Investigating 'spin' in scientific journals
A recent study investigated "spin" in psychiatry and psychology research papers. The study authors found spin in more than half of the abstracts they analyzed. What impact might this have on doctors' decisions?
Many doctors only have time to read the abstract of a study.
As news and media outlets compete for views, they can sometimes exaggerate headlines and content to lure the reader in.
Although many believe scientific journals to be some of the most reliable sources of information, they are not immune to the desire to be read and shared.
A recent study set out to assess how much "spin" authors used in the abstracts of research papers published in psychology and psychiatry journals.
They chose to look at abstracts because they summarize the entire paper, and doctors often use them to help inform medical decisions.
What is spin?
In this study, the authors outline their definition of spin as follows:
"[T]he use of specific reporting strategies, from whatever motive, to highlight that the experimental treatment is beneficial, despite a statistically nonsignificant difference for the primary outcome, or to distract the reader from statistically nonsignificant results."
The authors published their findings in the journal BMJ Evidence Based Medicine. They looked at papers from the top six psychiatry and psychology journals from 2012?2017.
The journals included JAMA Psychiatry, the American Journal of Psychiatry, and the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Specifically, the researchers focused on randomized controlled trials with "nonsignificant primary endpoints." The primary endpoint of a study is the main result of the study, and "nonsignificant" in this context means that, statistically, the team did not find enough evidence to back up their theory.
Spin comes in many forms, including:
How common is spin?
In total, they analyzed the abstracts of 116 papers. Of these, 56% showed evidence of spin. This included spin in 2% of titles, 21% of the results sections of the abstract, and 49% in the conclusion sections of the abstract. In 15% of the papers, spin was present in both the results and conclusion sections of the abstracts.
The researchers also investigated if industry funding was associated with spin. Perhaps surprisingly, they found no evidence that having financial backing from industry increased the likelihood of spin.
A recent study investigated "spin" in psychiatry and psychology research papers. The study authors found spin in more than half of the abstracts they analyzed. What impact might this have on doctors' decisions?
Many doctors only have time to read the abstract of a study.
As news and media outlets compete for views, they can sometimes exaggerate headlines and content to lure the reader in.
Although many believe scientific journals to be some of the most reliable sources of information, they are not immune to the desire to be read and shared.
A recent study set out to assess how much "spin" authors used in the abstracts of research papers published in psychology and psychiatry journals.
They chose to look at abstracts because they summarize the entire paper, and doctors often use them to help inform medical decisions.
What is spin?
In this study, the authors outline their definition of spin as follows:
"[T]he use of specific reporting strategies, from whatever motive, to highlight that the experimental treatment is beneficial, despite a statistically nonsignificant difference for the primary outcome, or to distract the reader from statistically nonsignificant results."
The authors published their findings in the journal BMJ Evidence Based Medicine. They looked at papers from the top six psychiatry and psychology journals from 2012?2017.
The journals included JAMA Psychiatry, the American Journal of Psychiatry, and the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Specifically, the researchers focused on randomized controlled trials with "nonsignificant primary endpoints." The primary endpoint of a study is the main result of the study, and "nonsignificant" in this context means that, statistically, the team did not find enough evidence to back up their theory.
Spin comes in many forms, including:
- Selectively reporting outcomes, wherein the authors only mention certain results
- P-hacking, wherein researchers run a series of statistical tests but only publish the figures from tests that produce significant results
- Inappropriate or misleading use of statistical measures
How common is spin?
In total, they analyzed the abstracts of 116 papers. Of these, 56% showed evidence of spin. This included spin in 2% of titles, 21% of the results sections of the abstract, and 49% in the conclusion sections of the abstract. In 15% of the papers, spin was present in both the results and conclusion sections of the abstracts.
The researchers also investigated if industry funding was associated with spin. Perhaps surprisingly, they found no evidence that having financial backing from industry increased the likelihood of spin.
