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Gender Inequality in Science: A Selective Review
I continue to move some of the posts I especially liked from my Telegram channel to my blog. This time, it is a post about gender inequality in science. I originally wrote it in 2024; now I have slightly updated it and added the results of two new studies published in 2025. In general, I am rather cautious about the topic of gender inequality, because it is very often exploited and discussed excessively, sometimes with distorted facts, and it is not always clear where there i
Yulia Kuzmina
6 days ago9 min read
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When Peer Review Takes Forever: A Small Data Dive into Review Times in Psychology
At the end of the year, one usually wants to write something reflective and positive. This time, however, I decided to write about something that has been bothering me for a while š As I mentioned before, one of my papers has been under review for more than a year. I submitted it to a journal in September 2024, and it was sent out for review. And thenā¦nothing. For a long time, the submission system simply displayed a note saying that the review deadline had passed. No furthe
Yulia Kuzmina
Dec 28, 20254 min read
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About Open Access. Or What Is Really Open in Open Access Journals
Today many researchers publish their papers in Open Access (OA) journals. Sometimes they do this because publishing there is faster and more convenient than in subscription-based journals. Sometimes because they want their paper to reach as many readers as possible and, as a result, get more citations. This raises a question: how reasonable is this strategy? Are papers published in OA journals really cited more often? And is it really easier and faster to publish there? It tu
Yulia Kuzmina
Dec 17, 20258 min read
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The Sokal Affair: How Physicists Experiment with the Social Sciences
I have my own Telegram channel where I write about scientists and science in Russian, and I want to start translating some of those posts that still seem relevant. Together with a colleague, I also run another Telegram channel, formerly Cognitive Psychometrics Ā and now Psychometrics and Psychoskepticism . Every couple of weeks I write short posts thereāusually summaries of recent papers. Iāll translate some of those as well, since there is material worth sharing. For today Iā
Yulia Kuzmina
Dec 11, 20257 min read
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Difficulties of a Scientist in Immigration: A Personal Story
Lately, Iāve noticed that I start writing something and then stop, thinking, āWho needs this?ā or āNo one will read it anyway.ā Everyone writes, and thereās already more written in the world than anyone could ever read. But today I suddenly realized that by thinking this way, Iām silencing myself. Iām the one taking away my own voice. Itās like that old Russian saying, āStay quiet - people will think youāre smart.ā And then thereās that familiar feeling that nothing makes a
Yulia Kuzmina
Nov 10, 20255 min read
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Immigrant Optimism and Educational Expectations
In my previous post, I wrote about what students in different countries think about their future education and career. This time, I looked more closely at differences between native and immigrant students and how these differences might reflect a broader idea often called immigrant optimism . This concept usually refers to the tendency of immigrant families to hold higher educational and career aspirations than natives, even when their socioeconomic background is less favorab
Yulia Kuzmina
Nov 3, 20258 min read
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Balkan Optimism vs. European Realism: What Data Reveal About Teenagersā Expectations After School
The topic of career choice has interested me for a long time, perhaps because the process was not an easy one for me personally. Or...
Yulia Kuzmina
Oct 10, 20254 min read
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How I Turned from a Psychologist into a Social Scientist
Psychologist or scientist? Ever since I started working at the Institute of Education and doing research in education, and later in...
Yulia Kuzmina
Sep 29, 20255 min read
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Scientists at Conferences: Between Posters and Coffee Breaks
I spent the past few days at the ECER (European Conference on Educational Research) . I was lucky this yearāit was held in Belgrade. I...
Yulia Kuzmina
Sep 16, 20255 min read
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Estimating Grade Effect in PISA: Revisiting an Old Study
Years ago, when I was still an early-career researcher, my colleagues and I were working with PISA 2006 and 2009 data. As you know, the...
Yulia Kuzmina
Aug 4, 20254 min read
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Hidden Diversity in the Balkans: Immigrant and Native Student Profiles in Comparative Perspective
Two weeks ago, I submitted a paper on the nativeāimmigrant educational gap in the Balkans, prepared as part of a research grant supported...
Yulia Kuzmina
Jul 17, 20253 min read
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When Research Ends Without a Paper: One Story
Todayās post belongs to the āunfinished article (or written-but-never-to-be-published)ā category. I believe every researcher has a secret...
Yulia Kuzmina
Jul 4, 20254 min read
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Tests and Experiments: A Century-Old Divide in Psychology
In contemporary psychology, it's almost a cliché to speak of two major research traditions: the experimental  and the correlational . But...
Yulia Kuzmina
Jun 27, 20254 min read
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Theatrical Troupes and Academic Nomads
Reflections after a performance in Belgrade Yesterday, I attended a touring theatre production of The Suitcase Ā based on Dovlatovās work,...
Yulia Kuzmina
Jun 18, 20253 min read
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Immigrant Students in the Balkans: Paradox, Morbidity, or Something in Between?
As I mentioned earlier, I received a small research grant to investigate the achievement and well-being gap between native and immigrant...
Yulia Kuzmina
Jun 2, 20256 min read
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Cognitive Psychometrics ā A Book in Progress
From Course to Book When I lived in Russia and worked at the Institute of Education at the Higher School of Economics, I did a...
Yulia Kuzmina
May 23, 20255 min read
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Superstars, Shadows, and Citations: The Unequal World of Psychology Research
Right now, Iām slowly (but steadily) reading Simontonās 2002 book "Great Psychologists and Their Times: Scientific Insights into...
Yulia Kuzmina
May 14, 20254 min read
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Smart but Stuck: The Paradox of High Literacy in Russia (based on PIAAC old data)
Recently, I listened to a lecture on human capital in Russia, and many of the points reminded me of a paper I co-authored with a...
Yulia Kuzmina
May 8, 20255 min read
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Can We Identify Careless Responses in PISA Data?
Recently, I wrote a post for our Russian-language Telegram channel Cognitive Psychometrics , based on a paper about careless responses...
Yulia Kuzmina
Apr 8, 20255 min read
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White Hat Bias
White Hat Bias (generated by AI) Recently, I came across a new termā White Hat Bias (WHB) . Although the article that introduced it was...
Yulia Kuzmina
Mar 28, 20254 min read
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