drmeta (Q7369225)

Fits constrained and unrestricted meta-analytic location-scale models in which residual between-study heterogeneity is modeled as an exponential function of a prespecified design-robustness score. The package supports maximum-likelihood (ML) and restricted maximum-likelihood (REML) estimation, location moderators, the conventional random-effects model as a nested special case, exact estimation at the nonnegative scale-gradient boundary, design-indexed heterogeneity summaries, scale-attenuation measures, prediction of fitted heterogeneity, leave-one-out influence diagnostics, and parametric-bootstrap inference for the scale gradient. A grouped scale diagnostic checks whether a monotone curve misses an interior peak or trough. Because the scale-gradient null lies on the boundary of the constrained parameter space, standard chi-square likelihood-ratio references do not apply (Self and Liang, 1987, <doi:10.1080/01621459.1987.10478472>). The general location-scale parent model is described in Viechtbauer and Lopez-Lopez (2022, <doi:10.1002/jrsm.1562>). A scale model reweights studies and does not adjust the mean for design-linked bias.