The Quality of Statistical Reporting and Data Presentation in Predatory Dental Journals Was Lower Than in Non-Predatory Journals

Proper peer review and quality of published articles are often regarded as signs of reliable scientific journals. The aim of this study was to compare whether the quality of statistical reporting and data presentation differs among articles published in 'predatory dental journals' and in o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-04, Vol.23 (4), p.468
Main Authors: Nieminen, Pentti, Uribe, Sergio E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bibliometrics
Clinical trials
Data analysis
data presentation
Dental research
Dentistry
Editorials
Medical research
meta-research
Open access publishing
Oral hygiene
Peer review
Publishing industry
Statistical methods
statistical reporting
Subscriptions
Validity
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Summary:Proper peer review and quality of published articles are often regarded as signs of reliable scientific journals. The aim of this study was to compare whether the quality of statistical reporting and data presentation differs among articles published in 'predatory dental journals' and in other dental journals. We evaluated 50 articles published in 'predatory open access (OA) journals' and 100 clinical trials published in legitimate dental journals between 2019 and 2020. The quality of statistical reporting and data presentation of each paper was assessed on a scale from 0 (poor) to 10 (high). The mean (SD) quality score of the statistical reporting and data presentation was 2.5 (1.4) for the predatory OA journals, 4.8 (1.8) for the legitimate OA journals, and 5.6 (1.8) for the more visible dental journals. The mean values differed significantly ( < 0.001). The quality of statistical reporting of clinical studies published in predatory journals was found to be lower than in open access and highly cited journals. This difference in quality is a wake-up call to consume study results critically. Poor statistical reporting indicates wider general lower quality in publications where the authors and journals are less likely to be critiqued by peer review.
ISSN:1099-4300
1099-4300
DOI:10.3390/e23040468