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Cited by 288Meta-analysis and systematic reviewsStatistical Methods in Epidemiologyscientometrics and bibliometrics research

Modelling publication bias in meta-analysis: a review

Sutton, Alexander J, Song, Fujian, Gilbody, Simon M, Abrams, Keith R·2000·Statistical Methods in Medical Research
DOI 10.1177/096228020000900503
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Abstract

Meta-analysis is now a widely used technique for summarizing evidence from multiple studies. Publication bias, the bias induced by the fact that research with statistically significant results is potentially more likely to be submitted and published than work with null or non-significant results, poses a thereat to the validity of such analyses. The implication of this is that combining only the identified published studies uncritically may lead to an incorrect, usually over optimistic, conclusion. How publication bias should be addressed when carrying out a meta-analysis is currently a hotly debated subject. While statistical methods to test for its presence are starting be used, they do not address the problem of how to proceed if publication bias is suspected. This paper provides a review of methods, which can be employed as a sensitivity analysis to assess the likely impact of publication bias on a meta-analysis. It is hoped that this will raise awareness of such methods, and promote their use and development, as well as provide an agenda for future research.

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  • There are two main threats to the validity of meta-analytic results: systematic omission of studies and flexible selection of analysis approaches within each study.

    “There are two main threats to the validity of meta-analytic results: the systematic omission of studies (e.g., publication bias suppressing studies with null results36,37), and the flexible selection of analysis approaches within each study inflating the rate of false positives (e.g., p-hacking38).”

    From Accuracy prompts are a replicable and generalizable approach for reducing the spread of misinformation (2022) · cites this paper as [36]

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Related

Authors
Sutton, A. J., Song, F., Gilbody, S. M., & Abrams, K. R.
Affiliations
  • Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK,
  • University of York (GB)
  • University of Leicester (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Statistical Methods in Medical Research
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2000-10
Volume
9
Issue
5
Pages
421-445
ISSN
  • 0962-2802 (ISSN-L)
  • 1477-0334
DOI
10.1177/096228020000900503
OpenAlex
W2009813561
Cited by
288
References
63
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 11
FWCI
11.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Statistical Methods in Medical Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester) (submittedVersion)
  • UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Epidemiology
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › scientometrics and bibliometrics research
Keywords
publication bias, meta-analysis, sensitivity analysis, bias correction, statistical significance, negative results, research validity
MeSH terms
Bayes Theorem, Data Interpretation, Statistical, United Kingdom, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Models, Statistical, Publication Bias

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