More than half of articles in top psychiatry journals include some kind of ‘spin’

A small analysis of psychology and psychiatry clinical trials published in top journals finds that 56% of them highlight a treatment or therapy as beneficial, even if the results were not statistically significant, a quality the researchers call “spin.” Of the 116 articles the researchers analyzed, 65 included some kind of spin and about half of them had the spin in the conclusion of the abstract. The scientists also found that the presence of industry funding didn’t have an effect on whether the study included some kind of spin. Journal editors should invite article reviewers to also assess studies for the presence of spin, the researchers suggest. And more research is needed to identify whether articles with spin influence clinical decisions or funding for future studies, the study authors write.