publication bias

(redirected from Drawer effect)

publication bias

(pŭb″lĭ-kā′shŭn) [L. publicare, to confiscate, make public]

The tendency of professional journals to publish and report the results of research trials that show a large positive clinical effect. Studies that demonstrate no association between variables or those that show neutral effects are less likely to be published or reported.

publication bias

The tendency to publish reports of research that appears to support a hypothesis and to refrain from publishing findings that do not, thereby creating opinions about the truth of the hypothesis that may be unduly optimistic.

Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005

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They carefully cover average differences versus within-sex variability, as well as effect si ze (magnitude) versus formal significance testing, "file drawer effect" (when research that finds no effect or no difference never gets published), and other issues.

Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender and Women's Mental Health: A Comprehensive Textbook. (Psychology, Psychiatry, and Mental Health)

I call this the "reverse file drawer effect." As it happened, direct evidence of this bias surfaced shortly after we had submitted our meta-analysis for publication.