Why are medical and health-related studies not being published? A systematic review of reasons given by investigators

PLoS ONE

Volumn 9, Issue 10, 2014, Pages

  Song, Fujian ^a   Loke, Yoon ^a   Hooper, Lee ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HUMAN; MEDICAL LITERATURE; MEDICAL RESEARCH; PUBLICATION; PUBLISHING; REVIEW; STANDARDIZATION; STUDY DESIGN; META ANALYSIS; PERSONNEL; STATISTICS AND NUMERICAL DATA;

HUMANS; PERIODICALS AS TOPIC; PUBLISHING; RESEARCH PERSONNEL;

EID: 84908059406     PISSN: None     EISSN: 19326203     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110418     Document Type: Review

References (87)

1. Chan AW, Song F, Vickers A, Jefferson T, Dickersin K, et al. (2014) Increasing value and reducing waste: addressing inaccessible research. Lancet 383:257-266.
2. Blumle A, Meerpohl JJ, Schumacher M, von Elm E (2014) Fate of clinical research studies after ethical approval-follow-up of study protocols until publication. PLoS One 9:e87184.
3. de Winter J, Happee R (2013) Why selective publication of statistically significant results can be effective. PLoS One 8:e66463.
4. van Assen MA, van Aert RC, Nuijten MB, Wicherts JM (2014) Why publishing everything is more effective than selective publishing of statistically significant results. PLoS One 9:e84896.
5. World Medical Association (2013) World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. JAMA 310:2191-2194.
6. Chalmers I (1990) Under-reporting research is scientific misconduct. JAMA 263:1405-1408.
7. Dwan K, Gamble C, Williamson PR, Kirkham JJ (2013) Systematic review of the empirical evidence of study publication bias and outcome reporting bias - an updated review. PLoS One 8:e66844.
8. Song F, Parekh S, Hooper L, Loke YK, Ryder J, et al. (2010) Dissemination and publication of research findings: an updated review of related biases. Health Technol Assess 14: iii, ix-xi, 1-193.
9. McGauran N, Wieseler B, Kreis J, Schuler YB, Kolsch H, et al. (2010) Reporting bias in medical research - a narrative review. Trials 11:37.
10. Dickersin K, Chan S, Chalmers TC, Sacks HS, Smith H Jr. (1987) Publication bias and clinical trials. Control Clin Trials 8:343-353.
11. Weber EJ, Callaham ML, Wears RL, Barton C, Young G (1998) Unpublished research from a medical specialty meeting: why investigators fail to publish. JAMA 280:257-259.
12. Chalmers I, Dickersin K (2013) Biased under-reporting of research reflects biased under-submission more than biased editorial rejection. F1000Res 2 (1). doi:10.12688/f1000research.2-1.v1.
13. van Dalen HP, Henkens K (2012) Intended and unintended consequences of a publish-or-perish culture: A worldwide survey. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 63:1282-1293.
14. Tijdink JK, Vergouwen ACM, Smulders YM (2013) Publication Pressure and Burn Out among Dutch Medical Professors: A Nationwide Survey. PLoS ONE 8:e73381.
15. Freeman MF, Tukey JW (1950) Transformations related to the angular and the square root. Annals of Mathematical Statistics 21:607-611.
16. Miller JJ (1978) The inverse of the Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation. American Statistician 32:138.
17. Ammenwerth E, de Keizer N (2007) A viewpoint on evidence-based health informatics, based on a pilot survey on evaluation studies in health care informatics. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 14:368-371.
18. Balasubramanian SP, Kumar ID, Wyld L, Reed MW (2006) Publication of surgical abstracts in full text: A retrospective cohort study. Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 88:57-61.
19. Bullen CR, Reeve J (2011) Turning postgraduate students' research into publications: a survey of New Zealand masters in public health students. Asia-Pacific journal of public health/Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health 23:801-809.
20. Calnan M, Davey Smith G, Sterne JAC (2006) The publication process itself was the major cause of publication bias in genetic epidemiology. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 59:1312-1318.
