Peer-Reviewed Open Access Article Controversial Ideas 2026 , 6 (1), 4; doi: 10.63466/jci06010004 Stephen J. Ceci * , Wendy M. Williams Received: 15 Aug 2025 / Accepted: 25 Feb 2026 / Published: 10 May 2026 Abstract The “dominant gender narrative” in science holds that bias against women is pervasive and occurs in every domain, including tenure-track hiring, letters of recommendation, awards, grants, journal publications, authorship assignment, citations, salaries, promotions, and teaching evaluations. Many of these claims are repeatedly broadcast despite their nullification by larger, stronger studies and meta-analyses that do not find gender bias . Because these stronger studies are cited less often, there exists a false belief among many faculty that gender bias is omnipresent in the tenure-track academy. As an example of this false belief, 248 U.S. faculty were surveyed about their beliefs regarding gender bias. They overestimated the extent of such bias in every domain.…