The increasing complexity of scientific inquiry has led to a

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Answer (B).

Answer choice (A): The stimulus never discusses who conducts the studies, only who authors the reports. Thus, there is no proof for this answer choice and it fails the Fact Test. Even if you mistook “conducted” for “reported,” the answer choice is still incorrect because the stimulus indicates that reports involving patients from several hospitals are usually coauthored physicians from each hospital. Although “usually” could mean “always,” it does not have to, and hence it is possible that a clinical trial could be reported by physicians from just one hospital.

Answer choice (B): This answer choice is a direct paraphrase of the second sentence. The second sentence states, “Reports of clinical trials involving patients from several hospitals are usually coauthored by physicians from each participating hospital.” Answer choice (B) translates “usually” into “most,” and “coauthored by physicians from each participating hospital” into “multiple authors.” Thus, the answer choice passes the Fact Test and is correct.

Answer choice (C): This is a Shell Game answer choice. Although the stimulus says there has been a proliferation of multi-authored technical articles, no comment is made about the frequency of multi-authored technical articles. In the next sentence, a frequency—“usually”—is given, but only for multi-authored clinical trial reports. The test makers give you hard data about the clinical trial reports, and then try to entice you into picking a broader answer involving technical reports. Answer choice (C) shows how the Shell Game can occur in the stimulus as well as in the answer choices. The stimulus of this problem switches from “technical articles” to “reports of clinical trials.” Answer choice (C) plays on that substitution.

Answer choice (D): This is a Reverse answer that contains a complex pair of reversed elements when matched against the stimulus. Let us compare the stimulus and the answer choice, using italics to indicate the reversed parts: The stimulus states, “physics papers reporting results from experiments using subsystems developed at various laboratories generally have authors from each laboratory.” Answer choice (D) states, “Physics papers authored by researchers from multiple laboratories usually report results from experiments using subsystems developed at each laboratory.” The reversed pair has two notable features: 1. The numbers are reversed—authors from each laboratory have become researchers (authors) from multiple laboratories, and subsystems from various laboratories have become subsystems from each laboratory. In a nutshell, the “various” and “each” elements have been reversed in the sentences. 2. The pair also reverses logical position within the argument, as the stimulus states that the experiments generally have authors from each laboratory and the answer choice states that the researchers usually report experiments from each laboratory.

Answer choice (E): As with answer choice (C), we do not know enough about technical articles to support this answer choice.