Abstract
For more than 30 years, individuals and organizations have expressed concerns about the quality of reporting the results from and details of research experiments that use animals. These concerns and efforts to establish better standards along with guidelines for researchers (see Sidebar A) have gained more attention and importance lately given the ongoing discussion about a “reproducibility crisis” in biomedical research along with similar efforts to further improve the welfare of laboratory animals. However, implementation of reporting standards by journals and adherence to these by authors is still patchy. Given this variation in awareness and implementation of current reporting standards, the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) decided to seek to harmonize animal research reporting guidelines so as to encourage improvements in the quality of science where laboratory animals are involved. ICLAS, which was formed under the auspices of UNESCO in 1956 as an international scientific organization to advance human and animal health by promoting the ethical care and use of laboratory animals in research worldwide, believes that improving research reporting will aid the dissemination of responsible research practices worldwide and reduce the impact of cultural factors influencing the ethical use of animals. Here, we present simplified and general reporting principles that would make it easier for both journals and authors to report details of animal experiments. Adoption and implementation of these general principles could improve reproducibility of research results and animal welfare globally. ### Sidebar A: Further reading Papers outlining concerns regarding the reporting of animal experiments Smith JA, Birke L, Sadler D (1997) Reporting animal use in scientific papers. Lab Animal 31: 312–317 Alfaro V (2005) Specification of laboratory animal use in scientific articles: current low detail in the journals’ instructions for authors and some proposals. Methods Find Exp Clin …
Highlights
The first specific guidance on reporting “animals and husbandry methods” was published in 1985
The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research’s (ILAR) Guidance for the description of animal research in scientific publications describes what should be reported in the Methods section of a research paper
By 2008, a number of collaborative efforts focused on minimum information reporting guidelines to improve the quality of research articles over a wide range of experimental designs and analytical techniques, with and without animal experimentation
Summary
HARRP, the first step of a unified approach by ICLAS to improve animal research reporting standards worldwide. For more than 30 years, individuals and organizations have expressed concerns about the quality of reporting the results from and details of research experiments that use animals. These concerns and efforts to establish better standards along with guidelines for researchers (see Sidebar A) have gained more attention and importance lately given the ongoing discussion about a “reproducibility crisis” in biomedical research along with similar efforts to further improve the welfare of laboratory animals. Implementation of reporting standards by journals and adherence to these by authors is still patchy Given this variation in awareness and implementation of current reporting standards, the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) decided to seek to harmonize animal research reporting guidelines so as to encourage improvements in the quality of science where laboratory animals are involved. Adoption and implementation of these general principles could improve reproducibility of research results and animal welfare globally
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