Frequency of limitations statements in original research articles of United States leading medical journals: A meta-research protocol

PLoS One. 2024 Nov 1;19(11):e0305970. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305970. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Background: Limitation declarations are commonly deemed essential to uphold intellectual humility for scientific research, but little has been reported about the limitation statements in published original research articles. This meta-research study aims to investigate the trends of limitation statements among three leading general medical journals in the US.

Methods: This cross-sectional study will compile a data set of full-length original research articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Annals of Internal Medicine between 2002 and 2022. Limitation statement will be recognized by two investigators, and a predefined set of sensitive keywords is used for sensitivity analysis. Frequency of limitation statements within the main text of research articles and trends for different study designs, including their association with the corresponding reporting guidelines, are the main measurements. We employ the Cochran-Armitage test for trend analysis.

Conclusion: The findings of this study will provide an overview of the limitation statements in leading general medical journals in the US. The results may contribute to future research to identify factors that are associated with the presence of limitation statements.

MeSH terms

  • Biomedical Research / standards
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Humans
  • Periodicals as Topic* / standards
  • United States

Grants and funding

National Science and Technology Council (Taiwan) (NSTC 112-2410-H-002-174-MY2 and NSTC 112-2410-H-002-172-MY2) on the article processing charges. The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.