Table 3. Results of meta-analyses per journal over years.

Journal	Introduction	Methods	Results	Discussion	Total	Tables	Figures	References
BMJ	3.43 ± 0.56	9.50 ± 2.38	8.78 ± 2.67	8.80 ± 1.91	28.91 ± 3.75	3.36 ± 1.06	1.80 ± 0.94	31.23 ± 9.10
JAMA	3.12 ± 0.57	11.21 ± 1.96	8.94 ± 1.85	9.30 ± 1.47	32.44 ± 3.49	3.48 ± 0.75	1.83 ± 0.78	35.18 ± 7.33
Lancet	3.01 ± 0.63	11.06 ± 2.29	8.79 ± 2.22	9.20 ± 2.22	31.93 ± 5.20	2.98 ± 0.84	2.82 ± 0.92	32.27 ± 6.89
NEJM	2.94 ± 0.60	9.67 ± 1.82	9.08 ± 1.56	6.88 ± 0.88	28.57 ± 3.02	2.66 ± 0.65	2.29 ± 0.67	30.40 ± 4.87
PLOS	4.05 ± 0.93	10.71 ± 2.98	9.45 ± 2.79	9.81 ± 2.25	34.48 ± 5.62	3.38 ± 1.20	3.95 ± 1.87	46.84 ± 11.58
PLOS vs. others	1.05	0.70	0.86	0.91	3.52	0.10	1.63	14.45
95% CI	0.76–1.33	-0.30–1.69	-0.09–1.82	0.11–0.1.71	1.60–5.43	-0.29–0.49	1.14–2.13	9.85–19.05
p-value	< 0.001	0.200	0.080	0.030	< 0.001	0.60	< 0.001	< 0.001

Pooled means and respective standard errors for the number of paragraphs per section, the total number of paragraphs from DerSimonian and Laird [14] meta-analysis per journal over years. The number of additional paragraphs of PLOS Medicine compared with the other four journals as estimated by a linear mixed model is displayed together with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) and p-value. BMJ: The BMJ, JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, NEJM: The New England Journal of Medicine, PLOS: PLOS Medicine.