Meta-analysis references

Books on meta-analysis

Book Booth, A., Sutton, A., Clowes, M., & Martyn-St James, M. (2025). Systematic approaches to a successful literature review, 4th edition. Sage.

Book Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2021). Introduction to meta-analysis, 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Book Card, N. A. (2012). Applied meta-analysis for social science research. Guilford.

Book Cooper, H. (2016). Research synthesis and meta-analysis: A step-by-step approach, 5th edition. Sage.

Book Cooper, H., Hedges, L. V., & Valentine, J. C. (Eds.) (2019). The handbook of research synthesis and meta-analysis, 3rd edition. Russell Sage Foundation.

Book Cumming, G. (2012). Understanding the new statistics: Effect sizes, confidence intervals, and meta-analysis. Routledge.

Book Cumming, G., & Calin-Jageman, R. (2024). Introduction to the new statistics: Estimation, open science, and beyond, 2nd edition. Routledge.

Book Ellis, P. D. (2010). The essential guide to effect sizes: Statistical power, meta-analysis, and the interpretation of research results. Cambridge University Press.

Book Hedges, L. V., & Olkin, I. (1985). Statistical methods for meta-analysis. Academic Press.

Book Higgins, J. P. T., Thomas, J., Chandler, J., Cumpston, M., Li, T., Page, M. J., & Welch, V. A. (Eds.) (2019). Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions, 2nd edition. Wiley-Blackwell. Handbook updated online available at https://www.cochrane.org/authors/handbooks-and-manuals/handbook/current

Book Kline, R. B. (2013). Beyond significance testing: Statistics reform in the behavioral sciences, 2nd edition. American Psychological Association.

Book Lipsey, M., & Wilson, D. (2001). Practical meta-analysis. Sage.

Book Petticrew, M., & Roberts, H. (2006). Systematic reviews in the social sciences. Blackwell Publishing.

Book Stangl, D. K., & Berry, D. A. (2000). Meta-analysis in medicine and health policy. Marcel Dekker, Inc.

Book Sutton, A. J., Abrams, K. R., Jones, D. R., Sheldon, T. A., & Song, F. (2000). Methods for meta-analysis in medical research. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Book Whitehead, A. (2002). Meta-analysis of controlled clinical trial. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Introductory articles on meta-analysis

Article Allen, I. E., & Olkin, I. (1999). Estimating time to conduct a meta-analysis from number of citations retrieved. Journal of the American Medical Association, 282 (7), 634-635. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.282.7.634

Article Buecker, S., Stricker, J., & Schneider, M. (2021). Central questions about meta-analyses in psychological research: An annotated reading list. Current Psychology, 42, 6618-6628. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01957-4

Article Bushman, B. J., & Wells, G. L. (2001). Narrative impressions of literature: The availability bias and the corrective properties of meta-analytic approaches. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27 (9), 1123-1130. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167201279005

Article Crocetti, E. (2016). Systematic reviews with meta-analysis: Why, when, and how? Emerging Adulthood, 4 (1), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696815617076

Article Cumming, G. (2014). The new statistics: Why and how. Psychological Science, 25, 7-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613504966

Article Gliner, J. A., Morgan, G. A., Harmon, R. J. (2003). Meta-analysis: Formulation and interpretation. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 1376-1379. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000085750.71002.01

Article Gurevitch, J., Koricheva, J., Nakagawa, S., & Stewart, G. (2018). Meta-analysis and the science of research synthesis. Nature, 555, 175-182. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25753

Article Hansen, C., Steinmetz, H., & Block, J. (2022). How to conduct a meta-analysis in eight steps: A practical guide. Management Review Quarterly, 72, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-021-00247-4

History of meta-analysis - The dispute between Glass and Eysenck

Article Eysenck, H. J. (1952). The effects of psychotherapy: An evaluation. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 16, 319-324. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0063633

Article Eysenck, H. J. (1965). The effects of psychotherapy. International Journal of Psychiatry, 1, 99-178.

