Table 1.
Comparison of Review Quality for Blinded Versus Unblinded Reviewers, Masked Versus Unmasked Reviewers, and Masked Unblinded Versus Uninformed Reviewers in the Opinion of Authors (Range of Scores 1–5)
| Item | Blinded, Mean (n=245) | Unblinded, Mean (n=245) | Difference | 95% CI | Masked, Mean (n=230) | Unmasked, Mean (n=246) | Difference | 95% CI | Masked Unblinded, Mean (n=114) | Uninformed, Mean (n=228) | Difference | 95% CI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Importance | 2.74 | 2.79 | −0.05 | (−0.26, 0.15) | 2.78 | 2.76 | 0.02 | (−0.21, 0.24) | 2.69 | 2.76 | −0.07 | (−0.35, 0.22) |
| Originality | 2.43 | 2.54 | −0.11 | (−0.32, 0.10) | 2.39 | 2.59 | −0.20 | (−0.42, 0.02) | 2.36 | 2.43 | −0.06 | (−0.34, 0.22) |
| Methodology | 3.05 | 3.08 | −0.02 | (−0.21, 0.16) | 2.96 | 3.15 | −0.19 | (−0.39, 0.003) | 2.93 | 2.99 | −0.06 | (−0.31, 0.19) |
| Presentation | 2.65 | 2.76 | −0.11 | (−0.32, 0.10) | 2.65 | 2.73 | −0.08 | (−0.30, 0.14) | 2.72 | 2.64 | 0.09 | (−0.18, 0.36) |
| Constructiveness of comments | 3.11 | 3.19 | −0.08 | (−0.30, 0.15) | 3.13 | 3.18 | −0.05 | (−0.27, 0.17) | 3.10 | 3.10 | 0.00 | (−0.27, 0.27) |
| Substantiation of comments | 2.91 | 2.99 | −0.08 | (−0.28, 0.12) | 2.92 | 2.95 | −0.03 | (−0.26, 0.19) | 2.92 | 2.86 | 0.06 | (−0.22, 0.35) |
| Interpretation of results | 2.98 | 2.89 | 0.09 | (−0.11, 0.29) | 2.91 | 2.93 | −0.02 | (−0.23, 0.19) | 2.83 | 2.80 | 0.02 | (−0.25, 0.29) |
| Mean total score (1–7) | 2.84 | 2.89 | −0.05 | (−0.19, 0.09) | 2.82 | 2.90 | −0.08 | (−0.23, 0.07) | 2.79 | 2.80 | −0.002 | (−0.19, 0.19) |
| Overall quality | 2.98 | 3.01 | −0.03 | (−0.24, 0.18) | 2.97 | 3.02 | −0.04 | (−0.26, 0.17) | 2.90 | 2.97 | −0.07 | (−0.34, 0.19) |