21. Camacho LH, Bacik J, Cheung A, Spriggs DR (2005) Presentation and subsequent publication rates of phase I oncology clinical trials. Cancer 104:1497-1504.
22. Canosa D, Ferrero F, Melamud A, Otero PD, Merech RS, et al. (2011) [Full-text publication of abstracts presented at the 33th Argentinean pediatric meeting and non publication related factors]. Archivos Argentinos de Pediatria 109:56-59.
23. Cartwright R, Khoo AK, Cardozo L (2007) Publish or be damned? The fate of abstracts presented at the International Continence Society Meeting 2003. Neurourology & Urodynamics 26:154-157.
24. Cooper H, DeNeve K, Charlton K (1997) Finding the missing science: The fate of studies submitted for review by a human subjects committee. Psychological Methods 2:447-452.
25. Dal-Re R, Pedromingo A, Garcia-Losa M, Lahuerta J, Ortega R (2010) Are results from pharmaceutical-company-sponsored studies available to the public?. [Erratum appears in Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2011 Jun; 67 (6) :643]. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 66:1081-1089.
26. De Bellefeuille C, Morrison CA, Tannock IF (1992) The fate of abstracts submitted to a cancer meeting: factors which influence presentation and subsequent publication. Annals of Oncology 3:187-191.
27. Decullier E, Chapuis F (2006) Impact of funding on biomedical research: a retrospective cohort study. BMC Public Health 6:165.
28. Decullier E, Lheritier V, Chapuis F (2005) Fate of biomedical research protocols and publication bias in France: retrospective cohort study. BMJ 331:19.
29. Dickersin K, Min YI (1993) NIH clinical trials and publication bias. Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials Doc No 50 (3).
30. Dickersin K, Min YI, Meinert CL (1992) Factors influencing publication of research results. Follow-up of applications submitted to two institutional review boards. JAMA 267:374-378.
31. Donaldson IJ, Cresswell PA (1996) Dissemination of the work of public health medicine trainees in peer-reviewed publications: an unfulfilled potential. Public Health 110:61-63.
32. Drury NE, Maniakis-Grivas G, Rogers VJ, Williams LK, Pagano D, et al. (2012) The fate of abstracts presented at annual meetings of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland from 1993 to 2007. European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery 42:885-889.
33. Dyson DH, Sparling SC (2006) Delay in final publication following abstract presentation: American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists annual meeting. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 33:145-148.
34. Easterbrook PJ, Berlin JA, Gopalan R, Matthews DR (1991) Publication bias in clinical research. Lancet 337:867-872.
35. Green R, Del Mar. C (2006) The fate of papers rejected by Australian Family Physician. Australian Family Physician 35:655-656.
36. Hartling L, Craig WR, Russell K, Stevens K, Klassen TP (2004) Factors influencing the publication of randomized controlled trials in child health research. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 158:983-987.
37. Harvey SA, Wandersee JR (2010) Publication rate of abstracts of papers and posters presented at Medical Library Association annual meetings. Journal of the Medical Library Association 98:250-255.
38. Hashkes P, Uziel Y (2003) The publication rate of abstracts from the 4th Park City Pediatric Rheumatology meeting in peer-reviewed journals: what factors influenced publication? Journal of Rheumatology 30:597-602.
39. Hoeg RT, Lee JA, Mathiason MA, Rokkones K, Serck SL, et al. (2009) Publication outcomes of phase II oncology clinical trials. American Journal of Clinical Oncology 32:253-257.
40. Hopewell S, Clarke M (2001) Methodologists and their methods. Do methodologists write up their conference presentations or is it just 15 minutes of fame? International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care 17:601-603.
41. Hosking EJ, Albert T (2002) Bottom drawer papers: Another waste of clinicians' time. Medical Education 36:693-694.
42. Krzyzanowska MK, Pintilie M, Tannock IF (2003) Factors associated with failure to publish large randomized trials presented at an oncology meeting. JAMA 290:495-501.
