Reports on animal experiments involving neoplasms in Chinese Journals: adherence to ARRIVE guidelines

Article type
Authors
Liu Y1, Zhao X2, Mai Y2, Li X2, Wang J2, Chen L2, Mu J2, Jin G2, Gou H2, Sun W2, Feng Y2
1Evidence-Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Key Laboratory of Evidence-Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, China
2Evidence-Based Medicine Center, Lanzhou University, China
Abstract
Background: The Animals in Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines were published in 2010 with the aim of improving the quality of animal study reports. It is not clear how well animal experiments on neoplasms in China adhere to these reporting standards.
Objectives: To evaluate the reporting quality of animal experiments involving neoplasms that were published between 2010 and 2012 in Chinese journals and were supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
Methods: A literature search of studies published between 2010 and 2012 was performed using the Chinese Science Citation Database and the Chinese Journal Full-Text Database. Data were extracted into pre-prepared forms. Reporting quality was assessed using the ARRIVE checklist (40 (39+1) items).
Results: A total of 396 animal studies were included in the analysis: 127 published in 2010, 140 published in 2011, and 129 published in 2012. The range of ARRIVE score was 11 to 32. The studies published in 2012 have a greater average ARRIVE score than those published in 2010 (P value 0.034). There was no significant difference between the 2010 and 2011 ARRIVE scores (P value 0.452) or the 2011 and 2012 scores (P value 0.154).
Conclusions: Animal experiments of neoplasms in published in Chinese journals did not comprehensively report the information recommended by the ARRIVE guidelines. We strongly recommend researchers report this information when reporting animal studies.