What is publication bias and why does it pose a problem for evidence based decision making?

Publication bias occurs when studies with statistically significant results have increased likelihood of being published. Publication bias is commonly associated with inflated treatment effect which lowers the certainty of decision makers about the evidence.

What is publication bias and why is it a problem?

A problem inherent in any method of article retrieval is publication bias. Publication bias refers to the phenomenon that studies published in peer-refereed journals are much more likely to report statistically significant results than are studies that report a nonsignificant conclusion, especially for smaller studies.

How does publication bias impact scientific results?

Impact on meta-analysis

Where publication bias is present, published studies are no longer a representative sample of the available evidence. This bias distorts the results of meta-analyses and systematic reviews. For example, evidence-based medicine is increasingly reliant on meta-analysis to assess evidence.

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.

Why is there a publication bias against no effect?

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 ...

Understanding Publication Bias in Research

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 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 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').

What type of bias is publication bias?

Publication bias is a type of reporting bias and closely related to dissemination bias, although dissemination bias generally applies to all forms of results dissemination, not simply journal publications.

How do you deal with publication bias?

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 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 do you identify publication bias?

Several rank-based tests have been created to examine the correlation between effect-size estimates plotted in the funnel plot and their corresponding standard error or sampling variance. If the rank tests result in a strong correlation, then the presence of publication bias is implied.

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.

Why is bias a problem in research?

Bias can damage research, if the researcher chooses to allow his bias to distort the measurements and observations or their interpretation.

Why is bias a problem for accurate research?

Any such trend or deviation from the truth in data collection, analysis, interpretation and publication is called bias. Bias in research can occur either intentionally or unintentionally. Bias causes false conclusions and is potentially misleading.

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.

How does outcome bias affect decision making?

Outcome bias can arise when a decision is based on the outcome of previous events without taking into account how the past events developed. Outcome bias could have a negative impact on safety reporting because the outcome of an event or incident may influence whether a report is made.

What are the 3 main types of bias?

Three types of bias can be distinguished: information bias, selection bias, and confounding. These three types of bias and their potential solutions are discussed using various examples.

What is the difference between selection bias and publication bias?

Evidence selection bias occurs when a systematic review does not identify all available data on a topic. This can arise from publication bias, where data from statistically significant studies are more likely to be published than those that are not statistically significant.

What is the most common example of bias?

Biases are beliefs that are not founded by known facts about someone or about a particular group of individuals. For example, one common bias is that women are weak (despite many being very strong). Another is that blacks are dishonest (when most aren't).

What is an example of bias in an article?

For example, an article biased toward riding a motorcycle would show facts about the good gas mileage, fun, and agility. An article biased against motorcycle riding would show facts about risk of injury and noise, and ignore positive facts about motorcycles.

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.

What are the two methods of publication bias testing?

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

How many studies are needed to assess for publication bias?

Second, investigators should use appropriate techniques to assess publication bias such as Egger's regression or symmetry of funnel plots whenever there are greater than 10 studies combined in a meta-analysis (with less than 10 the assessment methods are not very reliable).