FUTON bias
FUTON bias (short for Full Text On the Net bias) refers to the bias in academic research, when researchers "concentrate on research published in journals that are available as full text on the internet, and ignore relevant studies that are not available in full text, thus introducing an element of bias into their search result".[1] As a result, articles that are available as full text on the Internet have more visibility and impact, as they are more likely to be accessed, read, quoted, and incorporated into new research.[2][3][4][5] The FUTON bias may have a similar effect as publication bias or language bias.[6]
The FUTON bias may affect the impact factor of academic journal(s).[1]
FUTON bias may be a result of several factors:
- It may affect researchers and students with limited experience in doing research,[1] especially those who believe everything is available fulltext on the internet.
- Few libraries in general have a full range of journals available, and if the article is available, it may be only in print or microform.
- FUTON bias tends to result in older sources getting less visibility, as they are less likely to have been digitized. Similarly, sources published in less developed countries are similarly adversely affected, as those countries tend to have less resources that can be spared for digitalization (see digital divide).
No abstract available bias (NAA bias) is similar to FUTON bias: it occurs when an article has no abstract available online.[1][2] Such articles, as well as those with unclear titles are also less likely to be accessed. Some publishers acknowledge the NAA bias by providing abstracts for editorial and letters in their journal(s) or promising to do so.[7]
Conversely, Gilman notes that articles in expensive journals are "priced out of evidence", such that FUTON publications have higher availability and hence higher utility.[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Wentz, R. (2002). "Visibility of research: FUTON bias". The Lancet 360 (9341): 1256–1256. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11264-5. PMID 12401287.
- ^ a b Murali, N. S.; Murali, H. R.; Auethavekiat, P.; Erwin, P. J.; Mandrekar, J. N.; Manek, N. J.; Ghosh, A. K. (2004). "Impact of FUTON and NAA bias on visibility of research". Mayo Clinic proceedings. Mayo Clinic 79 (8): 1001–1006. doi:10.4065/79.8.1001. PMID 15301326. http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/79/8/1001.full.pdf.
- ^ Ghosh, A. K.; Murali, N. S. (2003). "Online access to nephrology journals: The FUTON bias". Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation : official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association - European Renal Association 18 (9): 1943; author reply 1943. PMID 12937253. http://ndt.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/9/1943.1.full.
- ^ Mueller, P. S.; Murali, N. S.; Cha, S. S.; Erwin, P. J.; Ghosh, A. K. (2006). "The effect of online status on the impact factors of general internal medicine journals". The Netherlands journal of medicine 64 (2): 39–44. PMID 16517987. http://www.njmonline.nl/njm/getpdf.php?t=a&id=10000037.
- ^ Krieger, M. M.; Richter, R. R.; Austin, T. M. (2008). "An exploratory analysis of PubMed's free full-text limit on citation retrieval for clinical questions". Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA 96 (4): 351–355. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.96.4.010. PMC 2568849. PMID 18974812. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2568849.
- ^ Easterbrook, P. J.; Berlin, J. A.; Gopalan, R.; Matthews, D. R. (1991). "Publication bias in clinical research". Lancet 337 (8746): 867–872. doi:10.1016/0140-6736(91)90201-Y. PMID 1672966.
- ^ Van Der Meer, J. W.; Stalenhoef, A. F.; Smits, P.; Thien, T. (2002). "Abstract!". The Netherlands journal of medicine 60 (11): 418. PMID 12685486.
- ^ Gilman, Isaac (2009). "Opening up the Evidence: Evidence-Based Practice and Open Access". Faculty Scholarship (PUL). Pacific University Libraries. http://commons.pacificu.edu/libfac/4.
[edit] Further reading
- Goldsmith, Kenneth (September 27, 2005). "If It Doesn't Exist on the Internet, It Doesn't Exist". Elective Affinities Conference. SUNY Buffalo. http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/goldsmith/if_it_doesnt_exist.html. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
|
|||||||||||
