forplot

forplot allows the generation of highly customizable forest plots. It relies on the R graphics package and generates an overall layout that is then populated with the desired elements (e.g. a text column or a specific plot).

Installation

forplot can be installed from github:

#install package using remotes
# remotes::install_github("dcr-unibe-ch/forplot")
install.packages("forplot", repos = c('https://dcr-unibe-ch.r-universe.dev', 'https://cloud.r-project.org'))

# load package
library(forplot)

Basic usage

forplot contains two main functions:

• genfobj generates a list of class fobj based on a data frame (dat) and a layout

• plotfobj produces the plot from the fobj

The fobj can be modified using a set of helper functions or by directly changing the list. The individual elements are from the R graphics package and all options available there can be used.

Publication quality forest plots can be created with only a small amount of code.

data(forplotdata)
fobj <- genfobj(dat = forplotdata, 
                layout = c("t","t","t","t","t","t","f","t"), 
                lwidths = c(1.5,1,2,1,2,3,3,1)) |> 
  stripes() |> 
  gridlines() |> 
  header(headernr = 1, 
         hlayout = c(1,2,2,3,3,4,4,4),
         labels = c("", "Arm A", "Group B", ""), y = .9) |> 
  header(headernr = 2, 
         hlayout = c(1,2,3,4,5,6,6,7),
         labels = c("", "N", "Mean (SD)", "N", "Mean (SD)", 
                    "Mean difference (95% CI)", "P value"), y = .4)
plotfobj(fobj)

The above example only scratches the surface of what forplot can do. Check the vignette for further examples.