ArticlePloS one2023
Publication bias, time-lag bias, and place-of-publication bias in social intervention research: An exploratory study of 527 Swedish articles published between 1990-2019.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of psychosocial interventions on wellbeing in individuals with severe mental illness: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria interaction with host plants: implications for drought stress response gene expression.Frontiers in plant science · 2023Pooled it
- Is any research ever truly bias-free? The myth of objectivity in science.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Review
- Canonical fact versus hypothesis testing to decipher transmission of non-tuberculous and tuberculous mycobacteria: a comparative review.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Review
- Global Overview of Environmental Enrichment Studies: What Has Been Done and Future Directions.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Publication and related biases constitute serious threats to the validity of research synthesis. If research syntheses are based on a biased selection of the available research, there is an increased risk of producing misleading results. The purpose fo this study is to explore the extent of positive outcome bias, time-lag bias, and place-of-publication bias in published research on the effects of psychological, social, and behavioral interventions. The results are based on 527 Swedish outcome trials published in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2019. We found no difference in the number of studies reporting significant compared to non-significant findings or in the number of studies reporting strong effect sizes in the published literature. We found no evidence of time-lag bias or place-of-publication bias in our results. The average reported effect size remained constant over time as did the proportion of studies reporting significant effects.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.