Perspective Two Years Later: Journals Are Not Yet Enforcing the ARRIVE Guidelines on Reporting Standards for Pre-Clinical Animal Studies

Abstract: There is growing con-cern that poor experimental design and lack of transparent reporting contribute to the frequent failure of pre-clinical animal studies to trans-late into treatments for human disease. In 2010, the Animal Re-search: Reporting of In Vivo Exper-iments (ARRIVE) guidelines were introduced to help improve report-ing standards. They were published in PLOS Biology and endorsed by funding agencies and publishers and their journals, including PLOS, Nature research journals, and other top-tier journals. Yet our analysis of papers published in PLOS and Nature journals indicates that there has been very little improvement in reporting standards since then. This suggests that authors, referees, and editors generally are ignoring guidelines, and the editorial en-dorsement is yet to be effectively implemented