Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews
The authors read a systematic sample of “working papers” downloaded from the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) from the past quarter century—the years 2000 to 2024. They looked for “dismissive literature reviews” in the introductory and concluding sections of the papers. A d...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nonpartisan Education Group
2025-08-01
|
| Series: | Nonpartisan Education Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Articles/v21n2.pdf |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849235154289033216 |
|---|---|
| author | Richard P Phelps Cathryn MacArthur |
| author_facet | Richard P Phelps Cathryn MacArthur |
| author_sort | Richard P Phelps |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The authors read a systematic sample of “working papers” downloaded from the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) from the past quarter century—the years 2000 to 2024. They looked for “dismissive literature reviews” in the introductory and concluding sections of the papers. A dismissive review is one declaring an absence of previous research, or previous research worth referencing, for example: “there is no previous research on,” “this is the first study of,” and “surprisingly, few studies have broached this topic.” Typically, dismissive reviews are raw declarations, made without mention or evidence of having conducted a literature search.
All working papers retrieved for the topic “education” are classified into three groups (lacking a true education focus, containing no dismissive reviews, containing one or more). The authors provide summary descriptive statistics for various quantities by category and a 1000+ line list of all the working papers retrieved and the dismissive reviews we found, which are highlighted within verbatim text. Dismissive reviews’ character and variety are discussed along with their implications for public policy. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a44f54aaf2724dcb8d9cc66eab46b7a3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2150-6477 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nonpartisan Education Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nonpartisan Education Review |
| spelling | doaj-art-a44f54aaf2724dcb8d9cc66eab46b7a32025-08-20T04:02:51ZengNonpartisan Education GroupNonpartisan Education Review2150-64772025-08-01212114Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature ReviewsRichard P Phelps0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4008-087XCathryn MacArthur1Institute for Objective Policy AssessmentInsitute for Objective Policy AssessmentThe authors read a systematic sample of “working papers” downloaded from the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) from the past quarter century—the years 2000 to 2024. They looked for “dismissive literature reviews” in the introductory and concluding sections of the papers. A dismissive review is one declaring an absence of previous research, or previous research worth referencing, for example: “there is no previous research on,” “this is the first study of,” and “surprisingly, few studies have broached this topic.” Typically, dismissive reviews are raw declarations, made without mention or evidence of having conducted a literature search. All working papers retrieved for the topic “education” are classified into three groups (lacking a true education focus, containing no dismissive reviews, containing one or more). The authors provide summary descriptive statistics for various quantities by category and a 1000+ line list of all the working papers retrieved and the dismissive reviews we found, which are highlighted within verbatim text. Dismissive reviews’ character and variety are discussed along with their implications for public policy.https://nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Articles/v21n2.pdfcitation manipulationresearch integrityliterature reviewdismissive reviewresearch literaturefalse novelty claimsfirstness claimscitation cartels |
| spellingShingle | Richard P Phelps Cathryn MacArthur Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews Nonpartisan Education Review citation manipulation research integrity literature review dismissive review research literature false novelty claims firstness claims citation cartels |
| title | Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews |
| title_full | Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews |
| title_fullStr | Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews |
| title_full_unstemmed | Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews |
| title_short | Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews |
| title_sort | top researchers may suppress more information than they provide surveying nber dismissive literature reviews |
| topic | citation manipulation research integrity literature review dismissive review research literature false novelty claims firstness claims citation cartels |
| url | https://nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Articles/v21n2.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT richardpphelps topresearchersmaysuppressmoreinformationthantheyprovidesurveyingnberdismissiveliteraturereviews AT cathrynmacarthur topresearchersmaysuppressmoreinformationthantheyprovidesurveyingnberdismissiveliteraturereviews |