I am starting a systematic review & meta-analysis, and my PICOS question involves a modification of treatment strategy that is relatively new, and has only been studied in 4-5 studies over the past two years.
Because it is relatively new, my systematic review/meta-analysis would include only 4-5 studies...
Is there some unspoken rule about how many studies should be included in a meta-analysis? Or an unspoken rule about "waiting until enough studies" are out before doing a systematic review/meta-analysis?
Selfishly, I don't want to wait for more studies to come out then lose the opportunity to "get there first" with the publication... and I need a publication for my resume... and I like this topic.
Because it is relatively new, my systematic review/meta-analysis would include only 4-5 studies...
Is there some unspoken rule about how many studies should be included in a meta-analysis? Or an unspoken rule about "waiting until enough studies" are out before doing a systematic review/meta-analysis?
Selfishly, I don't want to wait for more studies to come out then lose the opportunity to "get there first" with the publication... and I need a publication for my resume... and I like this topic.
