BMJ  2003;327 (2 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7409.0-g

Editor's choice

The positive in negatives

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

"Does the BMJ publish studies on American datasets?" asked a researcher at a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, last week on reporting behavioural interventions. We do, of course, although it is worrying that a scientist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thinks we may not. Inevitably, there is considerable international interest in the US healthcare system, just as there is in the NHS, and studies in one setting might generalise to others. But there are more reasons for us to be interested. Our website, bmj.com, attracts about 185 000 users a week, mostly from outside the UK, many from North America. BMJ USA, a monthly digest of the weekly BMJ reaches about 100 000 US family physicians.

One method of shortening research papers, suggested a few journal editors at the same meeting, is to chop out negative findings. We do not—this is publication bias, where positive findings . . . [Full text of this article]

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