Abstract
The joint LAVA-ESLAV-ECLAM conference on reproducibility in animal studies was held on 25-26 September 2017 in Edinburgh, Scotland. During this conference, a round table discussion, whose aim was to consolidate the efforts that all participants have already made towards improving the quality of reporting of animal-based investigations, took place.
The round table was organized and chaired by Nikki Osborne (Responsible Research in Practice, UK) and Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga (SYRCLE, Netherlands) and its participants were representatives from various journals [Joan Marsh (Lancet, UK), Amrita Ahluwalia (British Journal of Pharmacology, UK), Alejandra Clark (PLoS, UK), Hayley Henderson (Biomed Central, UK), Sabina Alam (F1000 Research, UK), Emily Sena (BMJ Open Research and CAMARADES, UK), and Arieh Bomzon (Laboratory Animals, Israel)] and several funding organizations [Matthew Brown (Wellcome Trust, UK), Matt Westmore (National Institutes of Health Research, UK), Frances Rawle (Medical Research Council, UK), and Erica van Oort (ZonMw, Netherlands)], Other participants were Wim de Leeuw (Utrecht University, Netherlands), and Caroline Struthers (Equator Network, UK), and two participants, Holger Breithaupt (EMBO Press, Germany) and David Moher (Center for Journalology. Canada) joined the round table online.
The participants concluded that journal editors, funders, investigators, and laboratory animal veterinarians are needed to generate a cultural change for improving (a) the quality of reporting and (b) the reproducibility of results of animal-based investigations. To these ends, the use of reporting guidelines* should be advocated by journals as one of the strategies to deal with the underlying causes of irreproducibility of results of animal-based investigations. Other strategies to improve reproducibility include training in experimental design, planning, and reporting, as well as oversight by funders to ensure that their funded research is fully and accurately reported.
*EQUATOR network http://www.equator-network.org/
*Meridian Network https://meridian.cvm.iastate.edu/