Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 48, Issue 6 , Pages 750-756.e21 , December 2006

From Submission to Publication: A Retrospective Review of the Tables and Figures in a Cohort of Randomized Controlled Trials Submitted to the British Medical Journal

Presented at the 5th International Congress on Peer Review and Biomedical Publication, Chicago, IL, September 16-September 18, 2005.

  • David L. Schriger, MD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • University of California, Los Angeles Emergency Medicine Center, Los Angeles, CA
    • University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
    • Cancer Research United Kingdom/National Health Services Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Oxford, United Kingdom
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for correspondence: David L. Schriger, MD, MPH, 924 Westwood Blvd. #300, Los Angeles, CA 90024-2924; 310-794-0593, fax 310-794-0599
  • ,
  • Reshmi Sinha, BA

      Affiliations

    • University of California, Los Angeles Emergency Medicine Center, Los Angeles, CA
    • University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
  • ,
  • Sara Schroter, BA, MSc, PhD

      Affiliations

    • British Medical Journal, London, UK
  • ,
  • Pamela Y. Liu

      Affiliations

    • University of California, Los Angeles Emergency Medicine Center, Los Angeles, CA
    • Amherst College, Amherst, MA.
  • ,
  • Douglas G. Altman, DSc

      Affiliations

    • Cancer Research United Kingdom/National Health Services Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Oxford, United Kingdom

Received 27 March 2006 ,Revised 30 May 2006 ,Accepted 1 June 2006.

References 

  1. Tufte ER. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press; 1983;
  2. Tufte ER. Envisioning Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press; 1990;
  3. Tufte ER. Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press; 1997;
  4. Cleveland WS. Visualizing Data. Summit, NJ: Hobart Press; 1993;
  5. Wainer H. Visual Revelations: Graphical Tales of Fate and Deception from Napoleon Bonaparte to Ross Perot. 2nd ed.. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 2000;
  6. Wainer H. Graphic Discovery: A Trout in the Milk and Other Visual Adventures. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; 2004;
  7. Schriger DL, Cooper RJ. Achieving graphical excellence: suggestions and methods for creating high-quality visual displays of experimental data. Ann Emerg Med. 2001;37:75–87
  8. Day FC, Schriger DL, Todd C. The use of dedicated methodology and statistical reviewers for peer review: a content analysis of comments to authors made by methodology and regular reviewers. Ann Emerg Med. 2002;40:329–333
  9. Cooper RJ, Schriger DS, Close RJH. Graphical literacy: the quality of graphs in a large-circulation journal. Ann Emerg Med. 2002;40:317–322
  10. Cooper RJ, Schriger DS, Tashman DA. An evaluation of the graphical literacy of Annals of Emergency Medicine. Ann Emerg Med. 2001;37:13–19
  11. Moher D, Schulz KF, Altman DG, et al. The CONSORT statement: revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel-group randomized trials. Ann Intern Med. 2001;134:657–662
  12. Altman DG, Schulz KF, Moher D, et al. The revised CONSORT statement for reporting randomized trials: explanation and elaboration. Ann Intern Med. 2001;134:663–694
  13. Walker HM, Durost WN. Statistical Tables: Their Structure and Use. New York, NY: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University; 1936;
  14. Finney DJ. On presenting tables and diagrams. Scholarly Publishing. 1986;17:327–342
  15. Wainer H. In: Visual Revelations: Graphical Tales of Fate and Deception from Napoleon Bonaparte to Ross Perot. 2nd ed.. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 2000;p. 101
  16. Ziman J. In: Reliable Knowledge: An Exploration of the Grounds for Belief in Science. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press; 1978;p. 6
  17. Gelman A, Pasarica C, Dodhia R. Let’s practice what we preach: turning tables into graphs. Am Statistician. 2002;56:121–130
  18. Best LA, Smith LD, Stubbs A. Graph use in psychology and other sciences. Behav Processes. 2001;45:155–165
  19. Horton R. The dawn of McScience. New York Rev Books. 2004;51:7–9
  20. Smith R. Medical journals are an extension of the marketing arm of pharmaceutical companies. PLoS Med. 2005;2:e138
  21. Abramson J. Drug profits infect medical studies. Los Angeles Times. January 7, 2006:sect B.17, 13.
  22. Chalmers I, Matthews R. What are the implications of optimism bias in clinical research?. Lancet. 2006;367:449–450
  23. Tufte ER. Multifunctioning graphical elements. In:  Tufte ER editors. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press; 1983;p. 147
  24. Schriger DL, Arora S, Altman DG. The content of medical journal instructions for authors. Ann Emerg Med. 2006;48:743–749

 Supervising editor: Michael L. Callaham, MDAuthor contributions: DLS and DGA conceived the study and laid out the initial design. SS obtained the research material and helped with the design. DLS designed the data forms; these were reviewed by all authors and pilot tested by RS and PYL. DLS and RS did the data abstraction for the figures study. DLS, RS, and PYL did the data abstraction for the tables study. DLS did the data analysis and drafted the article. RS drafted Appendix E4. All authors actively participated in the editing of the article and approved the final version. DLS takes responsibility for the paper as a whole.Funding and support: Ms. Sinha was funded in part by a summer research grant from the UCLA School of Medicine Short Term Training Program.Publication dates: Available online September 15, 2006.Reprints not available from the authors.

PII: S0196-0644(06)00874-2

doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2006.06.017

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 48, Issue 6 , Pages 750-756.e21 , December 2006