Implementation of SAMPL Guidelines in 100 clinical medicine articles: enhancing statistical reporting and recommendations for biomedical journals

Abstract

Background: Contemporary observations indicate insufficient quality in the reporting of statistical data. Despite the publication of the SAMPL guidelines in 2015, they have not been widely adopted. The aim of this article is to highlight the incorporation of SAMPL Guidelines in the statistical reviews of articles related to clinical medicine, as well as the changes implemented by authors in revised manuscripts as a result of such guidance. An additional objective is to provide recommendations for biomedical journals regarding the necessity of integrating SAMPL Guidelines into their daily practices.

Methods: The study incorporated 100 selected statistical reviews of original clinical medicine articles from 8 biomedical journals, conducted between 2016 and 2023. Each of these reviews suggested specific SAMPL Guidelines to be implemented in the revised manuscript. It was evaluated which specific SAMPL Guidelines were most frequently enforced and what changes resulted from their implementation.

Results: Seventy-five percent of the manuscripts in question garnered acceptance following a solitary round of statistical evaluation. Among the most frequently recommended and subsequently implemented SAMPL Guidelines by the authors are a more thorough description of the purpose of the applied statistical tests (65%), indication of the practical significance of the obtained results, including calculation of relevant effect size measures (64%), analysis of assumptions necessary for the application of specific statistical tests (58%), and consideration of the impact of outlier values on the obtained results (34%).

Conclusion: To improve the quality of statistical reporting in biomedical journals, greater emphasis should be placed on implementing SAMPL Guidelines.

Keywords: Biostatistics; SAMPL Guidelines; Statistical analysis; Statistical reviews.