Successful Publication of Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Studies Evaluating Diagnostic Test Accuracy

As a research synthesis methodology, systematic review and meta-analysis generates an evidence-based systematic summary of a specific topic by objectively evaluating all relevant primary studies available in the literature. Metaanalysis is a part of the methodology and uses statistical methods to integrate the results of primary research studies. Recently, systematic review and meta-analysis appears to be increasingly used in the field of diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) studies (1). The methods used for systematic review and meta-analysis of DTA studies somewhat differ from those used for therapeutic/interventional studies and are presumably less well known to clinical researchers as the contents are still evolving. Successful publication of a systematic review and meta-analysis of DTA studies would require a sound understanding of the process and methods involved. Through a 2-part conceptual review by Kim et al. (2) and Lee et al. (3) published in the November-December