The UK’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) has published a new set of figures on the editorial policy of journals on the use of animals in scientific research. The figures, published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Bioethics, reportedly show that a high number of journals have no editorial policy regarding the use of animals in the scientific research they publish.
The paper is written by Dr. Nikki Osborne, a Senior Scientific Officer from the RSPCA's Research Animals Department. It is seen to highlight how the scientific publishing industry is failing to fulfill its potential to communicate quality science by not requiring authors to consider animal welfare.
Latest figures show that 2,046 scientific journals published four or more articles involving the use of animals in research and testing between July 2007 and June 2008. Also, 309 of the 2,046 were picked at random. Nearly 60 percent of them did no more than refer authors to general guidelines on animal care and the rest had no editorial policy relating to the use of animals in research at all.
For three years, the RSPCA has surveyed journal editorial policies relating to research involving animals. As a result, it has produced a set of publication policy principles and a 'good practice model' for journals to use. These spell out how the journals can ensure the research they publish gives full consideration to animal welfare and reflects contemporary good practice in animal research.
Figures from this year’s survey will be published in the RSPCA's annual animal welfare indicators report. It allows the Society to measure how the UK is performing with regard to the welfare of its animals.
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