Survey of Statistical Methods and Type of Articles Published in the Selected Pakistani Medical Journals from 1999 to 2007

Abstract

^{Objective: To determine the frequency of type of articles and statistical methods used in 6 leading Pakistani medicaljournals of 1999 to 2007.
Methodology: All the original articles, case report, review articles and short communications published in 1999 to 2007 of thosejournals were reviewed. Total number of articles reviewed was 5001. The information recorded from thesejournals was: types of article; any statistical methods used and correctness of statistics.
Results: Out of 5001 articles reviewed, 1110 (22.2%) were case reports, 3395 (67.9%) were original articles, 213 (4.3%) were short communications, and 283 (5.7%) were review articles. The percentage of case reports was increased from 17.6% to 26.1%, while the percentage of original articles was reduced from 73.1% to 64.4%. Fifty nine percent of the original articles either did not contain any statistics or used only descriptive statistics. Seventy seven percent of the original articles have used appropriate statistics for making inferences.}

^{Conclusion: There is a significant improvement in the use of statistics during the study period of 9 years. However with the introduction of systematic review, Chochran library and Meta Analysis, advanced techniques ofbiostatistics are needed to understand these types of articles.}