Study
Positive citation bias and overinterpreted results lead to misinformation on common mycorrhizal networks in forests
Karst, Justine; Jones, Melanie D.; Hoeksema, Jason D.
Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2023
A systematic review of studies on common mycorrhizal networks in forests, examining what the primary evidence actually supports and how those studies have been cited by others.
- Sample size
- systematic review of the field literature and its citation patterns
Three widely repeated claims — that such networks are widespread in forests, that resources move through them to seedlings in useful quantities, and that mature "mother trees" preferentially nourish their kin — are supported by far less evidence than their popularity suggests. Citations were strongly biased towards positive results, and several claims had drifted well beyond what the cited papers reported.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Public and scientific understanding of forest fungal networks has outrun the evidence, driven by citation bias and over-interpretation.
How NatureHQ reads it
This is the most important record in this file, and it is a critique rather than a discovery. It does not say fungal networks are fictional; it says three specific popular claims are not well supported, and it documents how a modest 1997 result became a settled fact in the public mind without the intervening evidence. NatureHQ treats it as the current best summary of the state of the question, and keeps the underlying studies alongside it so a reader can see both.
- A review of the literature, not new field data.
- Absence of strong evidence is not evidence that the phenomena do not occur.
- The authors' framing has itself been contested by researchers in the field.
correction
An author correction was issued in the same journal later in 2023. It amends the published record without altering the review’s conclusions; NatureHQ records it because a correction a reader cannot see is a correction they cannot weigh.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Nature PortfolioPublished in a Nature Portfolio journal.
doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01986-1
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-09.