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SciPoll 684: Impact of Misleading Abstracts
In your experience, what is the most common type of misleading information found in abstracts?
Results
(65 Answers)
Answer Explanations
- Overstated conclusions Selective reporting of resultsuser-753537Selective reporting would be the main issue and is very common.
- Overstated conclusions Omission of important limitationsuser-153764The most odious of all papers I have seen are the bisphenol injection studies in mice that are extrapolated to human oral exposures. This greatly confounded regulatory agencies most notably California's Proposition 65 listings.
- Other [Please Explain]user-932367The most common form of false information in abstracts is overstating the uniqueness or effectiveness of the methods. Authors frequently promote creative techniques or sophisticated approaches, but after reading the entire manuscript, the methodology may be poorly presented, not as novel as promised, or insufficiently applied to the data.
- Misrepresentation of data Selective reporting of resultsuser-74194The biases of the authors are, I believe, the source of these problems.
- Overstated conclusionsuser-683654Some people want to impress, so they overstate some aspects of their research.
- Other [Please Explain]user-504085Misled by a poorly described techniques to elaborate a specific method. Or the data reported was the result of one experiment that could not be reproduced by others?
- Overstated conclusions Omission of important limitations Misrepresentation of datauser-205824Authors sometimes present their findings as more definitive or significant than the actual data supports. This can give a false impression of the strength or impact of the study. Abstracts may omit critical limitations of the study, such as small sample sizes or potential biases. This can make the research appear more robust or generalizable than it is. The data may be summarized in a way that is not entirely accurate or reflective of the nuanced findings, leading to misinterpretations of what the study actually shows.
- Overstated conclusions Misrepresentation of data Exaggeration of practical implicationsuser-937607See previous answer
- Overstated conclusions Omission of important limitations Exaggeration of practical implicationsuser-836452I have never encountered misinterpretation of data in an abstract in my field (toxicology).
- Overstated conclusions Omission of important limitations Misrepresentation of datauser-66641Somearticles have overstated conclusios withe regular results, no limitations dexcribed and misinterpretation of data
- Other [Please Explain]user-883288Often poor quality of writing is the problem.
- Overstated conclusionsuser-911600Insufficient data
- Selective reporting of resultsuser-909355Selective report of results is the most misleading information that I encounter.
Thus in the end I rather read the beginning of the discussion instead of the abstract when preparing a manuscript. - Selective reporting of results Exaggeration of practical implications Other [Please Explain]user-828728methodology not properly described
- Omission of important limitationsuser-69401NA
- Overstated conclusions Omission of important limitations Misrepresentation of data Selective reporting of results Exaggeration of practical implicationsuser-36174all listed are possible misleadings