What is publication bias?

What is publication bias?

• A. All results are published.
• B. The study is replicated.
• C. The method is pre-registered.
• D. Only positive results are published.

Answer: (D)

Publication bias is the tendency for studies with significant or positive findings to be published more often than studies with non-significant or negative findings, which skews the overall picture of what the research shows. Because journals and researchers are often drawn to striking results, the published literature can overstate effects and mislead about how strong or reliable a finding really is. The option that best captures this idea is the one that states only positive results are published, since that describes the selective publication process at the heart of publication bias. The other ideas describe different concepts: publishing all results would remove bias, replication is about checking reliability, and pre-registration is a way to reduce bias by planning analyses in advance.

Publication bias is the tendency for studies with significant or positive findings to be published more often than studies with non-significant or negative findings, which skews the overall picture of what the research shows. Because journals and researchers are often drawn to striking results, the published literature can overstate effects and mislead about how strong or reliable a finding really is. The option that best captures this idea is the one that states only positive results are published, since that describes the selective publication process at the heart of publication bias. The other ideas describe different concepts: publishing all results would remove bias, replication is about checking reliability, and pre-registration is a way to reduce bias by planning analyses in advance.