Assessment of Submitted Manuscripts in Medical Sciences According to Statistical Errors

Ercan, İlker; Ocakoğlu, Gökhan; Sığırlı, Deniz; Özkaya, Güven

doi:10.5336/medsci.2012-29517

Cited by 10 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The examined statistical errors were classified following the description appeared in Ercan et al and International Journal of Hematology and Oncology Ercan and Demirtas. 4,12 Of note, errors assessed by each researcher were confirmed by all members of the research team. Therefore, there is no difference between researchers according to specifying the error and they are in full (100%) agreement.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2,[4][5][7][8]11 In our work, this information was considered for the calculation of sample size, which turned out to be n= 161 when the significance level is α= 0.05, the margin of error is d= 0.10, and the ratio of articles with statistical errors is p= 0.57. The number of articles examined for statistical errors were ranged between 55 and 195 in similar studies.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The number of articles examined for statistical errors were ranged between 55 and 195 in similar studies. 2,[4][5][7][8]11 Although 161 articles were adequate for our investigation, in an attempt to conduct a more comprehensive study than the similar ones, 217 articles were examined.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and "presentation of statistical methodanalysis and results in the incorrect section of the manuscript". 4 The percentage of statistical errors was calculated, taking into account the number of articles reviewed. Further, the potential difference between the statistical errors seen in articles indexed in SCI and SCI-E and in non-SCI or non-SCI-E journals was investigated using the Chi-square test and …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One can envision a long list of factors that contribute to this phenomenon, but it all boils down to researchers' lack of a solid statistical background. 3,4 In the medical sciences, the frequency and magnitude of errors have reached a level that promotes the examination of statistical errors in published articles as a self-contained research topic. In this context, premonitory reviews, as well as articles that assess statistical errors appearing in practice, have been published.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Examining of Published Articles with Respect to Statistical Errors in Medical Sciences

Ercan¹

2015

UHOD

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Researchers who do not have adequate statistical knowledge commit a wide range of critical errors with regard to the design, execution,analysis, presentation and interpretation of their studies. The aim of the present work is to examine the statistical errors of scientific articles. Cross sectional study. Methods: Ninety-five articles published in either Science Citation Index (SCI) or (Science Citation Index-Expanded) SCI-E journals, 122 articles published in non-SCI or non-SCI-E journals were included in this study. The articles were chosen from among those indexed in the PubMed and Bioline databases between the years 2004 and 2010, inclusively. A total of 217 articles had at least one statistical error. The most frequently encountered statistical error was "errors in summarizing data" for articles published in the journals indexed in SCI or SCI-E, as well as non-SCI or non-SCI-E journals. For errors involving "use of an incorrect test" and "statistical symbol errors", there was a statistically significant difference between articles published in journals indexed in SCI or SCI-E and non-SCI or non-SCI-E journals; this difference favored the former. Some action should be taken by researchers and editors to prevent the introduction of statistical errors into scientific publications. Researchers (i) should have a basic statistical knowledge, (ii) should consult a biostatistician at the planning, analyzing, interpreting and reporting stages of a study. Furthermore, editors should send studies that have been submitted to their journal to a biostatistician during the review process. Keywords: Statistical errors, Statistical review, Medical articles ÖZET Tıp Bilimlerinde Yayınlanan Makalelerin İstatistiksel Hatalar Bakımından İncelenmesiİstatistik bilgisi yeterli olmayan araştırmacılar; çalışmalarının tasarımında, yürütülmesinde, analizinde, sunumunda ve yorumlanmasında bir takım önemli hatalar yapmaktadırlar. Bu çalışmanın amacı, bilimsel makalelerdeki istatistiksel hataları incelemektir. Science Citation Index (SCI) ya da (Science Citation Index-Expanded) SCI-E indekslerinde yer alan dergilerde yayınlanan 95 makale ile, bu indekslerde yer almayan dergilerde yayınlanan 122 makale çalışmaya dahil edilmiştir. Makaleler 2004 ve 2010 yılları arasında PubMed ve Bioline veri tabanlarında yer alan makaleler arasından seçilmiştir. Toplam 217 makalenin tümünde en az bir istatistiksel hata olduğu görülmüştür. Hem SCI ya da SCI-E indeksli dergilerde hem de bu indeklerde yer almayan dergilerde yayınlanan makalelerde en sık karşılaşılan hata, "verilerin özetlenmesinde yapılan hatalar" dır. SCI ya da SCI-E indeksli dergilerde yayınlanan makalerler ile bu indekslerde yer almayan dergilerde yayınlanan makaleler arasında; "yanlış bir test kullanımı" ve "istatistiksel sembol hataları" konusunda istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark elde edilmiştir. Bilimsel yayınlarda istatistiksel hatalarla karşılaşmamak için araştırmacılar tarafından bir takım önlemler alınmalıdır. Araştırmacılar (i) temel istatistik bilgisine sahip olmalıd...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Examining of Published Articles with Respect to Statistical Errors in Medical Sciences

