Set up a manual-input analysis
Create an analysis group
To set up an analysis group, go to Data > Analyses from the left-hand menu.
Select the Add Analysis Group button.
Name the analysis group
Enter the name of the new analysis group in the 'Name' field. Then select the Back to Analyses link to save the changes and return to the Analyses section.
Note that you cannot set labels for the intervention groups and graph labels until you have added an analysis to the analysis group.
See how to add an analysis. Once the analyses have been added, you can edit the graph and group labels for all analyses under this analysis group by selecting Edit Analysis group (pencil icon).
Add group and graph labels in the relevant fields and select Set Labels buttons to save the label names.
Create an analysis
In the Analyses section, click on the down-facing arrow to open the relevant analysis group and select Add analysis. Alternatively, click on the + icon to the right-hand side of an analysis group to create a new analysis.
Choose Manual to enter data manually. Edit the name of the analysis in the 'name' field under the 'Options' tab.
Set the analysis options
On the 'Options' tab, choose the options for meta-analysis and display of results.
Under the ‘Options’ tab, you can also select the statistical method, effect measure, analysis model, and how you want to display the results.
If you are doing a subgroup analysis, the test for subgroup differences is checked by default.
You can also swap event and non-event and change the confidence intervals.
If the outcome in this Analysis was pre-specified in the protocol for a Risk of Bias 2 assessment, check the ‘Show the risk of bias table’ box to create a risk of bias table for this Analysis that includes all domain judgements and support for judgements for this outcome. Note that this option is only available if Risk of Bias 2 is enabled in your review.
Add studies and study data
Once you have selected the analysis options, go to the 'Data' tab and select the Add Data Row button to add a study from the list of included studies. In case of long list of studies, you can use the filter to find them more easily.
You can then enter the data into the table either by typing the data manually, or by copying and pasting data (in tabular form) from an external source. It is also possible to copy data from an analysis in RevMan and paste it into an external file.
See further instructions on copying and pasting data into and from analyses.
To delete a data row, click on the corresponding Action button and select Delete Data Row .
See Calculator to transform raw data extracted from study reports when it does not match the format required for meta-analysis.
Adjust how the forest plot is displayed
Once you have entered the data for the studies included in the analysis, go to the 'Graphs' tab to adjust the forest plot.
You can sort the studies by study ID, year of study, weight, effect size, or risk of bias item.
By default, the scale is set to 100 and you can change that to optimize the presentation of your results.
You can select to include the risk of bias summary in the forest plot by selecting 'Show Risk of Bias summary'.
All settings in the Graph tab will be reflected in the published review in the forest plots presented in the associated Analysis section.
Add a footnote to a study in forest plot
You can add a footnote to a particular study in an analysis and forest plot. Go to the Data tab of the selected analysis and click on the 'Action' button of the relevant study row. Select Edit footnote, then type in the designated field. This can be done for as many studies as necessary, and each footnote will be numbered.
The footnotes will then appear at the bottom of the Forest plot. After having added a footnote, you can check how it displays in the forest plot by going to the Graphs tab.
If you use long footnotes, check that the footnotes are fully visible in the forest plot graph. View the current version of the review to ensure long footnotes are not cut off. Please keep footnotes as concise as possible.