Making funnel plots – publication bias analysis

Quantifying publication bias is one of the most important segments of Meta-analysis in general. Publication bias is an occurrence that may happen in certain life science fields, mostly due to publishers and authors favoring “positive” results over “negative” ones. If not assessed, the results could be biased due to publication bias. One of the main goals of any Meta-analysis project is to assess this aspect.

Let’s explore how one can use Python and specific plots called funnel plots to evaluate publication bias.

We can also visualize the results using the funnel plot. Refer to the following code:

# Show funnel plot
figure.funnel(results).show()

This is how the plot appears:

Figure 14.2 – The funnel plot

The funnel plot is used to investigate potential publication bias. If the plot is symmetric and within the triangle, there is little evidence for...