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Table 3 Annotated taxonomy of 208 retrieved graphical displays for meta-analysis

From: Charting the landscape of graphical displays for meta-analysis and systematic reviews: a comprehensive review, taxonomy, and feature analysis

ID

Name

Year

Source reference

1.1

Confidence interval plot, caterpillar plot

1978

[23]

1.2

Forest plot

1982

n.a.

1.2.1

Subgroup forest plot

n.a.

n.a.

1.2.2

Summary forest plot

n.a.

n.a.

1.2.3

Shrinkage plot, Bayesian forest plot

n.a.

n.a.

1.2.4

Raindrop plot

2003

[29]

1.2.5

Limits of equivalence forest plot

2007

[30]

1.2.6

Confidence distribution plot

2010

[31]

1.2.7

Rainforest plot

2015

[22]

1.2.8

Thick forest plot

2015

[23]

1.2.9

Contour-enhanced forest plot

2017

[32]

1.3

Odd man out plot

1988

[33]

1.4

Fuzzy number plot

2016

[34]

1.4.1

Fuzzy number plot with subgroups

2016

[34]

2.1

Funnel plot

1984

[35]

2.1.1

Subgroup funnel plot

1984

[35]

2.1.2

Regression test funnel plot

1997

[36]

2.1.3

Funnel plot with weighted mean, median and mode

1998

[37]

2.1.4

Trim-and-fill funnel plot

2000

[38]

2.1.5

Significance contour-enhanced funnel plot

2008

[39]

2.1.6

Additional evidence contours funnel plot: Summary effect significance

2012

[40]

2.1.7

Additional evidence contours funnel plot: Heterogeneity

2012

[40]

2.1.8

Additional evidence contours funnel plot: Summary CI width

2012

[41]

2.1.9

Additional evidence contours funnel plot: Summary CI lower/upper bound

2012

[41]

2.1.10

Additional evidence contours funnel plot: Limits of equivalence

2012

[41]

2.1.11

Additional evidence contours funnel plot: Summary effect

2015

[42]

2.1.12

Funnel plot with imputed non-statistically-significant unreported effects

2015

[43]

2.1.13

Meta-analyser funnel plot

2016

[44]

2.1.14

Funnel plot with summary diamond

n.a.

n.a.

2.1.15

Funnel plot with bias-corrected effect sizes

n.a.

n.a.

2.2

Galbraith plot (a.k.a. radial plot)

1988

[45]

2.2.1

Subgroup Galbraith plot

1988

[45]

2.2.2

Galbraith plot with Egger regression

1997

[36]

2.2.3

3D Galbraith plot

n.a.

n.a.

2.3

Gravity plot

2005

[46]

2.4

Doi plot

2016

[47]

2.5

Begg and Mazmudar test display

n.a.

n.a.

2.5.1

Begg and Mazmudar test display with subgroups

n.a.

n.a.

3.1

Scatterplot of effect size with continuous moderator

1977

[6]

3.1.1

Binned scatterplot

n.a.

n.a.

3.2

Meta-regression plot

1977

[6]

3.2.1

Meta-regression weight bubble plot

n.a.

n.a.

3.2.2

Meta-regression plot with subgroups

n.a.

n.a.

3.2.3

Meta-regression plot with confidence or prediction bands

n.a.

n.a.

3.2.4

Meta-regression plot including effect-size confidence intervals

1984

[35]

3.2.5

Surface plot

1998

[48]

3.2.6

Trim-and-fill meta-regression plot

2012

[49]

3.2.7

Meta-analytic regression/classification tree

2014

[50]

3.2.8

Meta-analytic partial dependence plot

2017

[51]

3.3

Time-to-event data: Meta-STEPP

2016

[52]

4.1

Tau square sensitivity plot

1993

[53]

4.1.1

Tau square sensitivity plot with posterior distribution

n.a.

n.a.

4.2

Leave-one-out sensitivity lineplot

1998

[37]

4.2.1

Leave-one-out sensitivity forest plot

2000

[54]

4.3

Baujat plot

2002

[55]

4.4

Number of additional participants required to obtain significance plot

2003

[56]

4.5

Influence plot

2010

[57]

4.6

Study influence and outlier diagnostic lineplots

2010

[57]

4.7

Metaplot

2010

[58]

4.8

GOSH plot

2012

[59]

4.9

Outlier probability plot

2014

[60]

4.10

Forward plot

2016

[61]

4.11

Impact of unmeasured confounding sensitivity plot

2017

[62]

4.12

Tau square estimator sensitivity plot

n.a.

n.a.

4.13

Cross-validated residual plot

n.a.

n.a.

5.1

Effect-size time-series plot

1984

[35]

5.1.1

Quality control chart: X bar chart

2010

[63]

5.1.2

Quality control chart: CUMSUM chart

2010

[63]

5.2

Cumulative meta-analysis plot

1992

[64]

5.2.1

Subgroup cumulative meta-analysis

n.a.

n.a.

