Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews.
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| Title: | Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews. |
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| Authors: | Phelps, Richard P., MacArthur, Cathryn |
| Source: | Nonpartisan Education Review. 2025, Vol. 21, p1-14. 14p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Scholarly publishing, *Government policy, *Education research, *Research methodology |
| Company/Entity: | National Bureau of Economic Research |
| Abstract: | 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Nonpartisan Education Review is the property of Nonpartisan Education Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 193377391 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=193377391 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 14 StartPage: 1 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Scholarly publishing Type: general – SubjectFull: Government policy Type: general – SubjectFull: Education research Type: general – SubjectFull: Research methodology Type: general – SubjectFull: National Bureau of Economic Research Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Top Researchers May Suppress More Information Than They Provide: Surveying NBER Dismissive Literature Reviews. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Phelps, Richard P. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: MacArthur, Cathryn IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Text: 2025 Type: published Y: 2025 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 21506477 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 21 Titles: – TitleFull: Nonpartisan Education Review Type: main |
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