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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
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BMC Medical Research Methodology

ISSN: 1471-2288

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