Article Eysenck, H. J. (1978). An exercise in mega-silliness. American Psychologist, 33, 517. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066X.33.5.517.a

Article Glass, G. V (1976). Primary, secondary, and meta-analysis of research. Educational Researcher, 5, 3-8. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X005010003

Article Glass, G. V (1978). Integrating findings: The meta-analysis of research. Review of Research in Education, 5, 351-379. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732x005001351

Other Glass, G. V (2000). Meta-analysis at 25. Retrieved from https://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/meta-analysis

Article Smith, M. L., & Glass, G. V. (1977). Meta-analysis of psychotherapy outcome studies. American Psychologist, 32, 752-760. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.32.9.752

History of meta-analysis - Other books

Book Hock, R. R. (1999). Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of psychological research. Pearson Education.

Book Hunt, M. (1997). How science takes stock: The story of meta-analysis. Russell Sage Foundation.

Effect size calculation and conversion

Article Aloe, A. M., & Becker, B. J. (2012). An effect size for regression predictors in meta-analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 37, 278-297. https://doi.org/10.3102/1076998610396901

Article Becker, B. J., & Wu, M. (2007). The synthesis of regression slopes in meta-analysis. Statistical Science, 22, 414-429. https://doi.org/10.1214/07-STS243

Book Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2021). Introduction to meta-analysis, 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Article Chinn, S. (2000). A simple method for converting an odds ratio to effect size for use in meta-analysis. Statistics in Medicine, 19 (22), 3127-3131. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0258(20001130)19:22<3127::AID-SIM784>3.0.CO;2-M

Book Kendall, M. G., & Gibbons, J. D. (1990). Rank correlation methods, 5th edition. Oxford University Press.

Article Parmar, M. K., Torri, V., & Stewart, L. (1998). Extracting summary statistics to perform meta-analyses of the published literature for survival endpoints. Statistics in Medicine, 17, 2815-2834. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0258(19981230)17:24<2815::AID-SIM110>3.0.CO;2-8

Article Peterson, R. A., & Brown, S. P. (2005). On the use of beta coefficients in meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 175-181. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.1.175

Article Rupinski, M. T., & Dunlap, W. P. (1996). Approximating Pearson product-moment correlations from Kendall's tau and Spearman's rho. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 56, 419-429. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164496056003004

Article Tierney, J. F., Stewart, L. A., Ghersi, D., Burdett, S., & Sydes, M. R. (2007). Practical methods for incorporating summary time-to-event data into meta-analysis. Trials, 8, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1186/1745-6215-8-16

Article Williamson, P. R., Smith, C. T., Hutton, J. L., & Marson, A. G. (2002). Aggregate data meta-analysis with time-to-event outcomes. Statistics in Medicine, 21, 3337-3351. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.1303

Fixed vs. random effects models

Article Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2010). A basic introduction to fixed-effect and random-effects models for meta-analysis. Research Synthesis Methods, 1 (2), 97-111. https://doi.org/10.1002/jrsm.12

Article DerSimonian, R., & Laird, N. (1986). Meta-analysis in clinical trials. Controlled Clinical Trials, 7 (3), 177-188. https://doi.org/10.1016/0197-2456(86)90046-2

Article Hedges, L. V. (1983). A random effects model for effect sizes. Psychological Bulletin, 93 (2), 388-395. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.93.2.388

Article Hedges, L. V., & Vevea, J. L. (1998). Fixed- and random-effects models in meta-analysis. Psychological Methods, 3, 486-504. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.3.4.486

Heterogeneity in meta-analysis

Article Cochran, W. G. (1954). The combination of estimates from different experiments. Biometrics, 10 (1), 101-129. https://doi.org/10.2307/3001666

Article Higgins, J., & Thompson, S. G. (2002). Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta-analysis. Statistics in Medicine, 21, 1539-1558. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.1186

Article Higgins, J., Thompson, S. G., Deeks, J. J., & Altman, D. G. (2003). Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses. British Medical Journal, 327, 557-560. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.327.7414.557

Article Higgins, J. P. T., Thompson, S. G., & Spiegelhalter, D. J. (2009). A re-evaluation of random-effects meta-analysis. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, 172 (1), 137-159. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2008.00552.x

