Potential sources of bias in research fellowship assessments: effects of university prestige and field of study

In this study we analysed the committee peer review process used by an international foundation for the promotion of basic research in biomedicine (Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds) as to whether the scientific field of study within which the research project is proposed and the institutional prestige of the grant applicant's university influenced the decision to award doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships. The results of the comprehensive empirical analyses show statistically significant evidence of a bias in the review process towards certain fields of study, but no evidence of a bias towards applications for fellowships from researchers affiliated with prestigious universities.