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Computational audits combat disparities in recognition

Nature Human Behaviour volume 6, pages 473–474 (2022)Cite this article

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To the editor—Recognition by peers and the general public can greatly affect the trajectory of a scientist’s career. Any recognition — the inclusion of one’s name in print as an expert, an invited lecture or an award — paves the way to future accolades. Regardless of an individual’s merit, biases can skew which scientists are recognized. This is exemplified in a recent study of disparities in scientific journalism, which found that individuals with names that are predicted to be of East Asian origin were underquoted and undermentioned1. Regular monitoring of recognition practices can combat this by identifying overlooked groups and creating opportunities to hold the recognizing body accountable.

Auditing efforts can help to reduce disparities. For instance, several journalists found that self-audits of gender-based representation in their articles helped them to approach parity2,3. In award recognition, an audit of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) honourees revealed significant underrepresentation of people with names of predicted East Asian origin, and overrepresentation of US-affiliated scientists. After this study was publicized, the ISCB’s following honourees had the highest mean predicted probability of having an East Asian name of any previous year, and the nominating committee inducted their first China-based ISCB Fellow4.

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References

  1. Davidson, N. R. & Greene, C. S. Analysis of scientific journalism in Nature reveals gender and regional disparities in coverage. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.21.449261 (2021).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Ariel A. Hippen, Natalie R. Davidson.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Ariel A. Hippen

  2. Center for Health Artificial Intelligence, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA

    Natalie R. Davidson & Casey S. Greene

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  1. Ariel A. Hippen
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  2. Natalie R. Davidson
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  3. Casey S. Greene
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Correspondence to Casey S. Greene.

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Hippen, A.A., Davidson, N.R. & Greene, C.S. Computational audits combat disparities in recognition. Nat Hum Behav 6, 473–474 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01279-2

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