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In the last decade the number of animals used (i.e., species/strain, sex, and the study and the reliability and validity of
bioscience journals has increased enor- age/weight). Most of the papers surveyed the findings. There should also be enough
mously, with many filling specialised niches did not report using randomisation (87%) information to allow the experiment to be
reflecting new disciplines and technologies. or blinding (86%) to reduce bias in animal repeated [23]. The problem therefore is
The emergence of open-access journals has selection and outcome assessment. Only how to ensure that all relevant information
revolutionised the publication process, 70% of the publications that used statisti- is included in research publications.
maximising the availability of research cal methods fully described them and
data. Nevertheless, a wealth of evidence presented the results with a measure of Using Reporting Guidelines
shows that across many areas, the reporting precision or variability [5]. These findings Measurably Improves the
of biomedical research is often inadequate, are a cause for concern and are consistent Quality of Reporting
leading to the view that even if the science is with reviews of many research areas,
sound, in many cases the publications including clinical studies, published in Evidence provided by reviews of pub-
themselves are not ‘‘fit for purpose,’’ recent years [2–22]. lished research suggests that many re-
meaning that incomplete reporting of searchers and peer reviewers would benefit
relevant information effectively renders Good Reporting Is Essential for from guidance about what information
many publications of limited value as Peer Review and to Inform should be provided in a research article.
instruments to inform policy or clinical The CONSORT Statement for rando-
Future Research
and scientific practice [1–21]. A recent mised controlled clinical trials was one of
review of clinical research showed that Scrutiny by scientific peers has long the first guidelines developed in response
there is considerable cumulative waste of been the mainstay of ‘‘quality control’’ for to this need [24,25]. Since publication, an
financial resources at all stages of the the publication process. The way that increasing number of leading journals
research process, including as a result of experiments are reported, in terms of the have supported CONSORT as part of
publications that are unusable due to poor level of detail of methods and the presen- their instructions to authors [26,27]. As a
reporting [22]. It is unlikely that this issue is tation of key results, is crucial to the peer result, convincing evidence is emerging
confined to clinical research [2–14,16–20]. review process and, indeed, the subse- that CONSORT improves the quality and
Failure to describe research methods quent utility and validity of the knowledge transparency of reports of clinical trials
and to report results appropriately there- base that is used to inform future research. [28,29].
fore has potential scientific, ethical, and The onus is therefore on the research Following CONSORT, many other
economic implications for the entire re- community to ensure that their research guidelines have been developed—there
search process and the reputation of those articles include all relevant information to are currently more than 90 available for
involved in it. This is particularly true for allow in-depth critique, and to avoiding reporting different types of health re-
animal research, one of the most contro- duplicating studies and performing redun- search, most of which have been published
versial areas of science. The largest and dant experiments. Ideally scientific publi- in the last ten years (see http://www.
most comprehensive review of published cations should present sufficient informa- equator-network.org and references
animal research undertaken to date, to our tion to allow a knowledgeable reader to [30,31]). Guidelines have also been devel-
knowledge, has highlighted serious omis- understand what was done, why, and how, oped to improve the reporting of other
sions in the way research using animals is and to assess the biological relevance of specific bioscience research areas includ-
reported [5]. The survey, commissioned
by the National Centre for the Replace-
Citation: Kilkenny C, Browne WJ, Cuthill IC, Emerson M, Altman DG (2010) Improving Bioscience Research
ment, Refinement and Reduction of Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research. PLoS Biol 8(6): e1000412. doi:10.1371/
Animals in Research (NC3Rs), a UK journal.pbio.1000412
Government-sponsored scientific organi- Published June 29, 2010
sation, found that only 59% of the 271 Copyright: ß 2010 Kilkenny et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
randomly chosen articles assessed stated Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
the hypothesis or objective of the study, provided the original author and source are credited.
and the number and characteristics of the Funding: This project was initiated, funded, and led by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement
and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs).
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
The Perspective section provides experts with a
forum to comment on topical or controversial issues Abbreviations: ARRIVE, Animals in Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments; NC3Rs, National Centre for the
of broad interest. Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research
* E-mail: carol.kilkenny@nc3rs.org.uk
ITEM RECOMMENDATION
TITLE 1 Provide as accurate and concise a description of the content of the article as possible.
ABSTRACT 2 Provide an accurate summary of the background, research objectives (including details of the species or
strain of animal used), key methods, principal findings, and conclusions of the study.
