Publication bias

SBI contributors

Project description

The research project “PubBias” aims to assess the prevalence of and risk factors for publication bias in the social, economic and behavioral sciences in Germany on the basis of two probability-based academic Panel infrastructures (GESIS Panel and SOEP-IS). These infrastructures allow researchers from the social, behavioural, and economic sciences to field their submitted studies. To have a study conducted in either panel, authors must successfully submit a detailed study proposal. By comparing the study submissions with their subsequent publications, we can delineate publication bias on both the study level (which study yielded a publication, and which did not), as well as on the hypothesis level (which submitted hypotheses were published, which were not and which hypotheses were newly added in the publication process).

Our (preliminary) results raise concerns about ongoing publication bias in the social sciences. In order to shed light on the decision-making process of researchers when publishing their scientific results, we further contacted all submission authors to take part in a personalized survey, assessing their study progress, past publication experiences, beliefs and attitudes towards open science and questionable research practices, as well was as their likelihood of writing up or submitting in hypothetical publication scenarios.

Status

Active

Selected publications

N/A

Preprints

Poppa, C., Nießen, D., Daikeler, J., Silber, H., Weiß, B., & Richter, D. (2025). The Tip of the Iceberg? Insights Into the Prevalence of Publication Bias in Two Probability-Based Academic Panels. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/bj3g9_v1

Nießen, D., Poppa, C., Daikeler, J., Silber, H., Weiß, B., & Richter, D. (2025). Actor-Driven Risk Factors of Publication Bias: Opening the File Drawer of Two Probabilistic Panel Surveys. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/phk3a_v1

Data sets

Nießen, D., Poppa, C., & Krone, R. (2025). Coded submissions and publications (from the project “Opening the file drawer: Assessing and understanding publication bias in the social, economic, and behavioral sciences”) (Version 1.0.0) [Data set]. GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.7802/2942

Preregistration

Nießen, D., Daikeler, J., Silber, H., Weiss, B., Poppa, C., & Richter, D. (Preregistration). Opening the file drawer: Assessing and understanding publication bias in the social, economic, and behavioral sciences by utilizing two German academic probabilistic panels. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/B4QRP