Refining animal research: The Animal Study Registry.

The Animal Study Registry (ASR; www.animalstudyregistry.org) was launched in January 2019 for preregistration of animal studies in order to increase transparency and reproducibility of bioscience research and to promote animal welfare. The registry is free of charge and is designed for exploratory and confirmatory studies within applied science as well as basic and preclinical research. The registration form helps scientists plan their study thoroughly by asking detailed questions concerning study design, methods, and statistics. With registration, the study automatically receives a digital object identifier (DOI) that marks it as intellectual property of the researcher. To accommodate the researchers concerns about theft of ideas, users can restrict the visibility of their registered studies for up to 5 years. The full content of the study becomes publicly accessible at the end of the embargo period. Because the platform is embedded in the infrastructure of the German Federal Government, continuity and data security are provided. By registering a study in the ASR, researchers can show their commitment to transparency and data quality to reviewers and editors, to third-party donors, and to the general public.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: All authors of this manuscript are employed at the BfR and are working for the Bf3R, except Matthias Greiner who works at the Department Exposure of the BfR. The Animal Study Registry was developed and is hosted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). The BfR is a governmental institution within the sphere of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture and performs the role of the German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R) (https://www.bfr.bund.de/en/german_centre_for_the_protection_of_laboratory_animals.html).