FUTON bias (short for Full Text On the Net bias) refers to the failure in academic research, when researchers tend to search and read what is available online, and ignore relevant studies that are available offline in printed format only. Very few libraries in general have a full range of journals available, and if the article is available, it may be only in microform.
FUTON bias adversely affects sources that are older and/or published in less developed countries, as there is evidence that articles that are available as full text on the Internet are more likely to be accessed, read and quoted and therefore more likely to impact decision making.
If an article has no abstract available online, it is likely to be affected by the no abstract available bias (NAA bias). Researchers are less likely to access articles without online abstracts. This may be further compounded if an article has an unclear title, and the extreme case is articles whose very title is not even online.
See also
References
- Murali NS, Murali HR, Auethavekiat P, Erwin PJ, Mandrekar JN, Manek NJ, Ghosh AK (2004). "Impact of FUTON and NAA Bias on Visibility of Research". Mayo Clin Proc 79 (8): 1001–1006. doi:. http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/79/8/1001.
- Wentz R. (2002). "Visibility of research: FUTON bias". Lancet 360 (9341): 1256. doi:. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12401287&dopt=Citation.
- Kenneth Goldsmith (2005). "If It Doesn't Exist on the Internet, It Doesn't Exist". SUNY Buffalo. http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/goldsmith/if_it_doesnt_exist.html. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
- Amit Kumar Ghosh and Narayana S. Murali (2003). "Letter and Reply—Online Access to Nephrology Journals: The FUTON Bias". Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. http://ndt.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/18/9/1943. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
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