Rating of the six procedures examined
| Score | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Search of unpublished trials and/or test for publication bias | Unpublished trials not searched, publication bias not tested | Unpublished trials searched OR publication bias tested | Unpublished trials searched AND publication bias tested or statistically corrected |
| Contact with study authors | Study authors not contacted | Study authors contacted for methodology or unspecified reasons | Study authors contacted to unearth unreported endpoints |
| Duplicate publications | Duplicate publications not searched or not mentioned | Duplicate publications searched | Duplicate publications referenced in the published report* |
| Sponsors of the studies | Information on study sponsors not reported | Information on study sponsors reported | Impact of study sponsor(s) on the conclusions of the review analysed |
| Study authors’ conflicts of interest | Study authors’ conflicts of interest not reported | Study authors’ conflicts of interest reported | Impact of study authors’ conflicts of interest on the conclusions of the review analysed |
| Ethical approval | Ethical approval of included studies not reported | Ethical approval of included studies reported | Lack of ethical approval of included studies reported and referenced† |
Percentages may not add-up to 100% because of rounding errors.
*Also includes reports that explicitly mention that no duplicates were identified.
†Also includes reports that explicitly mention that none of the included studies lacked ethical approval.