Project „PubBias“ – Questions on assessing the prevalence and extent of publication bias (English Version)

Question Text:

Answer Categories:

Recommendations:

We recommend allowing multiple answers for this question and incorporating some of the terminology from the question text into the answer options to clarify what is meant by “final version(s).” One possible wording would be as follows: 

Have you written up a draft or final version of the results derived from this study (i.e., one or more manuscripts, articles, or book chapters – henceforth referred to as papers)? 
Check all that apply. 
I have written one or more final (i.e., submitted and/or published) versions. 
I am working on a draft, and I am confident to finish it at some point. 
I am working on a draft, but I am not sure I will ever finish it. 
I have not started writing a draft, but I plan to do so. 
I have not started and I do not plan to write a draft.

Cognitive Techniques:

Findings for Question:

Information on the aim and purpose of the test: 
Question 3 is intended to determine whether the results of the study have already been put in writing (as a draft or final version of a research paper). This question was asked of all participants in the pretest and served to provide context for the subsequent questions. 

Findings:  
Six of the ten test persons had difficulty answering the question, and one test person (TP06) left it unanswered. This was either because their studies had resulted in multiple research papers to which different answer options applied (n = 3), or because it was unclear what was meant by a “final version” (n = 4): 

• “I find this a little difficult, because most of the papers have already been published, but not all of them. One paper is currently in its third ‘revise-and-resubmit’ round, another is still ‘under review,’ and yet another is still ‘in progress.’ I’d like to see an additional option: ‘Part of it has already been published, while another part has not yet been published,’ because research projects usually consist of more than just one paper.” (TP03)
• “I could have checked several options here. Some papers are finished, others are in progress or in the planning stages.” (TP05) 
• "What is the definition of ‘final version’ here? For example, there’s a version that I revised after a ‘revise and resubmit,’ and it’s back under review. I would definitely say that’s a final version. But it might not be truly final yet if we still need to make some changes. The question is: Where does this fit in the publication process? For me, it’s somewhere in between—it’s not yet the final version that’s already in print, but it’s also not ‘I’m working on it and I’m confident I’ll finish it at some point.’ That’s the question—what do you want to know here? Is it an early draft, is it a working paper, is it in the review process? Those would be possible intermediate steps between “final version” and concrete publication. Maybe we could add “e.g., working paper, under review, published” in parentheses after “Yes, final version”?” (TP06)
• “What does ‘final versions’ mean here? Has it already been published, or does it mean that, as far as I’m concerned, it’s final and has been submitted?” (TP07)

Question Topic:

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