Table 3.
Crude and adjusted differences in external peer review evaluation scores by characteristics of applicants, reviewers and research proposals
| Variable | Number of reviews analysed | Unadjusted difference (95% CI) |
P value | Adjusted difference (95% CI) |
P value |
| Gender of the applicant | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||
| Male | 30 263 | 0.18 (0.14 to 0.23) | 0.08 (0.04 to 0.13) | ||
| Female | 7716 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Gender of the reviewer | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||
| Male | 30 442 | 0.11 (0.08 to 0.15) | 0.08 (0.05 to 0.11) | ||
| Female | 7537 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Source of nomination of reviewer | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||
| Applicant | 8688 | 0.53 (0.50 to 0.56) | 0.49 (0.46 to 0.51) | ||
| Office | 29 291 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Country of affiliation of reviewer | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||
| Outside Switzerland | 29 384 | 0.53 (0.49 to 0.56) | 0.47 (0.44 to 0.50) | ||
| Switzerland | 8595 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Age of the applicant | 37 989 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||
| Per 10 year increase | 0.06 (0.03 to 0.08) | 0.05 (0.03 to 0.07) | |||
| Affiliation of the applicant | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||
| ETH domain | 9960 | 0.30 (0.26 to 0.34) | 0.11 (0.07 to 0.16) | ||
| Other | 4075 | −0.24 (−0.30 to −0.19) | −0.19 (−0.25 to −0.14) | ||
| Universities | 23 944 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Nationality of the applicant | 0.155 | 0.143 | |||
| Other than Swiss | 16 545 | 0.03 (−0.01 to 0.06) | −0.03 (−0.06 to 0.01) | ||
| Swiss | 21 434 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Field of research | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||
| Medicine | 7540 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Architecture | 1391 | 0.13 (0.03 to 0.24) | 0.15 (0.05 to 0.25) | ||
| Biology | 3872 | 0.30 (0.24 to 0.36) | 0.27 (0.21 to 0.33) | ||
| Chemistry | 3244 | 0.46 (0.39 to 0.53) | 0.24 (0.17 to 0.31) | ||
| Economics | 2171 | −0.09 (−0.17 to −0.01) | −0.01 (−0.09 to 0.06) | ||
| Engineering | 4880 | 0.32 (0.25 to 0.38) | 0.07 (0.00 to 0.13) | ||
| Geology | 1167 | 0.50 (0.39 to 0.60) | 0.25 (0.14 to 0.35) | ||
| History | 2053 | 0.35 (0.27 to 0.44) | 0.32 (0.24 to 0.40) | ||
| Linguistics | 2244 | 0.30 (0.22 to 0.38) | 0.26 (0.18 to 0.34) | ||
| Mathematics/physics | 3979 | 0.68 (0.62 to 0.75) | 0.45 (0.39 to 0.52) | ||
| Psychology | 2458 | −0.12 (−0.20 to −0.05) | −0.08 (−0.15 to 0.00) | ||
| Sociology | 2980 | −0.06 (−0.13 to 0.02) | 0.01 (−0.06 to 0.08) | ||
| Introduction of reviewer guidelines | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||
| Before introduction | 11 151 | 0.44 (0.41 to 0.47) | 0.43 (0.40 to 0.46) | ||
| After introduction | 26 828 | 0 | 0 | ||
Results from linear mixed effects models based on 37 979 complete peer review reports.