title: The Devil Is in the Details: Incomplete Reporting in Preclinical Animal Research.
abstract: Incomplete reporting of study methods and results has become a focal point for failures in the reproducibility and translation of findings from preclinical research. Here we demonstrate that incomplete reporting of preclinical research is not limited to a few elements of research design, but rather is a broader problem that extends to the reporting of the methods and results. We evaluated 47 preclinical research studies from a systematic review of acute lung injury that use mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a treatment. We operationalized the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) reporting guidelines for pre-clinical studies into 109 discrete reporting sub-items and extracted 5,123 data elements. Overall, studies reported less than half (47%) of all sub-items (median 51 items; range 37-64). Across all studies, the Methods Section reported less than half (45%) and the Results Section reported less than a third (29%). There was no association between journal impact factor and completeness of reporting, which suggests that incomplete reporting of preclinical research occurs across all journals regardless of their perceived prestige. Incomplete reporting of methods and results will impede attempts to replicate research findings and maximize the value of preclinical studies.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Marc T
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8696-3232
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Avey
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.|School of Epidemiology Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moher
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Katrina J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fergusson
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Gilly
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.|Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Jeremy M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Grimshaw
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.|School of Epidemiology Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hutton
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.|Regenerative Medicine Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Manoj M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Lalu
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Macleod
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery (Critical Care), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: Regenerative Medicine Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Shirley H J
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.affiliation: Regenerative Medicine Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rudnicki
authors.affiliation: Regenerative Medicine Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.|Department of Cell and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Duncan J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Population Health and Optimal Health Practices Unit (Trauma - Emergency - Critical Care Medicine), Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec (Enfant-JésusHospital), Université Laval, Québec City, Québec, Canada.|Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Université Laval, Québec City, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexis F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Turgeon
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.|Department of Medicine (Division of Critical Care), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Lauralyn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McIntyre
mesh_terms: D032761:Animal Experimentation; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D058028:Research Report; D014481:United States