Statistical reporting in the "Clujul-Medical" journal

Abstract

Background and aim. Medical research needs statistical analyses to understand the reality of variable phenomena. There are numerous studies showing poor statistical reporting in many journals with different rankings, in different countries. Our aim was to assess the reporting of statistical analyses in original papers published in Clujul Medical journal in the year 2014.

Methods. All original articles published in Clujul Medical in the year 2014 were assessed using mainly Statistical Analyses and Methods in the Published Literature guidelines.

Results. The most important issues found in reporting statistical analyses were reduced reporting of:  assumptions checking, difference between groups or measures of associations, confidence intervals for the primary outcomes, and errors in the statistical test choice or the descriptive statistic choice for several analyses. These results are similar with other studies assessing different journals worldwide.

Conclusion. Statistical reporting in Clujul Medical, like in other journals, have to be improved.