What creates gatekeeping?

It can arise from:

• editors;
• peer reviewers;
• grant committees;
• hiring committees;
• promotion committees;
• university curricula;
• professional associations;
• publishers;
• disciplinary norms;
• citation networks;
• research funding priorities.

Importantly, this does not automatically mean deliberate conspiracy.

A gatekeeper may sincerely believe:

“This paper does not meet the methodological standards of the journal.”

That decision can still have a gatekeeping effect even if the editor has no political intention.