RETRACTED: Likely Electromagnetic Foundations of Gender Inequality

The following article has been retracted at the request of the Journal Editor and Sage:

León, F. R. (2023). Likely Electromagnetic Foundations of Gender Inequality. Cross-Cultural Research, 57(2-3), 239-263. https://doi.org/10.1177/10693971221143577

A reader contacted Sage with concerns about the quality of the data used in the paper and the validity of the data analysis (Sear, 2022). Specifically:

(1) That the cognitive performance estimates used by the author do not meet scientific standards. The Becker (2019) estimates are based partially on Lynn and Vanhanen (2002, 2012) data on national IQ.

(2) The reader outlined concerns that National IQ dataset used in the article is systematically biased and that analyses using the dataset will produce biased results. Not only are most samples in the dataset unrepresentative, but some countries have fewer nationwide samples, more rural samples, and samples with a higher proportion of children.

(3) The reader noted the adjustments to the dataset outlined by the author failed to improve the quality of the original dataset to make it suitable for the analyses in the paper.

Given the concerns raised by the reader, and that the original round of peer-review did not meet the journal’s standards, the Journal Editor and Sage conducted a post-publication peer review of the article. Sage also contacted the author for comments on the concerns raised.

The author provided a response to the concerns outlined, detailing in particular the adjustments they had made to the ‘National IQ’ dataset in light of the critique of bias.

Two independent subject experts highlighted fundamental concerns with the data used, such that the conclusions may not be adequately supported by the results. Specifically:

(1) Significant concerns were raised about two of the datasets used by the author, the National IQ Database and the Gender Inequality Index.

(2) Concerns were raised about the author’s geographical coding of countries by climate.

(3) Concerns were raised about the “Life-history” framework deployed by the author.

(4) Concerns were raised about the methodology of the data analysis and best practice.

(5) Concerns were raised about the selection of variables and resulting validity of the causal relationships claimed in the article conclusions.

In summary, the post-publication review raised serious concerns about the validity of the data and the article findings.

The Journal Editor assessed the original article, the author comments and the post-publication reviews and found that the concerns about the quality of the data, the data analysis and the article conclusions were significant. As a result, the Journal Editor and Sage retract this article.

This retraction supersedes the information provided in the expression of concern.

The author agreed with the decision to retract when notified.