What is meant by publication bias?

Publication bias refers to the selective publication of research studies based on their results. Here, studies with positive findings are more likely to be published than studies with negative findings. Positive findings are also likely to be published quicker than negative ones.

What is the publication bias?

Publication bias is defined as the failure to publish the results of a study on the basis of the direction or strength of the study findings.

What is a real life example of publication bias?

Publication Bias: is when certain types of studies are published over others. A real-life example of publication bias is a study was published about an antidepressant that was not approved for use in the U.S., but has been approved in other countries.

How do you know if there is publication bias?

A subgroup analysis of moderators that includes published studies and unpublished studies are estimated and, if the effect-size estimate of published studies is greater than that of unpublished studies, then one can reasonably conclude publication bias is evident (Borenstein et al., 2011).

What is publication bias psychology A level?

Dickersin & Min define publication bias as the failure to publish the results of a study “on the basis of the direction or strength of the study findings.” This non-publication introduces a bias which impacts the ability to accurately synthesize and describe the evidence in a given area.

Publication Bias

Why is publication bias a problem in psychology?

In the presence of publication bias, belief in the relationship increases artificially and iteratively with each positive publication. This, in turn, diminishes the credibility of hypothesis testing because it is based on biased information, and calls into question the integrity of the entire experimental framework.

What is an example of publication bias in research?

Publication bias occurs when one type of study result is more likely to be published than another. For example, publishing results of studies that show a new treatment provides significant benefits, but not always publishing studies that show less or no benefit, will lead to publication bias.

How is publication bias an ethical issue?

Apparently, publication bias poses serious threats to the integrity of scientific research. It prevents us from consuming objective, true, and unbiased research, and introduces much error in what we read and believe. Thus, publication bias and relevant topics should be addressed in research ethics modules and courses.

How can publication bias be avoided?

Bias can be minimized by (1) insisting on high-quality research and thorough literature reviews, (2) eliminating the double standard concerning peer review and informed consent applied to clinical research and practice, (3) publishing legitimate trials regardless of their results, (4) requiring peer reviewers to ...

What are the methods for publication bias?

Of the methods available to researchers for the detection of publication bias, one of the simplest is the funnel plot. This is a scatterplot of the estimate of effect from each study in the meta-analysis against a measure of its precision, usually 1/SE (Figure 1A).

What is another word for publication bias?

Publication bias is sometimes called the file-drawer effect, or file-drawer problem.

What is the risk of publication bias?

Specifically, the conclusions of the review may be compromised when decisions about how, when and where to report results of eligible studies are influenced by the nature and direction of the results. This is the problem of 'non-reporting bias' (also described as 'publication bias' and 'selective reporting bias').

Is publication bias intentional?

Bias may be introduced intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously, into the process of research dissemination. 3,18 The dissemination profile of research may be influenced by investigators, study sponsors, peer reviewers, and journal editors.

What plots for publication bias?

Measuring publication bias

Essentially a funnel plot is a plot of the study effect size against its precision. The effect size is usually measured as a mean difference or standardised difference, for continuous data, or a relative risk or odds ratio for dichotomous or event-like data.

Is reporting bias the same as publication bias?

Reporting bias (publication bias or outcome reporting bias) occurs when the decision to report depends on the direction or magnitude of the findings. In clinical research, registration of trials prior to data collection is used to prevent selective reporting ( Chan et al., 2017; Gopal et al., 2018).

How do you deal with publication bias in meta-analysis?

What is publication bias and Type 1 error?

Publication bias, otherwise known as the file drawer problem, is the idea that research papers rejecting a null hypothesis as a consequence of Type I errors are published while those that support the same null hypothesis are, instead, shoved into a file drawer where no one can access them (Rosenthal, 1979).

What is publication ethics in simple words?

Definition: Publication ethics are rules of conduct generally agreed upon when publishing results of scientific research or other scholarly work.

Is selective reporting publication bias?

While publication bias occurs when the entire study is unpublished, selective outcome reporting occurs when trials collect a number of outcomes and, post hoc, publish only selected ones. Both biases result in non-significant outcomes being omitted from meta-analyses.

Which research method is vulnerable to publication bias?

They found that observational, laboratory-based experimental studies and non-randomised trials had a greater risk of publication bias than randomised clinical trials.

What is the most harmful bias?

Cognitive biases can be hard to identify, yet they can significantly affect our decision-making process, especially when it comes to market speculation. Traders face various biases, and five of the most dangerous ones are: confirmation bias, overconfidence bias, loss aversion bias, anchoring bias, and hindsight bias.

Why is there a publication bias against null effects?

Publication bias can also arise from decisions of journal editors and peer reviewers to reject studies with null results because: “negative results have never made riveting reading”; the study may be similar to the peer-reviewer's own work; they may be biased against research in different fields; or because studies ...

How do you interpret a funnel plot for publication bias?

Asymmetry in the funnel plot, measured using regression analysis, is an indication of publication bias. In the absence of bias, results from small studies will scatter widely at the bottom of the graph, with the spread narrowing among larger studies.

What are the two methods of publication bias testing?

Does publication bias cause heterogeneity?

Our results show that the effect of publication bias on the Q test and assessment of heterogeneity is large, complex, and nonlinear. Publication bias can both dramatically decrease and increase heterogeneity in true effect size, particularly if the number of studies is large and population effect size is small.