Introducing the Guide to Statistics and Methods

Abstract

The advancement of science and medicine depends on the publication of credible, peer-reviewed evidence. As an integral part of our effort to provide trustworthy evidence, JAMA Internal Medicine is committed to improving the methodological rigor of its publications. As a key part of this effort, every manuscript reporting original research will undergo statistical review before acceptance. In addition, we are introducing a new series, the Guide to Statistics and Methods, intended to help clinician readers more fully understand and interpret scientific articles.These article types are not new to the JAMA Network. In 1993, JAMA launched the Users' Guides to the Medical Literature 1 series informing clinician readers how to understand and interpret scientific and medical articles more fully. This series included articles about how to search the literature, interpret studies, and understand the nuanced characteristics of review articles. In 2014, this tradition was expanded to include the JAMA Guide to Statistics and Methods, 2 shorter summaries of the broad context, reasons for using specific statistical methods, and importance of the statistical method or concept addressed in an individual JAMA or JAMA Network journal article.The JAMA Internal Medicine Guide to Statistics and Methods articles will extend and expand this tradition with a dedicated series. We intend these articles to be accessible to clinicians and researchers alike by avoiding unnecessary statistical jargon, contextualizing the information, and providing helpful graphical presentations when possible. We strive to help readers become educated consumers of the medical literature by elucidating statistical concepts and methods that influence inference, bias, validity, and generalizability of research findings. The focus of each JAMA Internal Medicine Guide to Statistics and Methods article will be a specific statistical method applied in a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine and will address why one should apply that statistical method vs another approach. These articles will explain how the findings from the specific statistical method used in the accompanying JAMA Internal Medicine research article