Table 1. Characteristics of articles assessed from three cardiovascular journals edited in the year 2012.
| Journal | Cardiovascular Research (Oxford Journals), N (%) | Circulation: Heart Failure, N (%) | Circulation Research, N (%) | Total, N (%) |
| Total number of original articles assessed * | 169 | 85 | 187 | 441 |
| Type of study | ||||
| Basic science study | 159 (94.1) | 19 (22.4) | 175 (93.6) | 353 (80.1) |
| Clinical study | 1 (0.6) | 64 (75.3) | 3 (1.6) | 68 (15.4) |
| Both basic and clinical study | 9 (5.3) | 2 (2.4) | 9 (4.8) | 20 (4.5) |
| Methods section includes an explicit statement on using SEM for description of the data | 109 (64.5) | 14 (16.5) | 105 (56.2) | 228 (51.7) |
| Methods section includes an explicit statement on using SD for description of the data | 34 (20.1) | 32 (37.7) | 33 (17.7) | 99 (22.5) |
| Unclear throughout the whole article what is used when data is described | 6 (3.6) | 2 (2.4) | 19 (10.2) | 27 (6.1) |
| Use of SEM found in the article | ||||
| Inappropriate use of SEM1 | 122 (72.2) [64.8–78.8] | 23 (27.1) [18.0–37.8] | 137 (73.3) [66.3–79.5] | 282 (63.9) [59.3–68.4] |
| SEM used for descriptive purposes only1 | 3 (1.8) [0.6–5.4] | 1 (1.2) [0.2–7.9] | 5 (2.7) [1.1–6.3] | 9 (2.0) [1.1–3.9] |
| SEM used instead of 95% CI only1 | 0 (0.0) [0.0–2.2] | 7 (8.2) [4.0–16.3] | 15 (8.0) [4.9–12.9] | 22 (5.0) [3.3–7.5] |
| Combined use for descriptive purposes and instead of 95% CI1 | 119 (70.4) [63.1–76.8] | 15 (17.7) [10.9–27.3] | 117 (62.6) [55.4–69.2] | 251 (56.9) [52.2–61.5] |
*9 studies not assessed (no quantitative results, simulation studies, case reports, narrative reviews).
1
(%) [95% CI (%)].