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netmeta : An R Package for Network Meta-Analysis Using Frequentist Methods
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Network meta-analysis compares different interventions for the same condition, by combining direct and indirect evidence derived from all eligible studies. Network metaanalysis has been increasingly used by applied scientists and it is a major research topic for methodologists. This article describes the R package netmeta, which adopts frequentist methods to fit network meta-analysis models. We provide a roadmap to perform network meta-analysis, along with an overview of the main functions of the package. We present three worked examples considering different types of outcomes and different data formats to facilitate researchers aiming to conduct network meta-analysis with netmeta.
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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Balduzzi, S., Rücker, G., Nikolakopoulou, A., Papakonstantinou, T., Salanti, G., Efthimiou, O., & Schwarzer, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- University of Bern (CH)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Statistical Software
- Publisher
- Foundation for Open Access Statistic
- Published
- 2023
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 1548-7660 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4327640222
- Cited by
- 532
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 221 · 2025: 176 · 2024: 108 · 2023: 27
- FWCI
- 98.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Statistical Software (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (186723, 179158, 180083)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Data Analysis with R
- Keywords
- network meta-analysis, frequentist methods, direct and indirect evidence, intervention comparison, statistical software
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