title: Evidenced-based dentistry versus biased-based evaluation of the evidence: the disregard syndrome and the true believer.
abstract: It is important for clinicians, educators, and researchers to be able to evaluate journal articles for bias. Authors may exhibit a bias against a particular therapeutic or procedure and present arguments supporting their individual viewpoint while neglecting literature that supports the opposing viewpoint. Failure to cite literature supporting the opposing viewpoint is referred to as the 'disregard syndrome." Individuals who accept a particular viewpoint and deny evident data to the contrary may be referred to as "True Believers." It is important for clinicians, educators, and researchers to evaluate the literature fairly. It is especially important for editors and journal reviewers to fairly evaluate manuscript submissions with a critical eye and for the readers of the literature to be aware of unreasonable bias.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Diagnostic Services, Howard University College of Dentistry, Washington, DC, USA. rbrown@howard.edu
authors.forename: Ronald S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D016265:Conflict of Interest; D035081:Editorial Policies; D032984:Ethics, Research; D055094:Evidence-Based Dentistry; D006801:Humans; D017594:Publication Bias; D012107:Research Design; D012196:Review Literature as Topic