Are all economic facts greatly exaggerated? Theory competition and selectivity

There is growing concern and mounting evidence of selectivity in empirical economics. Most empirical economic literatures have a truncated distribution of results. The aim of this paper is to explore the link between publication selectivity and theory contests. This link is confirmed through the analysis of 87 distinct empirical economics literatures, involving more than three and a half thousand separate empirical studies, using objective measures of both selectivity and contests. Our meta–meta-analysis shows that publication selection is widespread, but not universal. It distorts scientific inference with potentially adverse effects on policy making, but competition and debate between rival theories reduces this selectivity and thereby improves economic inference.

Publication bias in the economic freedom and economic growth literature

The impact of institutions on economic performance has attracted significant attention from researchers, as well as from policy reformers. A rapidly growing area in this literature is the impact of economic freedom on economic growth. The aim of this paper was to explore publication bias in this literature by means of traditional funnel plots, meta‐significance testing, as well as by bootstrapping these meta‐significance tests. When all the available estimates are combined and averaged, there seems to be evidence of a genuine and positive economic freedom – economic growth effect. However, it is also shown that the economic freedom – economic growth literature is tainted strongly with publication bias. The existence of publication bias makes it difficult to identify the magnitude of the genuine effect of economic freedom on economic growth. The paper explores the differences between aggregate and disaggregate measures of economic freedom and shows that selection effects are stronger when aggregate measures are used.

Publication bias in union-productivity research?

This paper develops and applies several meta-analytic techniques to investigate the presence of publication bias in industrial relations research, specifically in the union-productivity effects literature. Publication bias arises when statistically insignificant results are suppressed or when results satisfying prior expectations are given preference. Like most fields, research in industrial relations is vulnerable to publication bias. Unlike other fields such as economics, there is no evidence of publication bias in the union-productivity literature, as a whole. However, there are pockets of publication selection, as well as negative autoregression, confirming the controversial nature of this area of research. Meta-regression analysis reveals evidence of publication bias (or selection) among US studies.

Spatio-temporal selectivity of loss of colour and luminance contrast sensitivity with mutiple sclerosis and optic neuritis

Colour and luminance-contrast thresholds were measured in the presence of dynamic Random Luminance-contrast Masking (RLM) in individuals who had had past diagnoses of optic neuritis (ON) some of whom have progressed to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). To explore the spatio-temporal selectivity of chromatic and luminance losses in MS/ON, thresholds were measured using three different sizes and modulation rates of the RLM displays: small checks modulating slowly, medium-sized checks with moderate modulation and large checks modulating rapidly. The colour of the chromatic stimuli used were specified in a cone-excitation space to measure relative impairments in red–green and blue–yellow chromatic channels. These observers showed chromatic thresholds along the L/(L + M) axis that were higher than those along the S-cone axis for all display sizes/modulation rates and both red-green and blue-yellow colour thresholds were higher than luminance-contrast thresholds. The principal change in thresholds with spatio-temporal changes in the display was a reduction in thresholds for L/(L + M) and S-cones with increasing check size and modulation rate. However, luminance contrast thresholds did not change with display size/rate. These results are consistent with MS/ON selectively affecting processing in colour pathways rather than in the magnocellular pathway, and that within the colour pathways neurones with opposed L- and M-cone inputs are more damaged than colour-opponent neurons with input from S-cones.

Publication bias in industrial relations research

Publication bias arises when statistically non-significant results are suppressed or when only results satisfying prior expectations are published. Like most fields, research in industrial relations is vulnerable to publication bias. In this paper qualitative and quantitative techniques are used in order to detect publication bias in the union-productivity effects literature. We find no evidence of publication bias in this literature, although there does appear to be autoregression in the published results.

RQF publication quality measures: methodoligical issues

The Research Quality Framework uses Thomson-ISI citation benchmarks as its main set of objective measures of research quality. The Thomson-ISI measures rely on identifying a core set of journals in which the major publications for a discipline are to be found. The core for a discipline is determined by applying a nontransparent process that is partly based on Bradford’s Law (1934). Yet Bradford was not seeking measures about quality of publications or journals. How valid then is it to base measures of publication quality on Bradford’s Law? We explore this by returning to Bradford’s Law and subsequent related research asking ‘what is Bradford’s Law really about?’ We go further, and ask ‘does Bradford’s Law apply in Information Systems?’ We use data from John Lamp’s internationally respected Index of Information Systems Journals to explore the latter question. We have found that Information Systems may have a core of journals only a subset of which is also in the list of Thomson-ISI journals. There remain many unanswered questions about the RQF metrics based on Thomson-ISI and their applicability to information systems.

