In all the fuss over the pressure for scientists to publish positive results, we may have been missing an equally dangerous kind of publication bias operating in the opposite direction.
So say Luijendijk and Koolman in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology: The incentive to publish negative studies: how beta-blockers and depression got stuck in the publication cycle.
The background here is the possible link between beta blockers and depression. Beta blockers are drugs widely used to treat high blood pressure. Some studies have reported that they raise the risk of depression, though many others found no link. Propranolol is said by some to be the worst offender because it's best at entering the brain.
Luijendijk and Koolman say that beta blocker-depression studies have appeared in the form of "publication cycles" - first a positive study appears, and then negative ones follow. Then another study finds a positive link using a ...
