Publication bias refers to the tendency of researchers and publishers to prefer publishing studies with positive or significant results, while leaving out or underreporting studies with negative or insignificant findings. This can create a skewed representation of the true state of scientific knowledge, leading to incomplete or biased conclusions.
Full definition
The results provide no evidence of
marked publication bias, although the statistical power of formal tests was limited by the small number of studies available for analysis.
One 2008 study, for instance, analyzed 16 papers
investigating publication bias in randomized clinical trials and found clear indications of selective publication.
We also don't know what the
real publication bias was in human trials, so it's hard to compare what has changed.
We suspect that sex differences do emerge in these contexts, although there have been no large scale meta - analyses of this topic that have accounted
for publication bias.
Publication bias in clinical trials is the most thoroughly researched aspect of research integrity — having been discussed in detail for over 30 years.
However, the issue is that the larger trials, which is the point that the BCBS TEC assessment made, failed to reach statistical significance on intention to treat analysis, and there was a suggestion of
publication bias with the smaller trials.
«The authors of this meta - analysis provide limited evidence to support their contention, and even concede that their own observational findings have not been confirmed in experimental studies and may be influenced
by publication bias.»
We examined plots visually to see whether there was any evidence of asymmetry that might suggest different treatment effects in smaller studies, which may
indicate publication bias (Harbord 2006).
Simon Festing says that
reducing publication bias in animal research would ensure a sound basis to move from animal studies...
After examining all of the studies closely and accounting for
possible publication bias — findings from small studies that might have turned up indications of some positive effect — Appleton's group concludes that overall, «there is little evidence of a beneficial effect» of these fish fats on depression.
In an ideal world, systematic reviews provide access to all the available evidence on specific exposure — disease associations, but
publication bias related to authors» conflicts of interest may affect the reliability of the conclusions of such studies.
Psychologists also tackled problems of
publication bias head - on, he said, referring to a tendency for studies that are new and flashy to get more space in the journals than replications of previous work; that's the case even though replications are what show that science is strong.
Publication bias needs to be addressed, because small studies with non-significant result effects usually do not get published.
To investigate the possibility of reporting biases,
including publication bias, we will draw funnel plots (Egger 1997; Sterne 2011).
A violation of funnel plot symmetry
reflects publication bias, that is, a selective inclusion of studies showing positive or negative outcomes (Sutton et al. 2000).
The philosophy behind Registered Reports is that the new format will help improve research transparency and reproducibility by
reducing publication bias — journals» favoring of certain types of results — and, consequently, the questionable research practices that some scientists adopt to make their results more likely to be published.