Attitudes about work practices, time allocation and publication output: profiles of U.S. marketing academics

This study examines attitudes of U.S.-based Academy of Marketing Science members toward teaching, research, participation in administration (including service), and academic promotional issues. Individuals were grouped using Ward’s and K-means clustering procedures, which revealed four groups—established academics, research-focused academics, less satisfied midcareer academics, and satisfied teachers. Clusters were further profiled according to the amount of time spent on teaching, research, and administration; research output; and individual demographic and institutional characteristics. Overall, clusters were generally dissatisfied with a range of work-related issues, with workload stress appearing as an issue that needs to be addressed within marketing academia.

Attitudes about work practices, time allocation and publication output : profiles of Australasian marketing academics

The Australasian tertiary education sector has undergone significant organizational and cultural changes, which have increased pressures on academics to undertake a range of additional activities while at the same time improving research performance. These pressures impact on individuals in different ways, although there may be some groups or clusters of individuals within institutions with common characteristics. Managers may need to develop different sets of management strategies and policies to assist each group of academics to deal better with these pressures and improve their individual performance. The paper examines Australasian marketing academics’ perceptions of their work environments and whether these perceptions result in differing clusters of individuals who might also vary based on their research performance, time allocated to different academic roles, and their professional and demographic characteristics. Sixty-eight members of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Marketing responded to a survey using a modified version of an instrument developed by Diamantopoulos et al. (1992). K-means clustering procedure identified four groups of academics – “Traditional Academics,” “Satisfied Professors,” “Newer Academics,” and “Satisfied Researchers.” While only a few significant differences among clusters were identified in relation to time allocated to academic activities and research performance, it appears that clusters differ on several professional and demographic characteristics.

Publication patterns in journals dedicated to issues of marketing and society : benchmarking and analysis

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and distribution of scholars engaged in knowledge production in journals focusing on marketing and society, broadly defined. Who is interested in issues of marketing and society? Where are they from? How does this compare to patterns of scholarship in recognized journals in marketing? The answers to these questions have implications for how sub-disciplines like Macromarketing can position themselves for future growth.

Rethinking doctoral publication practices : writing from and beyond the thesis

This article addresses the importance of giving greater pedagogical attention to writing for publication in higher education. It recognizes that, while doctoral research is a major source of new knowledge production in universities, most doctoral students do not receive adequate mentoring or structural support to publish from their research, with poor results. Data from a case study of graduates in science and education are examined to show how the different disciplinary and pedagogic practices of each discourse community impact on student publication. It is argued that co-authorship with supervisors is a significant pedagogic practice that can enhance the robustness and know-how of emergent scholars as well as their publication output. There is a need, however, to rethink co-authorship more explicitly as a pedagogic practice, and create more deliberate structures in subject disciplines to scaffold doctoral publication - as it is these structures that influence whether graduates publish as informed professionals in their chosen fields of practice.

Dissecting isoform selectivity of P13K inhibitors: the role of non-conserved residues in the catalytic pocket

The last few years have seen the identification of numerous small molecules that selectively inhibit specific class I isoforms of PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase), yet little has been revealed about the molecular basis for the observed selectivities. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we have investigated one of the areas postulated as being critical to the observed selectivity. The residues Thr⁸⁸⁶ and Lys⁸⁹⁰ of the PI3Kγ isoform project towards the ATP-binding pocket at the entrance to the catalytic site, but are not conserved. We have made reciprocal mutations between those residues in the β isoform (Glu⁸⁵⁸ and Asp⁸⁶²) and those in the α isoform (His⁸⁵⁵ and Gln⁸⁵⁹) and evaluated the potency of a range of reported PI3K inhibitors. The results show that the potencies of β-selective inhibitors TGX221 and TGX286 are unaffected by this change. In contrast, close analogues of these compounds, particularly the α-isoform-selective compound (III), are markedly influenced by the point mutations. The collected data suggests two distinct binding poses for these inhibitor classes, one of which is associated with potent PI3Kβ activity and is not associated with the mutated residues, and a second that, in accord with earlier hypotheses, does involve this pair of non-conserved amino acids at the catalytic site entrance and contributes to the α-isoform-selectivity of the compounds studied.

Publication selection bias in minimum-wage research? A meta-regression analysis

Card and Krueger's meta-analysis of the employment effects of minimum wages challenged existing theory. Unfortunately, their meta-analysis confused publication selection with the absence of a genuine empirical effect. We apply recently developed meta-analysis methods to 64 US minimum-wage studies and corroborate that Card and Krueger's findings were nevertheless correct. The minimum-wage effects literature is contaminated by publication selection bias, which we estimate to be slightly larger than the average reported minimum-wage effect. Once this publication selection is corrected, little or no evidence of a negative association between minimum wages and employment remains.