Article Huedo-Medina, T. B., Sánchez-Meca, J., Marin-Martinez, F., & Botella, J. (2006). Assessing heterogeneity in meta-analysis: Q Statistic or I² index? Psychological Methods, 11 (2), 193-206. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.11.2.193

Article Sidik, K., & Jonkman, J. N. (2005). Simple heterogeneity variance estimation for meta-analysis. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C, 54 (2), 367-384. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9876.2005.00489.x

Article Viechtbauer, W. (2005). Bias and efficiency of meta-analytic variance estimators in the random-effects model. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 30 (3), 261-293. https://doi.org/10.3102/10769986030003261

Article Viechtbauer, W. (2007). Accounting for heterogeneity via random-effects models and moderator analyses in meta-analysis. Journal of Psychology, 215 (2), 104-121. https://doi.org/10.1027/0044-3409.215.2.104

Moderators and meta-regression

Article Knapp, G., & Hartung, J. (2003). Improved tests for a random effects meta-regression with a single covariate. Statistics in Medicine, 22 (17), 2693-2710. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.1482

Article Stanley, T. D., & Doucouliagos, H. (2014). Meta-regression approximations to reduce publication selection bias. Research Synthesis Methods, 5 (1), 60-78. https://doi.org/10.1002/jrsm.1095

Article Stanley, T. D., & Doucouliagos, H. (2017). Neither fixed nor random: Weighted least squares meta-regression. Research Synthesis Methods, 8 (1), 19-42. https://doi.org/10.1002/jrsm.1211

Dependent effect sizes and robust variance estimation

Article Pustejovsky, J. E., & Tipton, E. (2018). Small-sample methods for cluster-robust variance estimation and hypothesis testing in fixed effects models. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, 36 (4), 672-683. https://doi.org/10.1080/07350015.2016.1247004

Article Tipton, E. (2015). Small sample adjustments for robust variance estimation with meta-regression. Psychological Methods, 20 (3), 375-393. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000011

Article Van den Noortgate, W., López-López, J. A., Marín-Martínez, F., & Sánchez-Meca, J. (2013). Three-level meta-analysis of dependent effect sizes. Behavior Research Methods, 45 (2), 576-594. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-012-0261-6

Study quality and risk-of-bias assessment

Article Sterne, J. A. C., Savović, J., Page, M. J., Elbers, R. G., Blencowe, N. S., Boutron, I., ... Higgins, J. P. T. (2019). RoB 2: A revised tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. BMJ, 366, l4898. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4898

Other Wells, G. A., Shea, C., O'Connell, D., Robertson, J., Peterson, J., Welch, V., Losos, M., & Tugwell, P. (2022). The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for assessing the quality of nonrandomised studies in meta-analyses. Retrieved from https://www.ohri.ca/programs/clinical_epidemiology/oxford.asp

Publication bias in meta-analysis

Article Begg, C. B., & Mazumdar, M. (1994). Operating characteristics of a rank correlation test for publication bias. Biometrics, 50, 1088-1101. https://doi.org/10.2307/2533446

Article Berlin, J. A. (1997). Does blinding of readers affect the results of meta-analyses? The Lancet, 350, 185-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)62352-5

Article Cooper, H., DeNeve, K., & Charlton, K. (1997). Finding the missing science: The fate of studies submitted for review by a human subjects committee. Psychological Methods, 2, 447-452. https://doi.org/10.1037//1082-989X.2.4.447

Article Dickersin, K., Chan, S., Chalmers, T. C., Sacks, H. S., & Smith Jr., H. (1987). Publication bias and clinical trials. Controlled Clinical Trials, 8, 343-353. https://doi.org/10.1016/0197-2456(87)90155-3

Article Duval, S., & Tweedie, R. (2000). A nonparametric 'trim and fill' method of accounting for publication bias in meta-analysis. Journal of American Statistical Association, 95, 89-98. https://doi.org/10.2307/2669529

Article Duval, S., & Tweedie, R. (2000). Trim and fill: A simple funnel-plot-based method of testing and adjusting for publication bias in meta-analysis. Biometrics, 56 (2), 455-463. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0006-341X.2000.00455.x

Article Egger, M., Davey Smith, G., Schneider, M., & Minder, C. (1997). Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test. British Medical Journal, 315, 629-634. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.315.7109.629

