| Testing for the presence of positive-outcome bias in peer review: a randomized controlled trial. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 21098355 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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BACKGROUND: If positive-outcome bias exists, it threatens the integrity of evidence-based medicine. METHODS: We sought to determine whether positive-outcome bias is present during peer review by testing whether peer reviewers would (1) recommend publication of a "positive" version of a fabricated manuscript over an otherwise identical "no-difference" version, (2) identify more purposefully placed errors in the no-difference version, and (3) rate the "Methods" section in the positive version more highly than the identical "Methods" section in the no-difference version. Two versions of a well-designed randomized controlled trial that differed only in the direction of the finding of the principal study end point were submitted for peer review to 2 journals in 2008-2009. Of 238 reviewers for The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research randomly allocated to review either a positive or a no-difference version of the manuscript, 210 returned reviews. RESULTS: Reviewers were more likely to recommend the positive version of the test manuscript for publication than the no-difference version (97.3% vs 80.0%, P < .001). Reviewers detected more errors in the no-difference version than in the positive version (0.85 vs 0.41, P < .001). Reviewers awarded higher methods scores to the positive manuscript than to the no-difference manuscript (8.24 vs 7.53, P = .005), although the "Methods" sections in the 2 versions were identical. CONCLUSIONS: Positive-outcome bias was present during peer review. A fabricated manuscript with a positive outcome was more likely to be recommended for publication than was an otherwise identical no-difference manuscript. |
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Authors:
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Gwendolyn B Emerson; Winston J Warme; Fredric M Wolf; James D Heckman; Richard A Brand; Seth S Leopold |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Archives of internal medicine Volume: 170 ISSN: 1538-3679 ISO Abbreviation: Arch. Intern. Med. Publication Date: 2010 Nov |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2010-11-24 Completed Date: 2010-12-23 Revised Date: 2011-09-01 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 0372440 Medline TA: Arch Intern Med Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 1934-9 Citation Subset: AIM; IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Orthopaedics, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195-6500, USA. |
Export Citation:
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APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Humans Logistic Models Outcome Assessment (Health Care)* Peer Review, Research* Periodicals as Topic Publication Bias* Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic* |
| Comments/Corrections | |
Comment In:
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Arch Intern Med. 2011 Jul 11;171(13):1213-4; author reply 1214
[PMID:
21747021
]
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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