Claims of sex-dependent effects in the behavioral and brain sciences are infrequently supported by valid statistical comparisons.
Overview
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205
- Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, Little Rock, AR 72202
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47403
Abstract
Interest in precision medicine has accelerated efforts to identify sex-dependent responses to treatments and interventions. Those efforts have, both historically and today, been concentrated in fields related to the brain and behavior. Here, we show that even though articles claiming sex-dependent effects are far more prevalent in the neurosciences than in other fields, those claims are infrequently supported by appropriate statistical evidence. Of 200 recent articles in the behavioral and brain sciences with a claim of a sex- or gender-dependent effect in the title, only 24% supported the claim with appropriate evidence—that is, they compared the effect statistically across sex and reported results consistent with the claim. In 9%, an appropriate test was described but the results were incomplete or missing; another 9% contained results that directly contradicted the claim. In most articles (58%), the effect was not compared statistically across sex. Across six brain-related research areas (behavioral sciences, clinical neurology, neurosciences, psychiatry, psychology, and substance abuse), neurosciences had the lowest rate of appropriate evidence (18%) and psychology the highest (39%). Studies on nonhuman animals supported the claim significantly less frequently (15%) than studies on human participants (34%; P = 0.002). The use of appropriate analytical approaches was unrelated to journal rank or the citation impact of the article. We conclude that claims of sex- or gender-dependent effects in the behavioral and brain sciences are often not supported by appropriate evidence, revealing a widespread inferential gap that may undermine translation of sex-dependent findings into evidence-based treatments.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Code
No file of the authors' code could be read here: it is described below, and read at its source.
OSF 59djk
Availability: 1 check, the latest on 27 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)
- 27 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)
The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.
Tracing map
Proposed by the machine: these links were found in the paper and verified at the source, without human review. The map will receive a Zenodo DOI once one of the paper's authors has validated it with their ORCID.
What the map holds:
- 1 repository of the authors' code, each at its verified commit, with its license and how the link was found in the paper;
- 0 scripts, each with its path and the digest of its content;
- no match between paragraphs and code yet;
- neither the text of the paper nor the code itself.
Its JSON (tracing-map.json) is deposited on Zenodo with its DOI once the map is validated.
Data
No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.
Data, Materials, and Software Availability
All data supporting the findings of this study are provided in Datasets S1 (http://
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Versions
The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.
Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 5 authors, 4 keywords, 9 MeSH terms, 4 funders, 51 references.
Cite
This paper
Olivier, M. T., Brown, A. W., Chung, S., Vorland, C. J., & Maney, D. L. (2026). Claims of sex-dependent effects in the behavioral and brain sciences are infrequently supported by valid statistical comparisons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123(32), e2608703123. https://
BibTeX
@article{olivier2026clai
author = {Olivier, Madeline T and Brown, Andrew W and Chung, Simon and Vorland, Colby J and Maney, Donna L},
title = {{Claims of sex-dependent effects in the behavioral and brain sciences are infrequently supported by valid statistical comparisons}},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
volume = {123},
number = {32},
pages = {e2608703123},
publisher = {National Academy of Sciences},
issn = {0027-8424},
doi = {10.1073/
url = {https://
pmid = {42550900},
pmcid = {PMC13462607}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Olivier, Madeline T
AU - Brown, Andrew W
AU - Chung, Simon
AU - Vorland, Colby J
AU - Maney, Donna L
TI - Claims of sex-dependent effects in the behavioral and brain sciences are infrequently supported by valid statistical comparisons
T2 - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
J2 - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 123
IS - 32
SP - e2608703123
SN - 0027-8424
PB - National Academy of Sciences
DO - 10.1073/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
{
"id": "10.1073/
"type": "article-journal",
"title": "Claims of sex-dependent effects in the behavioral and brain sciences are infrequently supported by valid statistical comparisons",
"container-title": "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
"author": [
{
"family": "Olivier",
"given": "Madeline T"
},
{
"family": "Brown",
"given": "Andrew W"
},
{
"family": "Chung",
"given": "Simon"
},
{
"family": "Vorland",
"given": "Colby J"
},
{
"family": "Maney",
"given": "Donna L"
}
],
"container-title-short":
"volume": "123",
"issue": "32",
"page": "e2608703123",
"DOI": "10.1073/
"PMID": "42550900",
"PMCID": "PMC13462607",
"ISSN": "0027-8424",
"publisher": "National Academy of Sciences",
"URL": "https://
"language": "en",
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2026,
8,
4
]
]
}
}
The tracing map gets a citation of its own once an author has validated it and it has a DOI.
