ories: accept, provisionally accept, reject with resubmission, or reje ct. Main Outcome Measure.-Ranking of papers based on nationality of au thors and reviewers. Results.-The percentage of non-US manuscripts pla ced in each decision category by US (n=2355) and non-US reviewers (n=1 297) was nearly identical (P=.31). However, US reviewers recommended a cceptance of papers submitted by US authors more often than did non-US reviewers (P=.001). Non-US reviewers ranked US papers slightly more f avorably than non-US papers (P=.09), while US reviewers ranked US pape rs much more favorably (P=.001). Conclusions.-Reviewers from the Unite d States and outside the United States evaluate non-US papers similarl y and evaluate papers submitted by US authors more favorably, with US reviewers having a significant preference for US papers.