5.2.2

Cumulative meta-analysis with monitoring boundaries

1997

[65]

5.2.3

Cumulative summary effect ratio plot

1999

[66]

5.2.4

Cumulative heterogeneity plot

2004

[67]

5.2.5

Cumulative Bayes factor plot

2016

[68]

5.2.6

Predicted Bayes factor for an additional study plot

2017

[69]

5.3

Plot of cumulative results

2015

[70]

5.4

Comparison of meta-analyses: Initial vs. subsequent evidence scatterplot

n.a.

n.a.

6.1

Histogram

n.a.

n.a.

6.1.1

Histogram, weighted

n.a.

n.a.

6.1.2

Histogram, subgroups

n.a.

n.a.

6.2

Boxplot

n.a.

n.a.

6.2.1

Boxplot, weighted

n.a.

n.a.

6.3

Stem-and-leaf display

n.a.

n.a.

6.3.1

Stem-and-leaf display, subgroups

n.a.

n.a.

6.4

Dot plot

n.a.

n.a.

6.5

Density plot

n.a.

n.a.

6.5.1

Density plot, weighted

n.a.

n.a.

6.5.2

Density plot, subgroups

n.a.

n.a.

6.6

Collection of study-effect likelihoods

1993

[71]

6.7

Normal quantile-quantile (Q-Q) plot of effect sizes

1998

[72]

7.1

Bar chart

n.a.

n.a.

7.2

Pie chart

n.a.

n.a.

7.3

Line/dot chart with continuous covariate

n.a.

n.a.

7.4

Risk of bias plot

2008

[73]

7.4.1

Risk of bias summary plot

2008

[73]

7.5

Harvest plot

2008

[24]

7.6

PRISMA flow chart

2009

[74]

7.7

Comparison of meta-analyses: Veritas plot

2009

[75]

7.8

Error matrix display

2010

[76]

7.8.1

3D error matrix plot

2010

[76]

7.9

Effect-direction plot

2013

[77]

7.10

Evidence-map bubble plot

2016

[78]

7.11

Dendrogram of meta-cluster analysis

2017

[79]

8.1

Dichotomous outcomes: L’Abbé plot

1987

[80]

8.1.1

Dichotomous outcomes: Subgroup L’Abbé plot

1987

[80]

8.1.2

Dichotomous outcomes: L’Abbé plot with summary effect contours

1997

[81]

8.1.3

Dichotomous outcomes: L’Abbé weight bubble plot

n.a.

n.a.

8.1.4

Dichotomous outcomes: Baseline graph

n.a.

n.a.

8.2

Time-to-event data: Study survival curves

1989

[82]

8.3

Bivariate meta-analysis plot

1993

[71]

8.3.1

Bivariate meta-analysis plot with confidence ellipse

1993

[71]

8.3.2

Cross-hairs scatterplot

2016

[83]

8.3.3

Cross-hairs scatterplot with subgroups

2016

[83]

8.4

Dichotomous outcomes: ROC plot

1993

[84]

8.4.1

Dichotomous outcomes: ROC plot with summary ROC curve

1993

[84]

8.4.2

Dichotomous outcomes: Cross-hairs plot

2010

[85]

8.4.3

Dichotomous outcomes: ROC plot with subgroups

n.a.

n.a.

8.5

Dichotomous outcomes: Treatment benefit vs. control plot per 100 patients

2001

[86]

8.6

Dichotomous outcomes: Olliaro display

2010

[87]

8.6.1

Dichotomous outcomes: Subgroup Olliaro display

2010

[87]

8.7

Dichotomous outcomes: Threshold plot

2016

[88]

8.8

Meta-analytic Bland-Altman plot

n.a.

n.a.

9.1

Glass distributional overlap display

1976

[5]

9.2

Time-to-event data: Summary survival curve

1989

[82]

9.2.1

Time-to-event data: Subgroup survival curves

1989

[82]

9.3

Summary path diagram (SEM)

1991

[89]

9.4

Genetic data: Summary q value plot

2002

[90]

9.5

Genetic data: Summary Q-Q plot

2003

[91]

9.6

Hattie barometer display

2008

[92]

9.7

Comparison of meta-analyses: FEM vs. REM summary estimates

2011

[93]

9.8

Comparison of meta-analyses: Heterogeneity

2011

[93]

9.9

Comparison of meta-analyses: Tau square estimates

2011

[93]

9.10

Genetic data: Meta-analytic circos plot

2012

[94]

9.11

Fishbone diagram

2017

[95]

9.12

Evidence flowers

2018

[96]

9.13

Likelihood, prior, or posterior distribution plot

n.a.

n.a.

9.13.1

Bootstrap chart

n.a.

n.a.

9.13.2

Likelihood, confidence, or posterior region plot for two parameters

n.a.

n.a.

9.13.3

Predictive distribution or interval plot

n.a.

n.a.

9.14

Dichotomous outcomes: Fagan nomogram

n.a.

n.a.

9.14.1

Dichotomous outcomes: Probability-modifying plot

n.a.

n.a.

9.15

Genetic data: Meta-analytic Manhattan plot

n.a.

n.a.

9.15.1

Genetic data: Meta-analytic Miami plot

n.a.

n.a.

