From WEIRD to worldwide: Auditing authors’ affiliation countries over time across three leading journals publishing food-related research

Much research is based on findings obtained in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies, largely by authors from English-speaking countries. As no systematic research has documented the magnitude of this WEIRD bias in food-related research, in general, and in sensory and consumer science, in particular, the current study sought to examine the proportion of first authors and authors in general affiliated with English-speaking WEIRD countries (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) versus other countries in three leading journals publishing food-related research, including but not restricted to sensory and consumer science: Food Quality and Preference, Appetite, and Food Research International. We analyzed all empirical articles appearing in these journals during the 20-year period of 2004–2023 (N = 22,040). To facilitate comparability with top journals in psychological science where the WEIRD bias is pervasive, we also compared the proportion of first authors affiliated with English-speaking WEIRD countries for the same five-year period (2014–2018) to test whether this bias is differentially applicable across these fields of research. We find that (1) the proportion of first authors and other authors affiliated with English-speaking WEIRD countries has generally decreased over time in our examined journals; (2) compared to psychological science, our food-related journals have a substantially larger proportion of first authors affiliated with nations other than English-speaking WEIRD countries; and (3) our included journals differ substantially in their prevalence of first authors and other authors affiliated with English-speaking WEIRD countries. Together, these results quantify the extent of the WEIRD bias in food-related research, both compared to psychological science and when examined over time.