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. 2020 Jul 14;18(7):e3000411.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000411. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Reporting animal research: Explanation and elaboration for the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0

Nathalie Percie du Sert  1 , Amrita Ahluwalia  2   3 , Sabina Alam  4 , Marc T Avey  5 , Monya Baker  6 , William J Browne  7 , Alejandra Clark  8 , Innes C Cuthill  9 , Ulrich Dirnagl  10 , Michael Emerson  11 , Paul Garner  12 , Stephen T Holgate  13 , David W Howells  14 , Viki Hurst  1 , Natasha A Karp  15 , Stanley E Lazic  16 , Katie Lidster  1 , Catriona J MacCallum  17 , Malcolm Macleod  18 , Esther J Pearl  1 , Ole H Petersen  19 , Frances Rawle  20 , Penny Reynolds  21 , Kieron Rooney  22 , Emily S Sena  18 , Shai D Silberberg  23 , Thomas Steckler  24 , Hanno Würbel  25
Affiliations

Reporting animal research: Explanation and elaboration for the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0

Nathalie Percie du Sert et al. PLoS Biol. .

Abstract

Improving the reproducibility of biomedical research is a major challenge. Transparent and accurate reporting is vital to this process; it allows readers to assess the reliability of the findings and repeat or build upon the work of other researchers. The ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments) were developed in 2010 to help authors and journals identify the minimum information necessary to report in publications describing in vivo experiments. Despite widespread endorsement by the scientific community, the impact of ARRIVE on the transparency of reporting in animal research publications has been limited. We have revised the ARRIVE guidelines to update them and facilitate their use in practice. The revised guidelines are published alongside this paper. This explanation and elaboration document was developed as part of the revision. It provides further information about each of the 21 items in ARRIVE 2.0, including the rationale and supporting evidence for their inclusion in the guidelines, elaboration of details to report, and examples of good reporting from the published literature. This document also covers advice and best practice in the design and conduct of animal studies to support researchers in improving standards from the start of the experimental design process through to publication.

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Conflict of interest statement

I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: AA is the editor in chief of the British Journal of Pharmacology. WJB, ICC, and ME are authors of the original ARRIVE guidelines. WJB serves on the Independent Statistical Standing Committee of the funder CHDI foundation. AC is a Senior Editor for PLOS ONE. AC, CJM, MM, and ESS were involved in the IICARus trial. ME, MM, and ESS have received funding from NC3Rs. ME sits on the MRC ERPIC panel. STH is chair of the NC3Rs board; trusteeship of the BLF, Kennedy Trust, DSRU, and CRUK; member of Governing Board, Nuffield Council of Bioethics, member Science Panel for Health (EU H2020); founder and NEB Director Synairgen; consultant Novartis, Teva, and AZ; and chair MRC/GSK EMINENT Collaboration. VH, KL, EJP, and NPdS are NC3Rs staff; role includes promoting the ARRIVE guidelines. SEL and UD are on the advisory board of the UK Reproducibility Network. CJM has shareholdings in Hindawi, is on the publishing board of the Royal Society, and on the EU Open Science policy platform. UD, MM, NPdS, CJM, ESS, TS, and HW are members of EQIPD. MM is a member of the Animals in Science Committee and on the steering group of the UK Reproducibility Network. NPdS and TS are associate editors of BMJ Open Science. OHP is vice president of Academia Europaea, editor in chief of Function, senior executive editor of the Journal of Physiology, and member of the Board of the European Commission’s SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies). FR is an NC3Rs board member and has shareholdings in GSK. FR and NAK have shareholdings in AstraZeneca. PR is a member of the University of Florida Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and editorial board member of Shock. ESS is editor in chief of BMJ Open Science. SDS’s role is to provide expertise and does not represent the opinion of the NIH. TS has shareholdings in Johnson & Johnson. SA, MTA, MB, PG, DWH, and KR declared no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Reproduced from reference [22].
Fig 2
Fig 2. Reproduced from reference [32].
Fig 3
Fig 3. Reproduced from reference [59].
Fig 4
Fig 4. This figure is an alternative version of the figure published in reference [129].
Fig 5
Fig 5. Reproduced from reference [147].
Fig 6
Fig 6. Reproduced from reference [148].
Fig 7
Fig 7. Reproduced from reference [29].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Centre of the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction on Animals in Research (NC3Rs, https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/). NPdS, KL, VH, and EJP are employees of the NC3Rs.