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One effect of publication bias is sometimes called the file-drawer effect, or file-drawer problem. This term suggests that negative results, those that do not support the initial hypotheses of researchers are often "filed away" and go no further than the researchers' file drawers, leading to a bias in published research. [ 13 ]
An asymmetric funnel indicates a relationship between treatment effect estimate and study precision. This suggests the possibility of either publication bias or a systematic difference between studies of higher and lower precision (typically ‘small study effects’). Asymmetry can also arise from use of an inappropriate effect measure.
The publication or nonpublication of research findings, depend on the nature and direction of the results. Although medical writers have acknowledged the problem of reporting biases for over a century, [12] it was not until the second half of the 20th century that researchers began to investigate the sources and size of the problem of reporting biases.
Missing factors, unmeasured confounders, and loss to follow-up can also lead to bias. [6] By selecting papers with significant p-values, negative studies are selected against, which is publication bias. This is also known as file drawer bias, because less significant p-value results are left in the file drawer and never published.
Research has shown that volunteers tend to come from families with higher socioeconomic status. [8] Furthermore, another study shows that women are more probable to volunteer for studies than men. [9] Funding bias may lead to the selection of outcomes, test samples, or test procedures that favor a study's financial sponsor. [10]
[11] [12] Anchoring bias includes or involves the following: Common source bias, the tendency to combine or compare research studies from the same source, or from sources that use the same methodologies or data. [13] Conservatism bias, the tendency to insufficiently revise one's belief when presented with new evidence. [5] [14] [15]
Funding bias, also known as sponsorship bias, funding outcome bias, funding publication bias, and funding effect, is a tendency of a scientific study to support the interests of the study's financial sponsor. This phenomenon is recognized sufficiently that researchers undertake studies to examine bias in past published studies.
In addition to the main result, Ioannidis lists six corollaries for factors that can influence the reliability of published research. Research findings in a scientific field are less likely to be true, the smaller the studies conducted. the smaller the effect sizes. the greater the number and the lesser the selection of tested relationships.