Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41929673›Full record

ArticleSynthese2026

Can Evidential Pluralism mitigate bias and motivated reasoning?

Joe Jones, Alexandra Trofimov, Michael Wilde, Jon Williamson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Synthese, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Joe JonesKing's College London, London, UK.
Alexandra TrofimovUniversity of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
Michael WildeKent and Medway Medical School, Canterbury, UK.
Jon WilliamsonUniversity of Manchester, Manchester, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-0514-4209

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This paper defends Evidential Pluralism, a philosophical account of causal enquiry, against the concern that it is particularly prone to bias and motivated reasoning. Evidential Pluralism scrutinises mechanistic studies alongside the comparative studies considered by the evaluation methods at the heart of orthodox evidence-based medicine and evidence-based policy. Concerns have been raised that mechanistic studies, and therefore Evidential Pluralism itself, are particularly prone to bias. We present a range of considerations to show that this is not the case.

Indexed as

BiasEffectivenessEvaluationEvidence-based medicineEvidence-based policyEvidential Pluralism

Identifiers

PMID41929673
PMCPMC13038640

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.