How to read and review papers on machine learning and artificial intelligence in radiology: a survival guide to key methodological concepts.

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in research papers about machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence in radiology. With so many papers around, it is of paramount importance to make a proper scientific quality assessment as to their validity, reliability, effectiveness, and clinical applicability. Due to methodological complexity, the papers on ML in radiology are often hard to evaluate, requiring a good understanding of key methodological issues. In this review, we aimed to guide the radiology community about key methodological aspects of ML to improve their academic reading and peer-review experience. Key aspects of ML pipeline were presented within four broad categories: study design, data handling, modelling, and reporting. Sixteen key methodological items and related common pitfalls were reviewed with a fresh perspective: database size, robustness of reference standard, information leakage, feature scaling, reliability of features, high dimensionality, perturbations in feature selection, class balance, bias-variance trade-off, hyperparameter tuning, performance metrics, generalisability, clinical utility, comparison with traditional tools, data sharing, and transparent reporting. Key Points • Machine learning is new and rather complex for the radiology community. • Validity, reliability, effectiveness, and clinical applicability of studies on machine learning can be evaluated with a proper understanding of key methodological concepts about study design, data handling, modelling, and reporting. • Understanding key methodological concepts will provide a better academic reading and peer-review experience for the radiology community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]