Statistical issues in the articles published in the journal of veterinary clinics

With the ease availability of statistical software and powerful computers the application of statistical methods in domestic veterinary journals is on the increase. In parallel with this benefit, statistical errors are not uncommon even in renowned scientific and medical journals. These errors may lead to misinterpretation of the data, thereby, subjected to faulty conclusions. A systematic review of articles published in 8 issues of the Journal of Veterinary Clinics during 2006-2007 was performed to assess the statistical methodology and reporting. Ninety-four (72.9%) articles of the 129 original articles screened included any inferential statistical analysis in the article, including comparison of 3 or more groups (53 or 56.4%), comparison of independent 2 groups (40 or 42.6%), and paired t-test (9 or 9.6%) in order. Of the 94 articles in which statistical analysis was done 62 (or 66.0%) had at least 1 statistical error. Errors included failure to apply or incorrectly applying independent Student's t-test for paired data or vice versa, inappropriate use of t-test for more than 3 groups and failure in chi-square test to consider continuity-correction for small expected frequencies. The common errors in ANOVA were failure to validate assumption of the test, inappropriate post-hoc multiple-comparison and incorrect assumption of independence of data in repeated measures design. Reporting errors included failure to state statistical methods and failure to state specific test if more than 1 test was done. It is suggested that an editorial effort would be necessary to achieve the improvement of appropriate statistical procedures through the publication of statistical guidelines to author(s).