Better animal research through Open Science

Openness about methods, data and outcomes is a prerequisite as it can lead to more reliable, efficient and relevant research using fewer laboratory animals. Thereby, Open Science is a way to improve research. As part of their view on responsible research, both Utrecht University and UMC-Utrecht promote and support open science via their respective Open Science programmes. Research following the Open Science principles is responsible, conscious and critical, and open to feedback. It is not always easy to apply Open Science, but much progress has been made and is already being made and support is available via these various programmes.

There are several steps a researcher can take to apply Open Science to animal research in particular, bearing in mind the additional ethical awareness, public sensitivity and high level of regulatory involvement. These are visualized in the figure below and briefly explained in the text that follows.

Research funders can have a stimulating role. For example, ZonMw helps to fund systematic reviews and the publication of negative or neutral results of research. ZonMw also helps to make research data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). This ensures that data can be better distributed and shared, so that other researchers can reuse the data. ZonMw hopes that stimulating Open Science will ensure that research is not unnecessarily repeated. This also prevents unnecessary use of laboratory animals.

PREPARE

The preparations for a study constitute the first step on the pathway to ethical and scientifically valid research. Each stage of the research project must be described, discussed, evaluated and communicated to all those involved. In this way, there will be no doubts about practical issues, such as responsibilities for the various stages, the division of labour and costs and communication of the results from the research. These must be finalized before the research starts. PREPARE is an indispensable tool to realise this. It consists of guidelines for planning animal experiments in a structured way, in order to guarantee basic quality.

INFORM

All researchers that are granted a project licence have to fulfill the legal obligation of writing a Non-Technical Summary (NTS). All NTSs are published in a central database, the AnimaL Use Reporting EU System (ALURES). This is to reach out to a lay audience to explain the research in a transparent and accountable way.  To do so, it is helpful to apply the following rules of thumb.

DESIGN

Responsible use of laboratory animals needs rigorous design of experiments with a good predetermined statistical analysis plan. Free online tools are available such as NC3Rs Experimental Design Assistant and via the Education and Training Platform for Laboratory Animal Science' (ETPLAS), the 'Enhancing Quality In Preclinical Data' (EQIPD) consortium and Responsible Research in Practice website.

PLAN

Creating a Data Management Plan (DMP) is another step in the list of preparations before starting an animal study.  Using DMP Online (DMPonline 2023), researchers can use the different templates and obtain guidance throughout the form. A proper DMP is suitable for guaranteeing security and should fulfill the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. The benefits of proper data management will benefit both the lab that has their data management at par and (animal) science in general.

PREREGISTER

Preregistration – the act of registering a research protocol before the start of the experiments – anchors transparency early in the research process. When registering their research protocols, researchers display a priori their hypotheses, study design and analysis plan (in an openly available source). It increases reliability and trustworthiness of the results reported and reduces reporting biases (e.g. selective outcomes reporting), questionable research practices (e.g. creating a hypothesis after results are known, p-hacking) and publication bias, and enables data exchange. This also helps to prevent unnecessary repetition of animal testing, improve the quality of animal studies and promote collaborations. As of 2022, two platforms exist for animal study protocols preregistration: preclinicaltrials.eu and the animal study registry.

CONNECT

Connecting with journalists and joining the public debate via online and offline media help share valuable research insights and difficult ethical considerations not only with interested individuals, but also with healthcare professionals, patient organisations, animal advocates and policy-makers.. This can then lead to receiving helpful insights from partners in society and it makes science more open, as it opens the door to new contacts and collaborations, new input and ideas, valuable feedback and the possibility to learn from critical views. For this approach, you can ask support of your organisation’s press officer or communications department so you can connect with journalists or join the public debate.

EXCHANGE

Besides connecting with the public and sharing information and data with your colleagues also sharing animals that are redundant, tissue and other physical materials is of vital importance. This creates the opportunity to make better use of laboratory animals. As a result, fewer laboratory animals are needed overall. To bring together supply and demand of surplus animals and animal organs and tissues, the 3Rs Centre of Utrecht University and the Animal Welfare Body Utrecht initiated the web-based Animal and Tissue Exchange platform ATEX. It works for live surplus laboratory animals and fresh or preserved organs and tissue.

SHARE

Sharing data is an important aspect of research transparency and integrity. It enables other researchers to see your work in a raw format. Input from peers can  help to create robust and resilient datasets that can stand up to critique, benefitting you in the long run. The quicker we share, the faster it benefits the scientific community.

The easiest way to share your data is to use a data repository, either field specific or generic. Sites such as Re3data or FAIRsharing can help you find such repositories

ARRIVE

Transparent and accurate reporting is a cornerstone of open science. If an animal study is to influence future research, policy and clinical practice, it is essential that it is reported in enough detail that its reliability and methodological quality can be assessed and its methods can be reproduced. Following the ARRIVE guideline improves the quality of a publication so that it can be used well by others, as a reference, but also for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. ARRIVE guideline (2.0) contains 10 necessary and 11 recommended points for attention for publications.

PUBLICATION

Publication of studies that have failed, or of otherwise negative or neutral results are as valuable to the scientific community as the publication of positive results. This can help to avoid the unnecessary use of laboratory animals, but can also contribute to the knowledge of specific biological phenomena.

Webinar Better Animal Research through Open Science

On October 26, 2021, the online symposium Better Animal Research through Open Science was organised by the open science programme of Utrecht University and the Animal Welfare Body Utrecht. You can watch the symposium recordings here

The presentations that were part of the symposium have also been included in a publication: Janssens M, Gaillard S, de Haan JJ, de Leeuw W, Brooke M, Burke M, Flores J, Kruijen I, Menon JM.L, Smith A, Tiebosch IA.C.W, Weijdema F (2023) How open science can support the 3Rs and improve animal research. Research Ideas and Outcomes 9: e105198.

If you want to be involved more in open science, join the Open Science Community Utrecht.