Key statistical recommendations for medical journals: insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study Collaborators

Background: Biostatistics is essential in personalized medicine, enabling the analysis of complex data, optimizing treatment strategies, and ensuring robust clinical trial designs for patient-specific therapies. The aim of the article was to find out the opinion of Global Burden of Disease Collaborators on the statistical recommendations that should be implemented in medical journals. Materials and Methods: The study involved 150 GBD Collaborators who authored articles between 2018 and 2023 under the research coordination of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The analysis included 11 statistical recommendations and parameters such as the Hirsch index, number of published articles, and scientific seniority. Additionally, opinions were assessed regarding the percentage of accepted scientific manuscripts that meet statistical validity. Results: The key recommendation highlighted by the GBD collaborators is to ensure regular statistical reviews when there is uncertainty about the quality of the authors' analyses (p < 0.001). The remaining recommended guidelines primarily involve the publication of statistical recommendations (50%) and their inclusion on journal websites (53%). The GBD Collaborators, who assert that a lower percentage of accepted articles in medical journals are statistically correct, recommend that authors consult the statistical recommendations posted on journal websites before submitting an article (p = 0.03) and advocate for uniform publication guidelines across journals (p = 0.01). Conclusion: More emphasis should be placed on implementing statistical recommendations in medical journals, not just publishing them.