Precision Medicine Unit, Lausanne University Hospital, Chemin des Roches 1a/1b, 1010, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 8;11(1):3335. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83006-5.
Non-transparent statistical reporting contributes to the reproducibility crisis in life sciences, despite guidelines and educational articles regularly published. Envisioning more effective measures for ensuring transparency requires the detailed monitoring of incomplete reporting in the literature. In this study, a systematic approach was used to sample 16 periodicals from the ISI Journal Citation Report database and to collect 233 preclinical articles (including both in vitro and animal research) from online journal content published in 2019. Statistical items related to the use of location tests were quantified. Results revealed that a large proportion of articles insufficiently describe tests (median 44.8%, IQR [33.3-62.5%], k = 16 journals), software (31%, IQR [22.3-39.6%]) or sample sizes (44.2%, IQR [35.7-55.4%]). The results further point at contradictory information as a component of poor reporting (18.3%, IQR [6.79-26.7%]). No detectable correlation was found between journal impact factor and the quality of statistical reporting of any studied item. The under-representation of open-source software (4.50% of articles) suggests that the provision of code should remain restricted to articles that use such packages. Since mounting evidence indicates that transparency is key for reproducible science, this work highlights the need for a more rigorous enforcement of existing guidelines.
不透明的统计报告导致生命科学领域的可重复性危机，尽管定期发布指南和教育文章。为了设想更有效的措施来确保透明度，需要详细监测文献中不完整的报告。在这项研究中，采用系统方法从 ISI 期刊引文报告数据库中抽取 16 种期刊，并从 2019 年在线期刊内容中收集 233 篇临床前文章（包括体外和动物研究）。量化了与位置测试使用相关的统计项目。结果表明，大量文章对测试（中位数 44.8%，IQR [33.3-62.5%]，k=16 种期刊）、软件（31%，IQR [22.3-39.6%]）或样本量（44.2%，IQR [35.7-55.4%]）的描述不足。结果进一步表明，信息矛盾是报告质量差的一个组成部分（18.3%，IQR [6.79-26.7%]）。没有发现期刊影响因子与任何研究项目的统计报告质量之间存在相关性。开源软件的代表性不足（4.50%的文章）表明，代码的提供应仅限于使用此类软件包的文章。由于越来越多的证据表明透明度是可重复科学的关键，因此这项工作强调了需要更严格地执行现有指南。
