Trends in the Usage of Statistical Software and Their Associated Study Designs in Health Sciences Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background The development of statistical software in research has transformed the way scientists and researchers conduct their statistical analysis. Despite these advancements, it was not clear which statistical software is mainly used for which research design thereby creating confusion and uncertainty in choosing the right statistical tools. Therefore, this study aimed to review the trend of statistical software usage and their associated study designs in articles published in health sciences research. Methods This bibliometric analysis study reviewed 10,596 articles published in PubMed in three 10-year intervals (1997, 2007, and 2017). The data were collected through Google sheet and were analyzed using SPSS software. This study described the trend and usage of currently available statistical tools and the different study designs that are associated with them. Results Of the statistical software mentioned in the retrieved articles, SPSS was the most common statistical tool used (52.1%) in the three-time periods followed by SAS (12.9%) and Stata (12.6%). WinBugs was the least used statistical software with only 40(0.6%) of the total articles. SPSS was mostly associated with observational (61.1%) and experimental (65.3%) study designs. On the other hand, Review Manager (43.7%) and Stata (38.3%) were the most statistical software associated with systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Conclusion In this study, SPSS was found to be the most widely used statistical software in the selected study periods. Observational studies were the most common health science research design. SPSS was associated with observational and experimental studies while Review Manager and Stata were mostly used for systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

Automated summary

This study reviewed the trend of statistical software usage in health sciences research articles over three 10-year intervals and found that SPSS was the most commonly used tool, particularly in observational and experimental studies. Review Manager and Stata were mainly associated with systematic reviews and meta-analyses.