Data from: Author-suggested reviewers: gender differences and influences on the peer review process at an ecology journal

Peer review is the primary method by which journals evaluate the quality
and importance of scientific papers. To help editors find suitable
reviewers, many journals allow or require authors to suggest names of
preferred and nonpreferred reviewers. Though authors should know best who
is qualified to review their papers, they also have a strong incentive to
suggest reviewers that they expect to review their paper positively. In
this study, we examine the reviewers that are suggested as preferred and
nonpreferred by authors, the use of these author suggestions by editors,
and the influence of author suggestions on the peer review process and
outcomes at the journal Functional Ecology. In particular, we examined how
gender of the participants (author, editor and reviewer) influences the
role of preferred reviewers in the peer review process. Even when not
required by the journal, most authors suggest preferred reviewers, but few
suggest nonpreferred reviewers. Most author-preferred reviewers are male,
but the proportion of women among author suggestions increased over the 11
years, from a low of 15% in 2004 to a high of 25% in 2014. Male and female
authors did not differ in how likely they were to suggest preferred
reviewers, but the proportion of women among author suggestions was higher
for female authors (~28%, averaged across years) than for male authors
(~21%). Women that were suggested as author-preferred reviewers were more
likely to be selected by editors than were men suggested by authors. There
was no evidence that editor gender, seniority or length of service as an
editor for Functional Ecology affected the probability that they used
author suggestions. Of reviewers invited to review, those that were
author-suggested were more likely to respond to the editors' review
invitations but were not more likely to agree to review. Most strikingly,
author-preferred reviewers rated papers more positively than did
editor-selected reviewers, and papers reviewed by author-preferred
reviewers were much more likely to be invited for revision than were
papers reviewed by editor-selected reviewers. This difference was not
influenced by the gender of the participants in the process. Suggesting
preferred reviewers benefits authors because preferred reviewers rate
papers significantly more positively than do editor-selected reviewers,
improving the chances that a paper will be published. Journals and journal
editors should recognize that preferred reviewers rate manuscripts
differently than do editor-selected reviewers, and be aware that this
difference can have large effects on editor decisions.