Questions tagged [publication-bias]

A bias in what academic research is more likely to be published; e.g. findings with significant outcomes are more likely to be published than the rest.

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Metafor trim and fill procedure after identifying publication bias

I am using the metafor package to assess publication bias for a meta-analysis (included approx 100 and approx 900 individual effect sizes). I am facing an issue with the implementation of the trim and ...
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How can one get a non-zero failsafe-N for non-significant meta-analysis?

I have been working with the attached data. Using the (wonderful) metafor package I fit a random-effects model, which generates the following outcomes: ...
confused_meta_analyst's user avatar
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How should I write the units for MSE in its formula and in a plot axis?

I am trying to write a paper for IEEE and would like to know if for MSE, which can have any units, it correct to write "MSE (error^2)" in its formula (i.e. MSE (error^2) = ) and in a plot ...
Baldovín Cadena Mejía's user avatar
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Could you use more than one software for a meta-analysis?

Im currently working on a meta-analysis of interventional randomized controlled trials. In the protocol, I mentinoned that I will be using Review Manager 5 for both the analysis and assesement of ...
Ghassan Saeed's user avatar
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Egger's test, Trim and fill method and funnel plots for three-level meta-analysis

I have performed a three-level meta-analysis in R (based on correlations) to estimate an overall association and to perform moderator analyses following guidelines of Assink & Wibbelink (2016). ...
Jenn3334's user avatar
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Three-level Meta-Analyses: correlation comparisons and correction for publication bias?

I'm conducting a three-level meta-analysis on correlations using the {metafor} package on R. I'm quite a newbie when it comes to three-level meta-analyses, so I have two doubts. 1) From each study, I ...
ternuo's user avatar
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Selection Models of Publication Bias for Multilevel Meta-analyses?

Are there any suitable selection models of publication bias for multilevel meta-analyses? I am currently conducting a 3-level meta-analysis and trying to incorporate selection models to assess ...
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Harbord test in metafor package in R

I'm hoping to implement Harbord's method (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/sim.2380) for evaluating publication bias using the 'metafor' package in R. It appears this is possible (https:...
arrrrRgh's user avatar
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Sensitivity analysis on secondary outcome

I plan to perform a meta-analysis with a primary outcome consisting in very rare events (sometimes not occurring in any group of some studies included), and a much more frequent secondary outcome. To ...
user47679's user avatar
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P-curve analysis for meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy study

I tried to do a meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy study. I found out that I have a publication bias based on the Deek's regression test. Thus, I want to supplement my analysis with P-curve analysis ...
Tengku Hanis's user avatar
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Multi-level meta-anlaysis

I'm conducting a meta-analysis in which some of studies reported multiple effect size as they examined the outcome on multiple groups of glucose-lowering drugs. So, a three-level meta-analysis was ...
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Why do academic papers often gloss over effect sizes? [closed]

This may be just my perception, but it seems like academic papers often focus on whether or not they found a statistically significant correlation between two variables and spend very little time ...
markv12's user avatar
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Interpretation of (contour-enhanced) funnel plots in meta-analysis

I am currently conducting a meta-analysis on four different outcome measures (A, B, C, and D). However, I am struggling with the interpretation of the (contour-enhanced) funnel plots. I examined the ...
Matthias's user avatar
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How do I go about doing Egger's test for publication bias in a meta-analysis?

Hi my background is clinical medicine (not statistics). I have just done a meta-analysis of 41 randomized controlled trials of the effectiveness of antibiotics vs. placebo in preventing wound ...
celeste's user avatar
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Is this just a consequence of Publication bias or has a name of its own? [duplicate]

Scenario: In our world, only statistically significant ($p<0.05$) results are published, everything else is rejected or not even handed in. Let's now assume an experiment is $100$ times conducted ...
user190080's user avatar
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P-Uniform* interpretation

I have a question concering the interpretation of my p-uniform* results. So this is my results: Estimating effect size p-uniform* ...
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How to deal with arbitrary choices in statsitics? (avoiding data-manipulation)

While I mostly have a good understanding for the mathematical aspects of statistics, I find myself struggling with seemingly arbitrary choices: For example I have a 2D matrix of chemical compounds ...
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Are there extensions of publication-bias tests for Network Meta-Analysis?

In pairwise meta-analysis, it is common to check for publication bias. In particular, there are multiple tests for funnel-plot asymmetry (see here for Cochrane's recommendations about that: https://...
Federico Tedeschi's user avatar
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1 answer
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Inflation of effect size estimation among significant results?

Correction for multiple testing is often performed on the alpha value. However, multiple testing is, I think, likely to inflate also the estimated effect size of the most significant effects found. ...
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Why does finding small effects in large studies indicate publication bias?

Several methodological papers (e.g. Egger et al 1997a, 1997b) discuss publication bias as revealed by meta-analyses, using funnel plots such as the one below. The 1997b paper goes on to say that "...
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Z-value in R using the Eggers test. How to get the t-value

I am currently conducting a meta-analysis using R for my masterthesis. To test for publication bias I ran the Eggers test. In the output I get a z-value, however in all the published meta-analysis ...
Anneke's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Graphing the expected magnitude of an estimate $\hat{\theta}$, given statistical significance, as a function of the true $\theta$ [closed]

I'm looking to start with an assumed true parameter $\theta$, and taking the normal distribution of the estimate $\hat{\theta}$ with mean $\theta$ and a known standard deviation (suppose it's $0.10$), ...
tres14's user avatar
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1 answer
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Can traditional publication bias modelling approaches work properly with meta-analyses of proportions?

