Approaches to address bias in letters of recommendation

Vivian Y Chang; Mary Munson; Christina Marie Termini

doi:10.1016/j.tips.2023.03.002

Approaches to address bias in letters of recommendation

Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2023 Jun;44(6):321-323. doi: 10.1016/j.tips.2023.03.002. Epub 2023 Mar 28.

Authors

Vivian Y Chang¹, Mary Munson², Christina Marie Termini³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
² Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, 364 Plantation Street, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
³ Translational Science and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address: ctermini@fredhutch.org.

PMID: 36997381
DOI: 10.1016/j.tips.2023.03.002

Abstract

Letters of recommendation are ubiquitous in the research enterprise. Requesting, writing, and reviewing letters of recommendation are all fraught with bias, especially for individuals from groups historically excluded from research environments. We detail how letter reviewers, requesters, and writers can make letters of recommendation a more equitable tool to evaluate scientists.

Keywords: equity; letters of recommendation; mentoring; trainee support.

MeSH terms

Humans
Internship and Residency*
Writing