ReviewBMC medical research methodology2020
Charting the landscape of graphical displays for meta-analysis and systematic reviews: a comprehensive review, taxonomy, and feature analysis.
Review in BMC medical research methodology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Religiosity and Organ Donation: A Meta-Analysis of Attitudes, Willingness, and Registration Status.Journal of religion and health · 2026Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Implicit Versus Explicit Social Skills Group Programs in Different Settings for School-Aged Autistic Children and Adolescents.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Luspatercept for patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes/neoplasms: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Blood advances · 2025Pooled it
- Laser therapy decreases oral leukoplakia recurrence and boosts patient comfort: a network meta-analysis and systematic review.BMC oral health · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- PRISMA 2020 explanation and elaboration: updated guidance and exemplars for reporting systematic reviews.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Guideline
- Interpretation and use of a decision support tool for multiple treatment options: a combined randomised controlled trial and survey of medical students.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2024Trial
- Visualization of Multi-indication Randomized Control Trial Evidence to Support Decision Making in Oncology: A Case Study on Bevacizumab.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2026Article
- Prognostic Value of Primary Total Glossectomy in Tongue Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survival Outcomes.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Systematic reviews and the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy; past, present and future. A systematic reappraisal.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2025Article
- From Data to Recommendations: A Comprehensive Review of Ten Bibliometric Papers in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.Aesthetic plastic surgery · 2025Review
- Visualization toolkits for enriching meta-analyses through evidence maps, bibliometrics, and alternative impact metrics.Research synthesis methods · 2025Review
- MATCH-IT: A decision support tool for multiple comparisons presenting data from network meta-analysis to facilitate guideline development.Clinical and public health guidelines · 2024Article
- Visualizing and diagnosing spillover within randomized concurrent controlled trials through the application of diagnostic test assessment methods.BMC medical research methodology · 2024Article
- Lower Rates of Hypocalcemia Following Near-Infrared Autofluorescence Use in Thyroidectomy: A Meta-Analysis of RCTs.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Data visualisation approaches for component network meta-analysis: visualising the data structure.BMC medical research methodology · 2023Article
- Data visualisation in scoping reviews and evidence maps on health topics: a cross-sectional analysis.Systematic reviews · 2023Article
- Quantitative evidence synthesis: a practical guide on meta-analysis, meta-regression, and publication bias tests for environmental sciences.Environmental evidence · 2023Article
- Vitruvian plot: a visualisation tool for multiple outcomes in network meta-analysis.Evidence-based mental health · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundData-visualization methods are essential to explore and communicate meta-analytic data and results. With a large number of novel graphs proposed quite recently, a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of available graphing options for meta-analysis is unavailable.
methodsWe applied a multi-tiered search strategy to find the meta-analytic graphs proposed and introduced so far. We checked more than 150 retrievable textbooks on research synthesis methodology cover to cover, six different software programs regularly used for meta-analysis, and the entire content of two leading journals on research synthesis. In addition, we conducted Google Scholar and Google image searches and cited-reference searches of prior reviews of the topic. Retrieved graphs were categorized into a taxonomy encompassing 11 main classes, evaluated according to 24 graph-functionality features, and individually presented and described with explanatory vignettes.
resultsWe ascertained more than 200 different graphs and graph variants used to visualize meta-analytic data. One half of these have accrued within the past 10 years alone. The most prevalent classes were graphs for network meta-analysis (45 displays), graphs showing combined effect(s) only (26), funnel plot-like displays (24), displays showing more than one outcome per study (19), robustness, outlier and influence diagnostics (15), study selection and p-value based displays (15), and forest plot-like displays (14). The majority of graphs (130, 62.5%) possessed a unique combination of graph features.
conclusionsThe rich and diverse set of available meta-analytic graphs offers a variety of options to display many different aspects of meta-analyses. This comprehensive overview of available graphs allows researchers to make better-informed decisions on which graphs suit their needs and therefore facilitates using the meta-analytic tool kit of graphs to its full potential. It also constitutes a roadmap for a goal-driven development of further graphical displays for research synthesis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.