New research tests the hypothesis that publication pressure biases results. The study conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh examined over 1300 published papers from across the United States and found disproportionate reporting of positive results:
Across all disciplines, papers were more likely to support a tested hypothesis if their corresponding authors were working in states that, according to NSF data, produced more academic papers per capita. The size of this effect increased when controlling for state's per capita R&D expenditure and for study characteristics that previous research showed to correlate with the frequency of positive results, including discipline and methodology. [...] these results support the hypothesis that competitive academic environments increase not only scientists' productivity but also their bias.
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