Publication bias refers to the effect that the outcome of a study can influence the likelihood of being published. If only “positive”, statistically significant results are published in scientific journals and studies with negative and inconclusive results remain unknown, the overall strength of a finding is in doubt. One reason for publication bias might be that researchers forego to publish results that are not statistically significant, because they regard them as less interesting. Inconclusive results may also have a diminished chance to be accepted by scientific journals. Pre-registration of research has been proposed as one means to combat publication bias.
defined by Oliver Genschow