Systematic Reviews · Retrospective protocol draft
The information in diagnostic tests
Across reproducibly accessible diagnostic accuracy reviews, how much uncertainty about a binary target condition is a test or threshold expected to resolve at a stated starting probability, and how does this information relate to conventional test-performance measures?
Not registered. This draft records completed work after analysis and manuscript preparation. Dates, contributor details, and author approval remain to be confirmed before OSF registration.
- Reviews analyzed
- 210
- Pooled estimates
- 273
- Study-result appearances
- 4,104
- Source inventories
- 7
Why this study
Diagnostic testing changes what is known about a target condition. Sensitivity and specificity describe test performance; likelihood ratios and post-test probabilities describe an observed result. Mutual information expresses the expected reduction in uncertainty before either result is known. Earlier studies established diagnostic applications of this measure. This study assembles a broad empirical reference scale from accessible diagnostic-review data so readers can interpret a diagnostic profile at a stated starting probability and compare its information with conventional accuracy measures. Information describes learning about a binary target. Clinical value also depends on consequences, available actions, and patient preferences.
Searches and source records
The inventories below preserve the recorded retrieval strategies and checksums. Their row counts describe source inventories, not included reviews. Source repository access is required to open the original exports.
Fixed historical and modern Cochrane sources · 65 records
Cochrane reference dataset and published review packages · Acquisition date needs confirmation
Retrieve CL145_open_set_20181101.zip from https://zenodo.org/records/1303259 (SHA-256 f921cf6f1a9236c86f89e7c646497639f45e8ff8fcf56008c1b27422829fec4f), and the already-held published packages for CD014911 and CD015089. Parse available study-level 2x2 tables with scripts/cochrane_dta_atlas.py at the pinned commit. This is fixed-corpus acquisition, not a new exhaustive Cochrane search.
63 historical reviews and two selected modern reviews. The count and checksum identify the normalized corpus manifest. The original acquisition date needs owner confirmation.
https://github.com/ShuhanCS/diagnostic-information/blob/0c8cff2d06233e0fb7dad4e3067e69c15ca6e5c7/analysis/cochrane_atlas/corpus_manifest.csvSHA-256: 1a17f47b78c0e2ba7c2f326111e18d2a387d04780b2a36e7b7fe54a874f51321OSF public deposits · 1,152 records
Frozen OSF metadata inventory and public-file inspection · 2026-08-17
Run each recorded query separately: "diagnostic test accuracy" "diagnostic accuracy" "sensitivity and specificity" sensitivity specificity meta-analysis "true positive" "false positive" "2x2" diagnostic
Count and checksum identify the saved normalized discovery manifest, not a new search or included-review count. Only publicly retrievable structured diagnostic review data were eligible. OSF entries here are other researchers' evidence, not registrations of this study.
https://github.com/ShuhanCS/diagnostic-information/blob/0c8cff2d06233e0fb7dad4e3067e69c15ca6e5c7/analysis/open_repository_atlas/osf/source_manifest.csvSHA-256: 1f46eedb7af4d6d0724d55156ba98ebb92572f3b0c4378e521400d2cd634ec44Zenodo public deposits · 799 records
Zenodo public metadata API · 2026-08-17
Run each recorded query separately: "diagnostic test accuracy" "diagnostic accuracy" AND "systematic review" "diagnostic accuracy" AND "meta-analysis" "test accuracy" AND "meta-analysis" "sensitivity and specificity" AND "meta-analysis" "true positive" AND "false positive" AND "meta-analysis" "2x2" AND diagnostic AND "meta-analysis"
Count and checksum identify the saved normalized discovery manifest, not a new search or included-review count. Only publicly retrievable structured diagnostic review data were eligible. OSF entries here are other researchers' evidence, not registrations of this study.
