Taxonomic chauvinism

Research in ecology and behaviour is dominated by studies on birds and mammals, and scientists who work on less ‘popular’ organisms (such as amphibians and reptiles) frequently complain that referees are biased against them. Our survey of >1000 recent papers revealed that published studies on ectothermic vertebrates were framed more conceptually than were those on endothermic vertebrates, as predicted by this complaint. Such unconscious biases might substantially affect the publication process.