Healthy Skepticism Library item: 16887

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Ghaemi SN
The failure to know what isn't known: negative publication bias with lamotrigine and a glimpse inside peer review
Evid Based Mental Health 2009; 12:(3):65
http://ebmh.bmj.com/content/12/3/65.full

Abstract:

“There is a type of interaction between human beings which proceeds not from knowledge, or even lack of knowledge, but from failure to know what isn’t known.” John Kenneth Galbraith1

The medical literature meets Galbraith’s description. Some things we know, and know that we know. Other things we do not know, and know that we do not know. But perhaps the largest class involves those things we do not know, and do not realise that we do not know.

This latter state of affairs is exemplified by the problem of negative studies. It has become increasingly clear that the medical literature is biased toward positive studies; negative studies are less frequently published.2 Sometimes this may reflect loss of passion, as disappointed researchers file away their negative results. Sometimes it may be systematic, as pharmaceutical sponsors may actively suppress negative data which would adversely impact their marketplace sales. And journals may also systematically reject negative studies-which will generate fewer readers, fewer citations and lower impact factors for the journal-more frequently than positive ones.