External review letters in academic promotion and tenure decisions are reflective of reviewer characteristics

IF 7.5 1区管理学 Q1 MANAGEMENT Research Policy Pub Date : 2023-12-21 DOI:10.1016/j.respol.2023.104939

Juan M. Madera , Christiane Spitzmueller , Heyao Yu , Ebenezer Edema-Sillo , Mark S.F. Clarke

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Abstract

We examine validity and bias in external review letters (ERLs) in academic settings. ERLs play a critical role in promotion and tenure (P&T) decisions across the globe, ending careers in some cases while allowing other scientists' careers to flourish. We coded and analyzed 995 ERLs submitted by letter writers at various institutions as part of the P&T portfolios of 195 candidates at an R1 university. We examined their relationship with P&T committees' percent of positive votes by department, college, and university committees. We investigated how ERL linguistic features, letter writer characteristics, and candidate characteristics (productivity and gender) relate to P&T decision-making. Results show writer characteristics are more strongly related than candidate characteristics to ERL linguistic features associated with P&T decisions at the department and university levels. We develop recommendations for policymakers, including changes in the use of ERLs for the P&T process.

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学术晋升和终身教职决定中的外部评审书反映了评审人的特点

我们研究了学术环境中外部评审信（ERL）的有效性和偏差。在全球范围内，外部评审信在晋升和终身教职（P&T）决策中发挥着至关重要的作用，在某些情况下，外部评审信会终结某些科学家的职业生涯，而另一些情况下，外部评审信则会让其他科学家的职业生涯蓬勃发展。我们对不同机构的写信人提交的 995 篇 ERL 进行了编码和分析，这些 ERL 是一所 R1 大学 195 名候选人 P&T 档案的一部分。我们研究了ERL与P&T委员会在系、学院和大学委员会的赞成票百分比之间的关系。我们研究了 ERL 语言特点、写信人特征和候选人特征（生产力和性别）与 P&T 决策的关系。结果表明，与候选人特征相比，写信人特征与ERL语言特征的关系更密切，而ERL语言特征则与系和大学层面的P&T决策有关。我们为政策制定者提出了建议，包括改变在 P&T 过程中使用 ERL 的方式。

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来源期刊

Research Policy MANAGEMENT-

CiteScore

12.80

自引率

6.90%

发文量

182

期刊介绍： Research Policy (RP) articles explore the interaction between innovation, technology, or research, and economic, social, political, and organizational processes, both empirically and theoretically. All RP papers are expected to provide insights with implications for policy or management. Research Policy (RP) is a multidisciplinary journal focused on analyzing, understanding, and effectively addressing the challenges posed by innovation, technology, R&D, and science. This includes activities related to knowledge creation, diffusion, acquisition, and exploitation in the form of new or improved products, processes, or services, across economic, policy, management, organizational, and environmental dimensions.