Academics often exaggerate research – is this a surprise?

In Australia today, we hear a lot about healthcare companies, particularly those that develop pharmaceuticals. Little of what we hear is good news. While the ‘breakthroughs’ are attributed to researchers and hospitals, the companies that fund and support the work get all the attention when something goes wrong – or when people behave less than ethically.

Having worked in both the academic and commercial R+D sectors, my experience has been that academics are more likely to skew results. I believe this is the case for a whole variety of reasons, including a lack of good oversight, funding pressures, and publishing success being too closely linked to career progression.

Now there is some evidence to support my gut feeling.

A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine looks at press releases that academic medical centers send out about their research. They concluded that of 200 releases studied, 29 percent exaggerated their findings.

I’ve not read the study in detail, so won’t comment any further. It is reported in the WSJ Health blog.