43. Misakian AL, Bero LA (1998) Publication bias and research on passive smoking: comparison of published and unpublished studies. JAMA 280:250-253.
44. Montane E, Vidal X (2007) Fate of the abstracts presented at three Spanish clinical pharmacology congresses and reasons for unpublished research. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 63:103-111.
45. Morris CT, Hatton RC, Kimberlin CL (2011) Factors associated with the publication of scholarly articles by pharmacists. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy 68:1640-1645.
46. Okike K, Kocher MS, Nwachukwu BU, Mehlman CT, Heckman JD, et al. (2012) The fate of manuscripts rejected by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American Volume). Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery - American Volume 94:e130.
47. Oliveira LR, Figueiredo AA, Choi M, Ferrarez CE, Bastos AN, et al. (2009) The publication rate of abstracts presented at the 2003 urological Brazilian meeting. Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) 64:345-349.
48. Perez S, Hashkes PJ, Uziel Y (2004) [The impact of the annual scientific meetings of the Israel Society of Rheumatology as measured by publication rates of the abstracts in peer-reviewed journals]. Harefuah 143:266-269, 319.
49. Petticrew M, Egan M, Thomson H, Hamilton V, Kunkler R, et al. (2008) Publication bias in qualitative research: What becomes of qualitative research presented at conferences? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 62:552-554.
50. Reveiz L, Cardona AF, Ospina EG, de Agular S (2006) An e-mail survey identified unpublished studies for systematic reviews. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 59:755-758.
51. Reysen S (2006) Publication of Nonsignificant Results: A Survey of Psychologists' Opinions. Psychological Reports 98:169-175.
52. Rodriguez SP, Vassallo JC, Berlin V, Kulik V, Grenoville M (2009) [Factors related to the approval, development and publication of research protocols in a paediatric hospital]. Archivos Argentinos de Pediatria 107:504-509, e501.
53. Rotton J, Foos PW, Van Meek L, Levitt M (1995) Publication practices and the file drawer problem: A survey of published authors. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality 10:1-13.
54. Sanossian N, Ohanian AG, Saver JL, Kim LI, Ovbiagele B (2006) Frequency and determinants of nonpublication of research in the stroke literature. Stroke 37:2588-2592.
55. Smith MA, Barry HC, Williamson J, Keefe CW, Anderson WA (2009) Factors related to publication success among faculty development fellowship graduates. Family Medicine 41:120-125.
56. Snedeker KG, Totton SC, Sargeant JM (2010) Analysis of trends in the full publication of papers from conference abstracts involving pre-harvest or abattoir-level interventions against foodborne pathogens. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 95:1-9.
57. Sprague S, Bhandari M, Devereaux PJ, Swiontkowski MF, Tornetta P 3rd, et al. (2003) Barriers to full-text publication following presentation of abstracts at annual orthopaedic meetings. Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery - American Volume 85-A:158-163.
58. Stocker J, Fischer T, Hummers-Pradier E (2009) Better than presumed - German College of General Practitioners' (DEGAM) congress abstracts and published articles. [German] Besser als gedacht - DEGAM kongress-abstracts und veroffentlichte artikel. Zeitschrift fur Allgemeinmedizin 85:123-129.
59. ter Riet G, Korevaar DA, Leenaars M, Sterk PJ, Van Noorden CJ, et al. (2012) Publication bias in laboratory animal research: a survey on magnitude, drivers, consequences and potential solutions. PLoS ONE [Electronic Resource] 7:e43404.
60. Timmer A, Hilsden RJ, Cole J, Hailey D, Sutherland LR (2002) Publication bias in gastroenterological research - a retrospective cohort study based on abstracts submitted to a scientific meeting. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2:7.
61. Timmons S, Park J (2008) A qualitative study of the factors influencing the submission for publication of research undertaken by students. Nurse Education Today 28:744-750.
