About

The ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) are a checklist of information to include in publications describing animal research.

Aims and objectives of the ARRIVE guidelines

The guidelines ensure that studies are reported in enough detail to add to the knowledge base. Scientific publications reporting animal research often lack important information, limiting their utility. Reporting animal research in adherence with the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0 ensures transparent and thorough reporting. This enables readers and reviewers to scrutinise the research adequately, evaluate its methodological rigour, and reproduce the methods or findings.

Audience and benefits

The ARRIVE guidelines are relevant to any study involving live animals, from mammals to fish, as well as invertebrates, in any area of the biosciences. The guidelines are primarily aimed at researchers, reviewers and journal editors of studies involving animals. They are also useful for ethical review boards, funders, institutions and learned societies to help promote best practice, and ensure rigorous design and reporting of animal research.

The guidelines and associated resources are useful throughout the course of a study:

  • During study planning – the guidelines and accompanying Explanation and Elaboration document provide advice on experimental design, minimisation of bias, sample size and statistical analyses, helping researchers design rigorous and reliable in vivo experiments.
  • During the conduct of a study – this allows researchers to record important information about study methods, which will be needed later for manuscript preparation.
  • When writing a manuscript – used as an aide memoire to ensure the manuscript contains all relevant information.
  • When reviewing a manuscript – to ensure all relevant information is available to evaluate the research.

Development and revision of the ARRIVE guidelines

Following a survey of the animal research literature which revealed significant scope for improvement, the original ARRIVE guidelines were published in 2010.

The guidelines have since been revised. The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0 and their Explanation and Elaboration are the results of an extensive, collaborative effort, with input from the scientific community carefully built into the process, involving:

  • Development by an international working group, which included researchers from academia and industry, funders, journal editors, methodologists and statisticians.
  • A survey of international in vivo researchers, to gather information about how the original ARRIVE guidelines were used and understood.
  • A Delphi exercise with expert stakeholders from 19 countries, to suggest items for the guidelines, provide feedback, and rank items by importance.
  • Road-testing with researchers preparing manuscripts, to ensure that the guidelines were well understood to their main audience.

Citing the ARRIVE guidelines

Percie du Sert N, Hurst V, Ahluwalia A, Alam S, Avey MT, Baker M, Browne WJ, Clark A, Cuthill IC, Dirnagl U, Emerson M, Garner P, Holgate ST, Howells DW, Karp NA, Lazic SE, Lidster K, MacCallum CJ, Macleod M, Pearl EJ, Petersen O, Rawle F, Peynolds P, Rooney K, Sena ES, Silberberg SD, Steckler T and Wurbel H (2020). The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: updated guidelines for reporting animal research. PLoS Biol. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410

Other publications related to the ARRIVE guidelines such as their Explanation and Elaboration can be found on the publications page.