Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth

by Stuart Ritchie

Salami-slicing doesn’t in itself mean that the science contained in each of the slices is necessarily of poor quality (though the fact the researchers are willing to take advantage of the publication system so blatantly doesn’t exactly speak to their trustworthiness). However, some salami-slicing may have a more sinister purpose than mere CV-building. In clinical trials, it’s been alleged that pharmaceutical companies and other drug researchers use tactical salami-slicing to take advantage of the fact that readers aren’t paying full attention to every publication. Split up your study into several publications and you’ll give the impression that there’s stronger support for the efficacy of your drug than if there were just one or two papers published on it. It’s a devious, but probably effective, tactic: busy doctors who see that there are six papers claiming support for one drug and only one paper for another might be more likely to prescribe the former, without necessarily noticing that the six papers on the latter are all sliced-up reports of the same study. Moreover, since not every doctor reads the same journals, splitting up the publications might help you reach a wider audience.