Unusual clustering of coefficients of variation in published articles from a medical biochemistry department in India.
FASEB J
; 23(3): 689-703, 2009 Mar.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18940892
ABSTRACT
A simple statistical method is described to test whether data are consistent with minimum statistical variability expected in a biological experiment. The method is applied to data presented in data tables in a subset of 84 articles among more than 200 published by 3 investigators in a small medical biochemistry department at a major university in India and to 29 "control" articles selected by key word PubMed searches. Major conclusions include 1) unusual clustering of coefficients of variation (CVs) was observed for data from the majority of articles analyzed that were published by the 3 investigators from 2000-2007; unusual clustering was not observed for data from any of their articles examined that were published between 1992 and 1999; and 2) among a group of 29 control articles retrieved by PubMed key word, title, or title/abstract searches, unusually clustered CVs were observed in 3 articles. Two of these articles were coauthored by 1 of the 3 investigators, and 1 was from the same university but a different department. We are unable to offer a statistical or biological explanation for the unusual clustering observed.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Edición
/
Investigación
/
Estadística como Asunto
/
Modelos Estadísticos
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
País/Región como asunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Revista:
FASEB J
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
FISIOLOGIA
Año:
2009
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos