Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism (School NUTRIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, Limburg, The Netherlands.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
BMJ Open. 2019 Feb 19;9(2):e026518. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026518.
Our objective was to assess the occurrence and determinants of selective citation in scientific publications on Strachan's original hygiene hypothesis. His hypothesis states that lack of exposure to infections in early childhood increases the risk of rhinitis.
Web of Science Core Collection.
We identified 110 publications in this network, consisting of 5551 potential citations.
Whether a citation occurs or not, measured and analysed according to the preregistered protocol.
We found evidence for citation bias in this field: publications supportive of the hypothesis were cited more often than non-supportive publications (OR adjusted for study design [adjOR] 2.2, 95% CI 1.6 to 3.1), and the same was the case for publications with mixed findings (adjOR 3.1, 95% CI 2.2 to 4.5). Other relevant determinants for citation were type of exposure, specificity, journal impact factor, authority and self-citation. Surprisingly, prospective cohort studies were cited less often than other empirical studies.
There is clear evidence for selective citation in this research field, and particularly for citation bias.
评估 Strachan 原始卫生假说相关科学出版物中选择性引用的发生情况及其决定因素。该假说指出，儿童早期缺乏感染暴露会增加鼻炎的风险。
Web of Science 核心合集。
我们在该网络中确定了 110 篇出版物，其中包含 5551 条潜在引文。
根据预先注册的方案测量和分析是否有引用发生。
我们在该领域发现了引用偏倚的证据：支持假说的出版物比非支持性出版物更常被引用（按研究设计调整后的优势比 [adjOR] 2.2，95%置信区间 1.6 至 3.1），混合发现的出版物也是如此（adjOR 3.1，95%置信区间 2.2 至 4.5）。其他与引文相关的重要决定因素包括暴露类型、特异性、期刊影响因子、权威性和自引。令人惊讶的是，前瞻性队列研究的引文频率低于其他实证研究。
该研究领域存在明显的选择性引用证据，特别是引用偏倚。
