Top psych journals not above a bit of spin: study

Clinicians could be misled, say evidence-based medicine researchers
Lydia Hales
Research

Psychiatry researchers frequently put a positive spin on non-significant findings from trials of drugs or other interventions — and top journals publish them regardless, a study shows.

More than half of a sample of papers from six high-ranking psychology and psychiatry journals included ‘spin’ in the abstract results or conclusions, according to the US study published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.