Similar papers
The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.
- [1] doi:10.1186/s13293-022-00466-8
- Why the estrous cycle matters for neuroscience.Journal: Biology of sex differencesIn common: 5 references
- [2] doi:10.1038/s41467-025-66217-6
- Egr1 is a sex-dependent regulator of neuronal chromatin, structural plasticity, and behaviour.Journal: Nature communicationsIn common: 2 references
- [3] doi:10.3390/biology12010034 [code]
- Network Neuroscience Untethered: Brain-Wide Immediate Early Gene Expression for the Analysis of Functional Connectivity in Freely Behaving Animals.Journal: BiologyIn common: 2 references
- [4] doi:10.1523/eneuro.0484-23.2024 [code]
- Practical Bayesian Inference in Neuroscience: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Distribution.Journal: eNeuroIn common: 2 references
- [5] doi:10.1038/s41380-022-01866-3 [code]
- Power and optimal study design in iPSC-based brain disease modelling.Journal: Molecular psychiatryIn common: 2 references
- [6] doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2025-107697
- Liberal versus restrictive red blood cell transfusion thresholds in acute acquired brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal: BMJ openIn common: clinical / translational, 1 reference
- [7] doi:10.1007/s10162-025-01026-8
- Neuronal Representation of Auditory Distance Percepts vs. Cues in Human Auditory Cortex.Journal: Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JAROIn common: 1 reference
- [8] doi:10.1186/s13293-023-00515-w [code]
- Integrated analysis of robust sex-biased gene signatures in human brain.Journal: Biology of sex differencesIn common: 1 reference
- [9] doi:10.1113/jp287496 [code]
- The contribution of age and sex hormones to female neuromuscular function across the adult lifespan.Journal: The Journal of physiologyIn common: 1 reference
- [10] doi:10.1002/smi.70035
- Chronic Stress May Amplify Gender/
Sex Differences in Amygdala Reactivity to Ambiguous Emotional Stimuli. Journal: Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of StressIn common: 1 reference
Contribute
The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.
Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.
Claim this paper
Correct its record
Say what each link of this record is, remove the ones that are not the paper's, add the ones that are missing. The correction becomes a new version of the record, in its Versions section.
Validate its tracing map
You validate the map as this page shows it: 1 repository of the authors' code, each at its verified commit and with its license, 0 scripts, and 0 matches between paragraphs and code (see the Code and Map sections). It then receives a DOI on Zenodo, with you (your ORCID iD) and OSCR as its creators; the code itself is not deposited.
The map's fingerprint: sha256:b1996e1f443a1f1b…
Add the badge to the code's README
If you are an author or a maintainer of this paper's code, you can add this badge. It says what OSCR knows of the paper (its code, its validated tracing map) and links the code to this page. Paste one of these snippets under the README's title. Keep the two marks around it, so that the badge can be replaced in place and is never added twice. OSCR changes nothing in your repository.
Markdown
<!-- oscr-badge:start -->
[](https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2608703123)
<!-- oscr-badge:end -->reStructuredText
.. oscr-badge:start
.. image:: https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2608703123.svg
:target: https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2608703123
:alt: OSCR
.. oscr-badge:endHTML
<!-- oscr-badge:start -->
<a href="https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2608703123"><img src="https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2608703123.svg" alt="OSCR"></a>
<!-- oscr-badge:end -->If you choose to, you can have the badge kept up to date for you, with oscr badge --write from the command line or with the GitHub Action in your repository's workflows. Every other form and option (a card, AsciiDoc, LaTeX, shields.io) is on the badge page.
Request its removal
To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).
Discussion, reproductions, activity
Discussion: code errors and mismatches between the code and the paper about this paper and its code, from readers and its authors, beside the paper and its tracing map.
Report a mismatch between the code and the paper · Report a code error (signed in)
Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code and did not get the paper's result, what they ran, with which environment, commit and data.
Report a reproduction failure (signed in)
Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.