Yes, having a big name in science will help get your paper published, a new study confirms. Involving hundreds of researchers reviewing an economics paper, the study found that reviewers were more likely to recommend acceptance when the paper was associated with a famous author compared to a lesser-known one.
The Matthew effect, a term coined in 1968 to describe this prejudice, has been a topic of concern among scientists for years. However, previous efforts to document this prejudice had limitations such as small sample sizes or lack of randomization. To address these issues, a team from the University of Innsbruck conducted an extensive study.
The team sent emails to about 3,300 researchers, inviting them to review an economics paper for a real journal. The paper had two authors: Vernon Smith, a Nobel Prize winner, and Sabiou Inoua, one of Smith's former Ph. D. students. The potential reviewers received one of three descriptions of the paper: one mentioning only Smith, another mentioning only Inoua, and a third with no author mentioned. Of the researchers who agreed to review the paper, Smith's fame influenced their responses. When given only Smith's name, 38.5% accepted the invitation to review, while the figures were 30.7% for those given no name and 28.5% for those given only Inoua's name.
To further avoid prejudice, the team randomly assigned the 313 reviewers who initially received no author's name to review one of three papers: one credited to Smith alone, another to Inoua alone,and a third with no authors listed. Reviewers rated the paper credited to Smith the highest, praising its inclusion of new information and data-supported conclusions. The version with no authors received recommendations for acceptance from 24% of reviewers, more than double the percentage for the version credited only to Inoua.
The team warned against evaluating identical work differently based on the author's identity and suggested that double-blind reviews may reduce the prejudice. However, this approach may not be effective as reviewers can often identify authors through preprints or conference presentations.