https://github.com/ShuhanCS/diagnostic-information/blob/0c8cff2d06233e0fb7dad4e3067e69c15ca6e5c7/analysis/open_repository_atlas/zenodo/source_manifest.csvSHA-256: 0fa8e301ef599db6657089e96ef341e816f790e444a2c5fe28da202d4e61a44cFigshare public deposits · 262 records
Figshare public metadata API · 2026-08-17
Run each recorded query separately: "diagnostic test accuracy" "diagnostic accuracy" AND "systematic review" "diagnostic accuracy" AND "meta-analysis" "test accuracy" AND "meta-analysis" "sensitivity and specificity" AND "meta-analysis" "true positive" AND "false positive" AND "meta-analysis" "2x2" AND diagnostic AND "meta-analysis"
Count and checksum identify the saved normalized discovery manifest, not a new search or included-review count. Only publicly retrievable structured diagnostic review data were eligible. OSF entries here are other researchers' evidence, not registrations of this study.
https://github.com/ShuhanCS/diagnostic-information/blob/0c8cff2d06233e0fb7dad4e3067e69c15ca6e5c7/analysis/open_repository_atlas/figshare/source_manifest.csvSHA-256: b38dfd72097e51a97cc52f0d679097e3897e29249ad7a7cf11c50a14bb0efb4fDryad public deposits · 11 records
Dryad public metadata API · 2026-08-17
Run each recorded query separately: "diagnostic test accuracy" "diagnostic accuracy" AND "systematic review" "diagnostic accuracy" AND "meta-analysis" "test accuracy" AND "meta-analysis" "sensitivity and specificity" AND "meta-analysis" "true positive" AND "false positive" AND "meta-analysis" "2x2" AND diagnostic AND "meta-analysis"
Count and checksum identify the saved normalized discovery manifest, not a new search or included-review count. Only publicly retrievable structured diagnostic review data were eligible. OSF entries here are other researchers' evidence, not registrations of this study.
https://github.com/ShuhanCS/diagnostic-information/blob/0c8cff2d06233e0fb7dad4e3067e69c15ca6e5c7/analysis/open_repository_atlas/dryad/source_manifest.csvSHA-256: e2e5e7913d05a578b36fbaaca5f107bf5d2bb1d0b8905ad2953c43e4e1a5d52fSRDR+ public deposits · 172 records
DataCite SRDR metadata and fixed public SRDR inventory · 2026-08-17
publisher:"Systematic Review Data Repository"; retain the fixed inventory of 172 projects and apply the source-specific discovery and diagnostic-candidate rules in scripts/open_repository_dta.py.
Count and checksum identify the saved normalized discovery manifest, not a new search or included-review count. Only publicly retrievable structured diagnostic review data were eligible. OSF entries here are other researchers' evidence, not registrations of this study.
https://github.com/ShuhanCS/diagnostic-information/blob/0c8cff2d06233e0fb7dad4e3067e69c15ca6e5c7/analysis/open_repository_atlas/srdr/source_manifest.csvSHA-256: 0576f936db6c27b7cde5147f346289b08c399d7ef90e5f96902a066c669ff88aPubMed Central open-access review tables · 1,518 records
NCBI E-Utilities and PMC JATS XML · 2026-08-17
(("diagnostic test accuracy"[Title/Abstract]) OR ("diagnostic accuracy"[Title/Abstract])) AND ("2x2"[All Fields] OR "2 x 2"[All Fields] OR ("true positive"[All Fields] AND "false positive"[All Fields] AND "false negative"[All Fields] AND "true negative"[All Fields])) AND (systematic review[Title/Abstract] OR meta-analysis[Title/Abstract]) AND open access[filter] AND 2020:2026[Publication Date] NOT protocol[Title]The fixed query returned 1,518 articles on 2026-08-17; all were retrieved. Only explicit identifiers and integer TP, FP, FN, TN columns were normalized. Count and checksum identify articles.csv.
https://github.com/ShuhanCS/diagnostic-information/blob/0c8cff2d06233e0fb7dad4e3067e69c15ca6e5c7/analysis/pmc_open_atlas/articles.csvSHA-256: c0dbf4a9a700ef837e76b1f8551a1cb09c237d93a1ce1c8b9465ff731b81f8f3Prepared for the research team
Protocol record 1.0.2 is based on manuscript 1.10.1. The author list and contribution details are being prepared. Approval of the final protocol is pending.
Use your Publishing account to open the draft from your author dashboard. Confirm the authors, dates, actual milestones, Cochrane acquisition date, and declarations before registration.