I have a question about the use of publication bias modeling approaches in meta-analyses of proportions. The traditional approaches of assessing publication bias, such as the rank correlation test, ...
Naike Wang's user avatar
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Why don't researchers share their raw data for better science? [closed]

Publication bias. Reproducibility problem. Abusing statistical tests. These are some of the many criticisms received by all fields of science for a long time. If I read an article in Psychological ...
JetLag's user avatar
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13 votes
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Is publishing work based on post hoc analysis problematic? [duplicate]

Nowadays, in the scientific domain, increasingly, people in the top position argue against doing post-hoc analysis and they advise against collecting a bunch of data and just make up a story after ...
JetLag's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
497 views

Are most published correlations in social sciences untrustworthy and what is to be done about it? [closed]

Despite the important but smacking of "gotcha"-istic efforts by individuals to reveal the practices of predatory journals, a greater and more fundamental threat looms in the shadows of social science ...
Matt Barstead's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
109 views

Tests for publication bias using sample size in the absence of variance estimates

Background A colleague of mine is conducting a meta-analysis for which he has available the “raw” mean differences for each study along with the sample sizes. The differences are between-subjects ...
jmfawcet's user avatar
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Publication bias in meta-analysis of diagnostic tests

How can investigate publication bias for diagnostic tests in meta-analysis with R? I saw this topic "Publication bias in meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy in R?" but there is no answer yet!
Bernard's user avatar
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1 answer
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Publication bias: Egger's Test significant depending on subset. Why doesTrim and Fill not add studies?

For my final thesis I performed a meta-analysis with different subsets (subgroup analysis). Although I systematically searched the literature (I was brutally sophisticated), depending which subset I ...
Feal's user avatar
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Publication bias: which test should I use and what are the formula

I am working on the last part of my meta-analysis. I am using a random-effects model. I am looking at uncontrolled effect sizes (difference between pre-test and post-test scores using Cohen's d). I ...
ZJP's user avatar
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6 votes
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Testing for publication bias in meta-analysis when effect is raw mean

I am conducting a multi-level meta-analysis using rma.mv in the metafor package in R. The effect size measure I am working with is the raw mean (...
chabeck's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
68 views

What is the bias that makes researchers prefer values already published?

Some time ago I read that values (for a given process or associated to a certain physical phenomena) that have already been published, are more likely to be published in the future; compared to new ...
Gabriel's user avatar
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1 vote
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How to correct for study bias in protein interaction data?

Interactions between proteins are crucial for the correct functioning of the living cell. That is why it is important to study protein interaction networks, detect hubs, leaves and network modules and ...
gal's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Qualitative assessment of (negative) publication bias

I have been doing some literature analysis in a certain surgical implants. In the early 2000´s Implant 1 was introduced. This implant proved to be successful and naturally several medical industries ...
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13 votes
1 answer
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Metafor package: bias and sensitivity diagnostics

I am conducting a multi-level meta-analysis that includes some articles with multiple outcomes. Therefore I am using the rma.mv() function. Example code: ...
chabeck's user avatar
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32 votes
5 answers
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How should an individual researcher think about the false discovery rate?

I've been trying to wrap my head around how the False Discovery Rate (FDR) should inform the conclusions of the individual researcher. For example, if your study is underpowered, should you discount ...
Richard Border's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
815 views

Torn between PET-PEESE and multilevel approaches to meta-analysis: is there a happy medium?

I am currently working on a meta-analysis, for which I need to analyze multiple effect sizes nested within samples. I am partial to Cheung's (2014) three-level meta-analysis approach to meta-analyzing ...
jsakaluk's user avatar
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46 votes
5 answers
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Statistics published in academic papers

I read a lot of evolutionary/ecological academic papers, sometimes with the specific aim of seeing how statistics are being used 'in the real world' outside of the textbook. I normally take the ...
luciano's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
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Publication bias in meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy in R?

Are there any implemented methods in R that could be used to assess publication bias in a meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy (Egger's test, funnel plots)? One way would be to change sensitivites and ...
jokel's user avatar
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3 votes
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260 views

Publication bias in meta-analysis of single case studies

Is there a way of investigating publications bias in a meta-analysis of single case studies? Usually one can assess publication bias using funnel plots or Egger's test to assess funnel plot asymmetry. ...
jokel's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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What kind of cut-offs are used for publication bias tests in meta-analysis?

I have performed meta-analysis and included four different tests for publication bias in the analysis - classic fail-safe N, Orwin's fail-safe N, Duval and Tweedie's trim and fill as well as funnel ...
Annie's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
679 views

Alternative Egger's test, without using standard error

A simplified regression equation $ES=\frac{a+b}{n_1+n_2}$ has been suggested as an alternative to Egger's regression equation $\frac{ES}{SE}=\frac{a+b}{SE}$, where ES=Effect Size, $n_1$=sample size of ...
Staty Despair's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
2k views

Alternative funnel plot, without using standard error (SE)

Before submission of my meta-analysis I want to make a funnel plot to test for heterogeneity and publication bias. I have the pooled effect size and the effect sizes from each study, that take values ...
Staty Despair's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
12k views

Egger's test in SPSS

How can I conduct an Egger's test using SPSS17? For each study included in the meta-analysis I know effect size and sample size of patients and controls groups.
Staty Despair's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
4k views

Orwin's fail safe N test

In Orwin's fail safe N test how to decide the values of criterion for a trivial log odd's ratio and mean log odds ratio in missing studies. I am a medical doctor. Please tell me in simple english. The ...
DrWho's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
15k views

Egger’s linear regression method intercept in meta analysis

In Meta analysis, how to interpret the Egger’s linear regression method intercept (B0) 10.34631, 95% confidence interval (1.05905, 19.63357), with t=3.54535, df=3. The 1-tailed p-value (recommended) ...
DrWho's user avatar
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