Publication bias in the German social sciences: an application of the caliper test to three top-tier German social science journals

Carl Berning () and Bernd Weiß ()

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 2016, vol. 50, issue 2, 917 pages

Abstract: Systematic research reviews have become essential in all empirical sciences. However, the validity of research syntheses is threatened if the preparation, submission or publication of research findings depends on the statistical significance of these findings. The present study investigates publication bias in three top-tier journals in the German social sciences, utilizing the caliper test. For the period between 2001 and 2010, we have collected 156 articles that appeared in the Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (KZfSS), the Zeitschrift für Soziologie (ZfS) and the Politische Vierteljahresschrift (PVS). In all three journals, we found empirical evidence for the existence of publication bias at the 10 % significance level. We also investigated possible causes linked to this bias, including single versus multiple authorship as well as academic degree. We found only weak support for the relationships between individual author characteristics and publication bias. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Keywords: Publication bias; Multilevel analysis; Statistical significance; Caliper test; Type I error (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11135-015-0182-4

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