Ercan¹

2015

UHOD

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Morphometric Shape Analysis of Corpus Callosum in Children With Down Syndrome

Erdemli Gürsel,

Ercan,

Şahin

et al. 2023

Clin Pediatr (Phila)

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Down syndrome (DS) is characterized by varying degrees of mental retardation and delay in neurocognitive functions. Herein, we analyzed the morphometric shape of the corpus callosum (CC) in children with DS. Twenty-three DS cases underwent magnetic resonance imaging and have grossly normal CC, and 23 control group cases were included in this retrospective study (2012-2020). The CC was obtained from T2-weighted mid-sagittal images, and certain anatomical points were marked on the CC. Statistical geometric shapes and deformations of CC were evaluated for both groups. The age range of patients with DS and control group was 6 to 42 months. A statistically significant difference was found in the shape of CC between the groups ( P < .001). Deformation was most evident in the splenium in the DS group.

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Pitfalls in scientific research: critical appraisal of articles published in one of the international journals in Egypt

Nasr

Sherif

Ibrahim

et al. 2020

J Egypt Natl Canc Inst

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Background To identify and report flaws of Internet-published articles in the Journal of the Egyptian National Cancer Institute (JENCI), Cairo University, through a retrospective documentary study on articles published during the period from 2011 to 2016. All sections were reviewed against a collective checklist. Articles were grouped by publication year into 2 intervals: early (from 2011 to 2013) and recent (from 2014 to 2016) to identify changes in study characteristics over time. Results The study included 139 original articles. Half of the titles represented aim and 9.4% represented study design. Abstracts were concise, clear, with structured writing format in 98.6%, 93.5%, and 35.3%, respectively. Most introductions included the study aim, while 41% had a rationale. Study timing was reported in 59.0%, while the study design was reported in 25.9%. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were clearly reported in 43.1% and 40.1%, respectively. Statistical methods were mentioned in 80.6%, complete in 30.4%, and appropriate in 85.7%. Four studies reported sample size estimation. Only 52.5% and 58.3% of results were exhaustive and answer the research question, respectively. Incorrect statistical calculations occurred in 41.0%, inappropriate statistical tests or descriptive parameter selection in 26.6%, while inappropriate test application occurred in 49.1%. About 60% of discussions did not completely cover results, 31.7% fully justified the findings, 56.1% followed a logical flow, and 36.7% had contradiction within the text. Conclusions were mostly linked to aim, imprecise, and extrapolating beyond results. On comparing both periods, only a significant less misuse of statistical terms, more reporting conflict of interest, more missing references for cited texts in the recent period, and more participation of NCI over other institutes in the early period were found. Conclusion Articles published in JENCI (from 2011 to 2016) had many methodological and reporting defects and some points of strength. Using the collective checklist developed by this study, continuous training of researchers, involving epidemiologists throughout the whole research process, and applying strict journal reporting and publication rules should be encouraged.

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Assessment of Submitted Manuscripts in Medical Sciences According to Statistical Errors

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

Examining of Published Articles with Respect to Statistical Errors in Medical Sciences

Examining of Published Articles with Respect to Statistical Errors in Medical Sciences

Morphometric Shape Analysis of Corpus Callosum in Children With Down Syndrome

Pitfalls in scientific research: critical appraisal of articles published in one of the international journals in Egypt

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