9.15.2

Genetic data: Meta-analytic regional association plot

n.a.

n.a.

9.16

Genetic data: Meta-analytic volcano plot

n.a.

n.a.

9.17

Genetic data: Position-summary line plot

n.a.

n.a.

9.18

Genetic data: Summary heat map

n.a.

n.a.

9.19

Meta-analytic neuroimaging plot

n.a.

n.a.

10.1

Schweder-Spjøtvoll plot

1982

[97]

10.2

Publication-probability plot (selection model)

1992

[98]

10.3

Sensitivity contour plot (selection model)

2000

[99]

10.4

Test of excess significance alpha sensitivity plot

2007

[100]

10.5

Caliper test display

2008

[101]

10.6

Plot of truncated normal distribution

2008

[102]

10.7

Genetic data: P-M plot

2012

[103]

10.8

p-curve

2014

[104]

10.8.1

p-curve sensitivity plot

2016

[105]

10.9

p-value plot for selection bias (selection model)

2015

[106]

10.10

Treatment effect plot (selection model)

2015

[106]

10.11

Albatross plot

2017

[107]

10.11.1

Albatross subgroup plot

2017

[107]

10.12

Weighted effect-size density (selection model)

n.a.

n.a.

10.13

Maximum-bias forest plot

n.a.

n.a.

11.1

Network graph

2002

[108]

11.1.1

Flow-of-evidence graph

2013

[109]

11.1.2

3D network graph

2017

[110]

11.1.3

Matrix display of treatment comparisons

n.a.

n.a.

11.2

Contrast forest plot

2008

[111]

11.2.1

Summary forest plot matrix

2014

[112]

11.2.2

Summary forest plot table

2014

[112]

11.2.3

Network indirect path decomposition forest plot

2014

[26]

11.2.4

Invariant interval forest plot

2017

[113]

11.3

Checkerboard unit plot

2008

[114]

11.4

Treatment dissimilarity table plot

2008

[115]

11.4.1

MDS inconsistency plot

2008

[115]

11.5

Ranking table plot

2009

[116]

11.5.1

Barplot of ranking probabilities

2011

[13]

11.5.2

Median rank chart

2014

[112]

11.5.3

Ranking and ranking probability for different outcome preferences

2016

[117]

11.5.4

Ranking scatterplot for single outcome

2013

[14]

11.6

Inconsistency plot

2009

[118]

11.7

Rankogram (cumulative or absolute)

2009

[119]

11.7.1

Probability to be within a range of the best treatment plot

2011

[11]

11.8

Network meta-regression plot

2009

[120]

11.8.1

Contribution network meta-regression plot

2018

[121]

11.8.2

Heat network meta-regression plot

2018

[121]

11.9

Diagnostic network plot (leverage, deviance, residuals)

2009

[120]

11.10

Comparison-adjusted funnel plot

2013

[14]

11.11

Contribution plot

2013

[25]

11.12

Netheat plot

2013

[25]

11.13

Shade plot for contrast weights of treatment comparison

2013

[122]

11.14

Shade plot for p values of treatment comparison

2013

[122]

11.15

Minimal parallelism vs. mean path length scatterplot

2013

[109]

11.16

Hsu mean-mean plot

2013

[122]

11.17

Clustered ranking plot for two outcomes

2013

[14]

11.18

Network risk of bias chart

2014

[123]

11.18.1

Network risk of bias direct evidence contribution chart

2014

[123]

11.19

Bland-Altman heterogeneity plot

2015

[106]

11.20

Rank heat plot

2016

[124]

11.21

Hasse diagram

2017

[125]

11.22

Partial orderings for two outcomes plot

2017

[125]

11.22.1

Biplot of partial orderings for more than two outcomes

2017

[126]

11.23

Invariant region plot

2017

[113]

11.24

Bivariate network meta-analysis crosshair plot

2018

[127]

11.25

Covariate distribution plot

2018

[121]

11.26

Covariate contribution scatterplot

2018

[121]

11.27

Covariate contribution heat plot

2018

[121]

11.28

Network meta-analysis survival plot

n.a.

n.a.

  1. Shown for each display are its ID, the year of its introduction (or earliest retrievable source) in the context of meta-analysis, and the corresponding source reference. If no year of introduction, along with the corresponding source reference, could be identified with reasonable degree of confidence, the respective cell entry is n.a. (not available). A full presentation of the total of 208 displays and display variants is provided in Additional File 2. For each graph, the first digit of its 2-digit (or 3-digit) ID number refers to the assigned category in the taxonomy (1: Forest plot-like, 2: Funnel plot-like, 3: Continuous effect moderators, 4: Robustness, outlier, and influence diagnostics, 5: Cumulative meta-analysis and time trends, 6: Effect-size distribution, 7: Study or subgroup characteristics, 8: More than one outcome per study (multivariate), 9: Combined effect(s) only, 10: Study selection and p-value based, 11: Network meta-analysis). The second and third digits are serial numbers, which (for the second digit) are assigned chronologically within each main category, and (for the third digit) within each stem display are assigned for variants of the respective display