Geographic distribution and gender gap in the peer review of a Latin American biomedical scientific journal

Peer review is an important process that makes it possible to take decisions before the publication of an article. However, little information is available in Latin American scientific journals about the professionals involved in this process. The purpose of the study was to determine the geographic and gender distribution of peer review in the Peruvian Journal of Experimental Medicine and Public Health. Data about peer reviewers were obtained from the acknowledgements sections of journal issues published from 2010 to 2017. The country of origin was identified from the institutional affiliation reported by peer reviewers, and gender was derived from their proper names. In the event of doubt about a reviewer's gender, a search was conducted for images and public academic profiles available on the Internet. A total 1 628 acknowledgement mentions were found, 60.4% (n = 983) of which referred to overseas reviewers, mainly from Spain, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Argentina. 71.1% (n = 1 158) of the reviewers were male and 28.9% (n = 470) were female. 35.0% (n = 344) of the female reviewers were foreign and 19.6% (n = 126) were from Peru, whereas 65.0% of the male reviewers were foreign and 80.6% were from Peru. Peer review in a Peruvian biomedical scientific journal was mainly conducted by professionals from other Spanish-speaking countries. A gender gap was observed which is wider for participation of Peruvian female reviewers.