62. Tricco AC, Pham B, Brehaut J, Tetroe J, Cappelli M, et al. (2009) An international survey indicated that unpublished systematic reviews exist. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 62:617-623. e615.
63. Van Royen P, Sandholzer H, Griffiths F, Lionis C, Rethans JJ, et al. (2010) Are presentations of abstracts at EGPRN meetings followed by publication? European Journal of General Practice 16:100-105.
64. Vawdrey DK, Hripcsak G (2013) Publication bias in clinical trials of electronic health records. Journal of Biomedical Informatics 46:139-141.
65. Vuckovic-Dekic L, Gajic-Veljanoski O, Jovicevic-Bekic A, Jelic S (2001) Research results presented at scientific meetings: To publish or not? Archive of Oncology 9:161-163.
66. Woo JMP, Furst D, McCurdy DK, Lund OI, Eyal R, et al. (2012) Factors contributing to non-publication of abstracts presented at the american college of rheumatology/association of rheumatology health professionals annual meeting. Arthritis and Rheumatism 64:S806-S807.
67. Woodrow R, Jacobs A, Llewellyn P, Magrann J, Eastmond N (2012) Publication of past and future clinical trial data: Perspectives and opinions from a survey of 607 medical publication professionals. Current Medical Research and Opinion 28:S18.
68. Wong SS, Fraser C, Lourenco T, Barnett D, Avenell A, et al. (2010) The fate of conference abstracts: systematic review and meta-analysis of surgical treatments for men with benign prostatic enlargement. World J Urol 28:63-69.
69. Yee GC, Hillman AL (1997) Applied pharmacoeconomics. When can publication be legitimately withheld? Pharmacoeconomics 12:511-516.
70. Gyles C (2012) Is there ever good reason to not publish good science? Can Vet J 53:587-588.
71. Brice A, Chalmers I (2013) Medical journal editors and publication bias. BMJ 347. doi:10.1136/bmj.f6170.
72. Fanelli D (2010) Do pressures to publish increase scientists' bias? An empirical support from US States Data. PLoS One 5:e10271.
73. Chalmers I (2012) For ethical, economic and scientific reasons, health-relevant degree theses must be made publicly accessible. Evid Based Med 17:69-70.
74. Doshi P, Dickersin K, Healy D, Vedula SS, Jefferson T (2013) Restoring invisible and abandoned trials: a call for people to publish the findings. BMJ 346. doi:10.1136/bmj.f2865.
75. Ioannidis JP, Greenland S, Hlatky MA, Khoury MJ, Macleod MR, et al. (2014) Increasing value and reducing waste in research design, conduct, and analysis. Lancet 383:166-175.
76. Hart A (2011) The scandal of unpublished research. Matern Child Nutr 7:333-334.
77. Smyth RL (2011) Lessons to be learnt from unsuccessful clinical trials. Thorax 66:459-460.
78. Riveros C, Dechartres A, Perrodeau E, Haneef R, Boutron I, et al. (2013) Timing and completeness of trial results posted at ClinicalTrials. gov and published in journals. PLoS Med 10:e1001566; discussion e1001566.
79. Chalmers I, Bracken MB, Djulbegovic B, Garattini S, Grant J, et al. (2014) How to increase value and reduce waste when research priorities are set. Lancet 383:156-165.
80. Rubiales AS (2013) Who is responsible for publishing the results of old trials? BMJ 347. doi:10.1136/bmj.f7199.
81. Wager E, Williams P (2013) "Hardly worth the effort"? Medical journals' policies and their editors' and publishers' views on trial registration and publication bias: quantitative and qualitative study. BMJ 347:f5248.
82. Altman DG (1994) The scandal of poor medical research. BMJ 308:283-284.
83. Turner S, Wright D, Maeso R, Cook A, Milne R (2013) Publication rate for funded studies from a major UK health research funder: a cohort study. BMJ Open 3 (5) doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002521.
84. Wager E (2006) Publishing clinical trial results: the future beckons. PLoS Clin Trials 1:e31.
85. Callaway E (2012) Geneticists eye the potential of arXiv. Nature 488:19.
86. Burdett AN (2013) Science communication: Self-publishing's benefits. Science 342:1169-1170.
87. Sun X, Ioannidis JP, Agoritsas T, Alba AC, Guyatt G (2014) How to use a subgroup analysis: users' guide to the medical literature. JAMA 311:405-411.