Reviewing Comments

The publication of research reports was an essential part of the Enlightenment. The first two scientific journals were the British Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and the French Journal des Sçavans, both of which started their activities in 1665. Today, 359 years later, the number of scientific journals exceeds 30,000. The primary purpose of…

When performing a meta-analysis, the investigator often experiences heterogeneity problems; the effects planned to be pooled in a meta-analysis are more heterogeneous than could be expected just from sampling variation. One solution to the problem is to try to estimate an average effect instead of a common one. Technically, this means fitting a random-effects model…

Confounding refers to a situation where the effect of a studied risk factor on a specific outcome is mixed with the effect of a factor not accounted for in the analysis. This other factor, known as a confounder, can distort (bias) the risk factor’s estimated effect and mislead the investigator. The problem can arise if…

Most reports are probably written with the intention of being clear, coherent, and stringent. However, methodological misunderstandings cause many publications to be vague, ambiguous, and confusing. Misinterpretation of statistical significance plays a major role in this problem. In modern medicine, research is usually based on a dataset. Statistical methods produce p-values, which are used to…

Spin is usually defined as reporting practices that distort the interpretation of results and mislead readers to view them in a more favourable light. A research report usually starts with a clear research question and ends with a conclusion empirically supported by the studied data. Speculations and hypotheses can be presented, but unsubstantiated claims must…

Statistical inference is essential for evaluating empirical support for medical research findings. Still, much medical research is methodologically poor. The problem is not that medical research fails to employ statistical methods; on the contrary, research reports usually include large numbers of p-values. The poor quality is more related to the misconception that statistical methodology is…

Many medical publications present the results of more or less random statistical tests of data available in datasets collected for other reasons. The statistical test results are then interpreted according to the investigators’ prejudices, suitable hypotheses are formulated, and reports are written pretending that the studies from beginning to end were performed to test the…