Positive-Outcome Bias and Other Limitations in the Outcome of Research Abstracts Submitted to a Scientific Meeting

Article Abstract:

Research abstracts are more likely to be accepted for presentation at a medical conference if they have positive results. Researchers analyzed the fate of 492 research abstracts submitted to the planners of an emergency medicine conference. Thirty-six percent were accepted for presentation and of these 179 abstracts, 111 were eventually published as a full study in a medical journal. The most important predictor of acceptance at the conference was research originality and positive results. Publication in a journal was also more likely if the results were positive.

Publishing industry, Medical research, Conferences and conventions, Abstracts

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Reliability of Editors' Subjective Quality Ratings of Peer Reviews of Manuscripts

Article Abstract:

A five-point scale is presented for editors that can be used to rate reviewers who participate in the peer review process. The editors at one journal used this scale to rate the quality of 4,161 reviews of 973 manuscripts over a 3.5-year period. A total of 395 reviewers were also asked to evaluate a fictitious manuscript. Reviewers who were highly rated tended to find more flaws in the fictitious manuscript. The scale was reliable and may be more accurate than the rate of recommendation for acceptance or the editor's agreement with the recommendation.

Manuscripts

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Masking Author Identity in Peer Review

Article Abstract:

Many biomedical journals may be unable to completely hide the identity of the authors of a manuscript from a reviewer during the peer review process. Researchers compared the rate of success in masking this information among journals that required masking and those that did not. Journals that required masking had a 60% success rate in masking author identity compared to a 58% success rate at journals that did not. Reviewers who had much research or reviewing experience were more likely to guess the identity of the authors.

Confidential communications, Physician-patient privilege

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