INTRODUCTION
Background 3 a. Include sufficient scientific background (including relevant references to previous work) to understand
the motivation and context for the study, and explain the experimental approach and rationale.
b. Explain how and why the animal species and model being used can address the scientific objectives
and, where appropriate, the study’s relevance to human biology.
Objectives 4 Clearly describe the primary and any secondary objectives of the study, or specific hypotheses being
tested.
METHODS
Ethical statement 5 Indicate the nature of the ethical review permissions, relevant licences (e.g. Animal [Scientific Procedures]
Act 1986), and national or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals, that cover the research.
Study design 6 For each experiment, give brief details of the study design, including:
a. The number of experimental and control groups.
b. Any steps taken to minimise the effects of subjective bias when allocating animals to treatment (e.g.,
randomisation procedure) and when assessing results (e.g., if done, describe who was blinded and when).
c. The experimental unit (e.g. a single animal, group, or cage of animals).
A time-line diagram or flow chart can be useful to illustrate how complex study designs were carried out.
Experimental procedures 7 For each experiment and each experimental group, including controls, provide precise details of all
procedures carried out. For example:
a. How (e.g., drug formulation and dose, site and route of administration, anaesthesia and analgesia
used [including monitoring], surgical procedure, method of euthanasia). Provide details of any specialist
equipment used, including supplier(s).
b. When (e.g., time of day).
c. Where (e.g., home cage, laboratory, water maze).
d. Why (e.g., rationale for choice of specific anaesthetic, route of administration, drug dose used).
Experimental animals 8 a. Provide details of the animals used, including species, strain, sex, developmental stage (e.g., mean or
median age plus age range), and weight (e.g., mean or median weight plus weight range).
b. Provide further relevant information such as the source of animals, international strain nomenclature,
genetic modification status (e.g. knock-out or transgenic), genotype, health/immune status, drug- or test-
naı̈ve, previous procedures, etc.
Housing and husbandry 9 Provide details of:
a. Housing (e.g., type of facility, e.g., specific pathogen free (SPF); type of cage or housing; bedding
material; number of cage companions; tank shape and material etc. for fish).
b. Husbandry conditions (e.g., breeding programme, light/dark cycle, temperature, quality of water etc.
for fish, type of food, access to food and water, environmental enrichment).
c. Welfare-related assessments and interventions that were carried out before, during, or after the
experiment.
Sample size 10 a. Specify the total number of animals used in each experiment and the number of animals in each
experimental group.
b. Explain how the number of animals was decided. Provide details of any sample size calculation used.
c. Indicate the number of independent replications of each experiment, if relevant.
Allocating animals to 11 a. Give full details of how animals were allocated to experimental groups, including randomisation or
experimental groups matching if done.
b. Describe the order in which the animals in the different experimental groups were treated and
assessed.
Experimental outcomes 12 Clearly define the primary and secondary experimental outcomes assessed (e.g., cell death, molecular
markers, behavioural changes).
Statistical methods 13 a. Provide details of the statistical methods used for each analysis.
b. Specify the unit of analysis for each dataset (e.g. single animal, group of animals, single neuron).
c. Describe any methods used to assess whether the data met the assumptions of the statistical
approach.
RESULTS
Baseline data 14 For each experimental group, report relevant characteristics and health status of animals (e.g., weight,
microbiological status, and drug- or test-naı̈ve) before treatment or testing (this information can often be
tabulated).
Numbers analysed 15 a. Report the number of animals in each group included in each analysis. Report absolute numbers (e.g.
10/20, not 50%a).
b. If any animals or data were not included in the analysis, explain why.
Outcomes and estimation 16 Report the results for each analysis carried out, with a measure of precision (e.g., standard error or
confidence interval).
Adverse events 17 a. Give details of all important adverse events in each experimental group.
b. Describe any modifications to the experimental protocols made to reduce adverse events.
ITEM RECOMMENDATION
DISCUSSION
Interpretation/scientific 18 a. Interpret the results, taking into account the study objectives and hypotheses, current theory, and
implications other relevant studies in the literature.
b. Comment on the study limitations including any potential sources of bias, any limitations of the
animal model, and the imprecision associated with the resultsa.
c. Describe any implications of your experimental methods or findings for the replacement, refinement,
or reduction (the 3Rs) of the use of animals in research.
Generalisability/translation 19 Comment on whether, and how, the findings of this study are likely to translate to other species or
systems, including any relevance to human biology.
Funding 20 List all funding sources (including grant number) and the role of the funder(s) in the study.
a
Schulz, et al. (2010) [24].
doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000412.t002
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