Dr. Penny Reynolds was invited to participate on an international expert working panel, sponsored by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), London UK, for the revision of the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) guidelines.
The NC3Rs is a UK-based scientific organization dedicated to replacing, refining, and reducing the use of animals in research and testing (the 3Rs). Their website (https://www.nc3rs.org.uk) provides numerous tools and resources for investigators, such as tutorials on rodent blood sampling, anesthesia, best practices for animal handling and husbandry, welfare assessment, and a new experimental design tutorial.
The ARRIVE guidelines were developed in consultation with the scientific community as part of an NC3Rs initiative to improve the standard of reporting of research using animals. Originally published in PLOS Biology in 2010, the ARRIVE guidelines have since been endorsed by over 1,000 journals and are available in numerous languages (https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines). Improving the reporting of animal research increases study transparency and validation. The ARRIVE guidelines also encourage investigators to invest more time planning for quality in their experiments before animals are used.
The panel was tasked to review the underlying evidence supporting the ARRIVE guidelines, update and clarify guideline language, and review strategies to further promote guideline use by journals, institutes, scientific organizations, and investigators. Revisions, together with a detailed Explanation and Elaboration document, are scheduled to be released within one year.