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Exaggerated effects in ecology

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 7, pages 1356–1357 (2023)Cite this article

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A study of over 18,000 effect sizes from more than 350 published studies in ecology finds clear evidence of selective reporting and exaggeration of effect sizes.

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Fig. 1: How low power and disproportionate publishing of ‘significant’ effects leads to exaggerated effects in the literature.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, USA

    Timothy H. Parker

  2. Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Yefeng Yang

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  1. Timothy H. Parker
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  2. Yefeng Yang
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Correspondence to Timothy H. Parker or Yefeng Yang.

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Competing interests

T.H.P. is a co-founder and an elected member of the board of directors of SORTEE. Y.Y. declares no competing interests.

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Parker, T.H., Yang, Y. Exaggerated effects in ecology. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 1356–1357 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02156-z

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