The Gmisc R package's flowchart() function has been improved to support reproducible, code-generated research diagrams such as CONSORT charts, cohort derivation flows, data validation pipelines, and longitudinal follow-up diagrams. Unlike drawing tools, these flowcharts live inside the analysis pipeline — counts update automatically, exclusions stay in sync with the analysis script, and figures survive multiple reviewer rounds without manual editing. The post walks through several practical examples with full R code, covering grouped treatment arms, side exclusion branches, dotted return arrows for censored participants, and custom box shapes for data engineering workflows. The update targets Gmisc 3.4.0.
Table of contents
A figure that can change with the analysisCohort derivation from data people already haveThe audit trail is part of the storyFollow-up is rarely just down the pageWhy this belongs in Gmisc101 Impressions