Publication Name	World Journal of Meta-Analysis
Manuscript ID	40227
Country	United Kingdom

Received	2018-06-08 00:56
Peer-Review Started	2018-06-08 03:49
To Make the First Decision	2018-07-12 00:26
Return for Revision	2018-07-12 08:52
Revised	2018-07-16 13:46
Second Decision	2018-08-02 11:28
Accepted by Journal Editor-in-Chief
Accepted by Executive Editor-in-Chief	2018-08-04 21:04
Articles in Press	2018-08-04 21:04
Publication Fee Transferred
Edit the Manuscript by Language Editor
Typeset the Manuscript	2018-08-23 03:31
Publish the Manuscript Online	2018-08-28 09:46

ISSN	2308-3840 (online)
Open Access	This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Copyright	© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
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Website	http://www.wjgnet.com

Category	Statistics & Probability
Manuscript Type	Editorial
Article Title	Improving the conduct of meta-analyses of observational studies
Manuscript Source	Invited Manuscript
All Author List	Peter N Lee
Funding Agency and Grant Number
Corresponding Author	Peter N Lee, MA, MSc, Senior Statistician, P.N.Lee Statistics and Computing Ltd., 17 Cedar Road, Sutton SM2 5DA, Surrey, United Kingdom. peterlee@pnlee.co.uk
Key Words	Hypothesis definition; Literature searching; Heterogeneity; Publication bias; Misclassification; Confounding; Meta-analysis
Core Tip	The author has published many meta-analyses of epidemiological studies, particularly on smoking, and the editorial comments on various aspects of their conduct. Areas covered include the definition of the hypothesis to be tested, literature searching and data entry, as well as methods to test for heterogeneity and investigate such issues as confounding, misclassification and publication bias. The need for well conducted meta-analyses and the difficulty in determining whether a “statistically significant” association is actually indicative of a causal relationship are discussed. The editorial should be helpful to readers inexperienced with the conduct of meta-analyses.
Publish Date	2018-08-28 09:46
Citation	Lee PN. Improving the conduct of meta-analyses of observational studies. World J Meta-Anal 2018; 6(3): 21-28
URL	http://www.wjgnet.com/2308-3840/full/v6/i3/21.htm
DOI	http://dx.doi.org/10.13105/wjma.v6.i3.21

Full Article (PDF)	WJMA-6-21.pdf
Full Article (Word)	WJMA-6-21.doc
Manuscript File	40227-Review.docx
Answering Reviewers	40227-Answering reviewers.pdf
Audio Core Tip	40227-Audio core tip.mp3
Conflict-of-Interest Disclosure Form	40227-Conflict-of-interest statement.pdf
Copyright License Agreement	40227-Copyright license agreement.pdf
Peer-review Report	40227-Peer-review(s).pdf
Scientific Misconduct Check	40227-Scientific misconduct check.pdf
Scientific Editor Work List	40227-Scientific editor work list.pdf