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Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials

Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials is a research topic within Statistics and Probability. Science Explorer counts 27k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of statistical methods and design considerations in the context of clinical trials and drug development. It includes topics such as controlling the false discovery rate, adaptive trial designs, noninferiority trials, biomarkers, phase I trials, multiple testing, Bayesian methods, sample size determination, composite endpoints, and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling.

  • False Discovery Rate
  • Adaptive Designs
  • Noninferiority Trials
  • Biomarkers
  • Phase I Trials
  • Multiple Testing
  • Bayesian Methods
  • Sample Size
  • Composite Endpoints
  • Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Modeling
Research works
27k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+12%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
51% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials

Which countries lead Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (2k and 395 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 395 works
  3. 3 China 360 works
  4. 4 Germany 255 works
  5. 5 Canada 202 works
  6. 6 India 193 works
  7. 7 France 163 works
  8. 8 Japan 147 works
  9. 9 Netherlands 139 works
  10. 10 Italy 134 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 50.6%United Kingdom: 9.8%China: 8.9%Germany: 6.3%6 others listed: 24.3%51%largest
United States2,039 · 50.6%United Kingdom395 · 9.8%China360 · 8.9%Germany255 · 6.3%6 others listed979 · 24.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials research, followed by United States Food and Drug Administration and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 73 works
  2. 2 United States Food and Drug AdministrationUnited States 69 works
  3. 3 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 59 works
  4. 4 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 38 works
  5. 5 National Institutes of HealthUnited States 36 works
  6. 6 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterUnited States 35 works
  7. 7 AstraZeneca (United Kingdom)United Kingdom 35 works
  8. 8 Duke UniversityUnited States 34 works
  9. 9 Pfizer (United States)United States 33 works
  10. 10 InsermFrance 33 works

Who are the leading researchers in Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials include David Moher, Douglas G. Altman and George Davey Smith.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 862k citations
  3. 3 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  4. 4 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  5. 5 Robert John Tibshirani United States 396k citations
  6. 6 Julian P. T. Higgins United Kingdom 390k citations
  7. 7 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  8. 8 John J.V. McMurray United Kingdom 349k citations
  9. 9 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  10. 10 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials?

The most cited paper in Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials is "Controlling the False Discovery Rate: A Practical and Powerful Approach to Multiple Testing" (Yoav Benjamini, Yosef Hochberg, 1995), with 112,351 citations. Next come "Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test" (57,774) and "Meta-analysis in clinical trials" (40,073).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Controlling the False Discovery Rate: A Practical and Powerful Approach to Multiple Testing Yoav Benjamini, Yosef Hochberg · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B (Statistical Methodology) 1995 112,351
2 Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test Matthias Egger, George Davey Smith, Martin Schneider et al. · BMJ Open access 13 Sep 1997 57,774
3 Meta-analysis in clinical trials Rebecca DerSimonian, Nan M. Laird · Controlled Clinical Trials Sep 1986 40,073
4 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement David Moher, Alessandro Liberati, Jennifer Tetzlaff et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine Review 18 Aug 2009 38,212
5 Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta‐analysis Julian P. T. Higgins, Simon G. Thompson · Statistics in Medicine 21 May 2002 37,545
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials research done?

The largest centres of Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Beijing (China) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Silver Spring.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 140 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 119 works
  3. 3 BeijingChina 82 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 67 works
  5. 5 CambridgeUnited States 66 works
  6. 6 BostonUnited States 65 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 65 works
  8. 8 Silver SpringUnited States 63 works
  9. 9 Chapel HillUnited States 57 works
  10. 10 HoustonUnited States 51 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Silver SpringUS · 63.2 works60×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials than the world average.

See Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials on the map

Where is the best place to study Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials?

Among universities, judged by research, University College London, Harvard University and University of Cambridge score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 15.67%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Leiden UniversityUniversity College L…Harvard UniversityUniversity of Cambri…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University College LondonUnited Kingdom 82.319.6%5.5×38 +46.5%
2Harvard UniversityUnited States 81.218.5%5.3×73 +2.5%
3University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 70.615.6%5.5×28 +45.8%
4Leiden UniversityNetherlands 65.620.9%6.2×15 -0.9%
5Yale UniversityUnited States 63.315.0%5.7×27 +55.1%
6Stanford UniversityUnited States 63.211.9%4.8×30 +27.3%
7University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 62.917.0%5.8×18 +29.4%
8London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineUnited Kingdom 62.916.7%13.4×9 -11.5%
9University of TorontoCanada 60.512.2%3.4×29 +11.4%
10McGill UniversityCanada 59.79.3%5.5×24 +32.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials, country by country

Is Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 12% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.020% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials10.5% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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