title: Strategies to Prevent or Reduce Gender Bias in Peer Review of Research Grants: A Rapid Scoping Review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review the literature on strategies implemented or identified to prevent or reduce gender bias in peer review of research grants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Studies of any type of qualitative or quantitative design examining interventions to reduce or prevent gender bias during the peer review of health-related research grants were included. Electronic databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsycINFO, Joanna Briggs, the Cochrane Library, Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) Reviews, and the Campbell Library were searched from 2005 to April 2016. A search for grey (i.e., difficult to locate or unpublished) literature was conducted and experts in the field were consulted to identify additional potentially relevant articles. Two individuals screened titles and abstracts, full-text articles, and abstracted data with discrepancies resolved by a third person consistently.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After screening 5524 citations and 170 full-text articles, one article evaluating gender-blinding of grant applications using an uncontrolled before-after study design was included. In this study, 891 applications for long-term fellowships in 2006 were included and 47% of the applicants were women. These were scored by 13 peer reviewers (38% were women). The intervention included eliminating references to gender from the applications, letters of recommendations, and interview reports that were sent to the committee members for evaluation. The proportion of successful applications led by women did not change with gender-blinding, although the number of successful applications that were led by men increased slightly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is limited research on interventions to mitigate gender bias in the peer review of grants. Only one study was identified and no difference in the proportion of women who were successful in receiving grant funding was observed. Our results suggest that interventions to prevent gender bias should be adapted and tested in the context of grant peer review to determine if they will have an impact.
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.|Epidemiology Division, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Tricco
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sonia M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Jesmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Antony
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rios
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Reid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Robson
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Reena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pattani
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghassemi
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Inthuja
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Selvaratnam
authors.affiliation: Institute of Gender and Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Cara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tannenbaum
authors.affiliation: Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.|Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Toronto, Medical Sciences Building, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sharon E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Straus
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005381:Financing, Organized / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010380:Peer Review / Q000941:ethics* / Q000592:standards*; D011642:Publications / Q000941:ethics / Q000592:standards; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012106:Research / Q000191:economics*; D063507:Sexism; D057188:Workflow