M_Tagliapietra makes a valid point that offspring are more likely to follow their ancestors' profession than any other, regardless of nepotism, that this may have unfairly inflated the outcome, and that a more accurate outcome could have been attained if the values were presented relative to other professions.

In addition to family relatedness, extra-marital affairs are a relationship through which nepotism might also be generated. Including knowledge of these into the study might significantly increase the prevalence values. However, the extent of extra-marital affairs in Italy or in university research must be assumed to be low until robust and carefully-collected data indicate otherwise.