PMID: 6405855May 7, 1983Paper

Is the statistical assessment of papers submitted to the "British Medical Journal" effective?

British Medical Journal
M J GardnerD Machin

Abstract

A study was performed to judge the effectiveness of the statistical assessment scheme for papers submitted to the "British Medical Journal." Statistical criticism of the content of 200 submitted papers which had already been seen by a subject referee led directly or indirectly to 73 (37%) being rejected for publication. In most cases (53 out of 73) serious problems requiring more than minor revision were identified. A comparison of reports on subsequently unpublished and published papers showed that adverse statistical assessments--suggesting major problems--were more common in the papers that were not accepted for publication. Moderate, or less, revision was recommended for 63% of published papers but 39% of the remainder. A checklist of relevant questions was used in making a detailed comparison of 12 published papers, six of which had been statistically assessed and six of which had not. This comparison yielded little evidence that the papers that had been assessed were statistically more acceptable than those that had not been assessed but re-emphasised the subjectivity of refereeing and assessment.

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Citations

Jul 1, 1988·Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine·L S Chan, B Portnoy
Mar 17, 1984·British Medical Journal·D Mainland
Mar 24, 1984·British Medical Journal·D Mainland
Mar 22, 1986·British Medical Journal·M J GardnerM J Campbell
Aug 18, 2004·BMC Medical Research Methodology·J Martin Bland
Nov 21, 1998·Journal of General Internal Medicine·S N GoodmanS L George
Mar 6, 2015·European Journal of Orthodontics·Anastasia SpanouNikolaos Pandis
Jul 29, 2004·Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology·Kenneth A KatzDavid J Margolis
Feb 1, 1985·British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology·J M BlandA J MacFarlane
Feb 11, 2015·Journal of Clinical Epidemiology·Despina KoletsiNikolaos Pandis
Dec 25, 2015·Journal of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology·Sukhminder Jit Singh Bajwa
Jan 1, 1987·Journal of Advanced Nursing·M Hunt
Jun 1, 1989·The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery·J Ludbrook
Jan 1, 1990·Pediatric Hematology and Oncology·L Parker
Nov 8, 2018·Sports·Conrad P EarnestNeil M Johannsen
Jan 1, 1992·Acta Oncologica·J Jamart
Apr 1, 1984·Statistics in Medicine·T Johnson

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