Olga Khazan in the Atlantic (17 Dec 2019) reports on a December 2019 BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) article on ‘gender differences in how scientists present the importance of their research’.  The data suggest that male authors more often report that their work is ‘unique’, ‘novel’, or ‘excellent’ than female authors.  But that is not all.  Positive presentations engendered higher subsequent citations.

The authors of the study suggest that editors and reviewers should be aware of such adjectives and make sure that their use is validated by the results of the research.

URL for the article: (https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/367/bmj.l6573.full.pdf

URL for the Atlantic piece: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/12/male-scientists-are-their-own-hype-men/603715/