Article Gleser, L. J., & Olkin, I. (1996). Models for estimating the number of unpublished studies. Statistics in Medicine, 15, 2493-2507. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0258(19961215)15:23<2493::AID-SIM381>3.0.CO;2-C

Article Greenwald, A. G. (1975). Consequences of prejudice against the null hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 82, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076157

Article Krzyzanowska, M. K., Pintilie, M., & Tannock, I. F. (2003). Factors associated with failure to publish large randomized trials presented at an oncology meeting. Journal of the American Medical Association, 290, 495-501. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.290.4.495

Book Light, R. J., & Pillemer, D. B. (1984). Summing up: The science of reviewing research. Harvard University Press.

Article Mahoney, M. J. (1977). Publication prejudices: An experimental study of confirmatory bias in the peer review system. Cognitive Therapy & Research, 1, 161-175. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173636

Article Orwin, R. G. (1983). A fail-safe N for effect size in meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Statistics, 8, 157-159. https://doi.org/10.2307/1164923

Article Rosenberg, M. S. (2005). The file-drawer problem revisited: A general weighted method for calculating fail-safe numbers in meta-analysis. Evolution, 59 (2), 464-468. https://doi.org/10.1554/04-602

Article Rosenthal, R. (1979). The "file drawer problem" and tolerance for null results. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 638-641. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.86.3.638

Book Rothstein, H. R., Sutton, A. J., & Borenstein, M. (Eds.) (2005). Publication bias in meta-analysis. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Article Smith, M. L. (1980). Publication bias and meta-analysis. Evaluation in Education, 4, 22-24.

Article Sterne, J. A., & Egger, M. (2001). Funnel plots for detecting bias in meta-analysis: Guidelines on choice of axis. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 54, 1046-1055. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0895-4356(01)00377-8

Other Tetzlaff, J., Moher, D., Pham, B., & Altman, D. (2006). Survey of views on including grey literature in systematic reviews. 14th Cochrane Colloquium, Dublin, Ireland.

Article Vevea, J. L., & Hedges, L. V. (1995). A general linear model for estimating effect size in the presence of publication bias. Psychometrika, 60 (3), 419-435. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294384

Power of statistical tests

Book Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Academic Press.

Article Hedges, L. V., & Pigott, T. D. (2001). The power of statistical tests in meta-analysis. Psychological Methods, 6, 203-217. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.6.3.203

Article Hedges, L. V., & Pigott, T. D. (2004). The power of statistical tests for moderators in meta-analysis. Psychological Methods, 9, 426-445. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.9.4.426

The meta-analytic approach of Hunter and Schmidt

Book Hunter, J. E., & Schmidt, F. L. (2014). Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings, 3rd edition. Sage Publications.

R packages for meta-analysis

Book Harrer, M., Cuijpers, P., Furukawa, T. A., & Ebert, D. D. (2021). Doing meta-analysis with R: A hands-on guide. Chapman & Hall/CRC.

Article Viechtbauer, W. (2010). Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package. Journal of Statistical Software, 36 (3), 1-48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v036.i03

Publication guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Book American Psychological Association (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. American Psychological Association.

Article Liberati, A., Altman, D. G., Tetzlaff, J., Mulrow, C., Gøtzsche, P. C., et al. (2009). The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: Explanation and elaboration. PLoS Med, 6 (7), e1000100. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000100

Article Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., The PRISMA Group (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement. PLoS Med, 6 (6), e1000097. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097

Article Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., & Moher, D. (2021). Updating guidance for reporting systematic reviews: Development of the PRISMA 2020 statement. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 134, 103-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.02.003

Article Page, M. J., Moher, D., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., ... McKenzie, J. E. (2021). PRISMA 2020 explanation and elaboration: Updated guidance and exemplars for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372, n160. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n160

Article Stroup, D. F., Berlin, J. A., Morton, S. C., Olkin, I., Williamson, G. D., Rennie, D., ... Thacker, S. B. (2000). Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology: A proposal for reporting. Journal of the American Medical Association, 283 (15), 2008-2012. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.283.15.2008