Regulations & Ethical Review

Identifying trends in reporting on the ethical treatment of insects in research

Transparent reporting on the ethical treatment of research animals (e.g., implementation of the 3Rs, replace, reduce, and refine) is recommended when publishing in peer-reviewed literature. This is meant to foster public trust, safeguard animal welfare, and generate reproducible science. However,...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: Insect & Spider, Invertebrate

Citation: Perl, C. D., Kissinger, C., Godfrey, R. K. et al. 2025. Identifying trends in reporting on the ethical treatment of insects in research. PLOS ONE 20(8), e0328931.

3Rs champions team: Empowering animal technicians

To leverage the expertise of Animal Technicians (AT) and other Biological Services staff, the University of Dundee has established a 3Rs Champion team that aims to implement and promote the 3Rs within the university’s animal facilities. Achievements are described.

Year Published: 2025Topics: Human-Animal Interaction, Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Dennison, N., Booth, K., Traill, S. et al. 2025, August 3Rs champions team: Empowering animal technicians. Animal Technology and Welfare 24(2), 131–134.

From Fish to Mice to Monkeys in Research: Challenges and Opportunities for Mental Well-being

This chapter focuses mainly on animals in medical research. Many, especially the smaller species such as rat, mice, and zebrafish, may be seen only a few minutes a day by their human caregivers. Most laboratory animals are kept in confinement...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental Enrichment, Handling, Housing, Human-Animal Interaction, Husbandry & Management, Natural Behavior, Regulations & Ethical Review, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: All/General, Fish, Macaque, Marmoset, Mouse, Nonhuman Primate, Rat, Rodent, Zebrafish

Citation: Serageldine, C. E., Robinson-Junker, A., Alvino, G. et al. 2025. From Fish to Mice to Monkeys in Research: Challenges and Opportunities for Mental Well-being. In Mental Health and Well-being in Animals (pp. 308–322).

Animal welfare definitions, frameworks, and assessment tools: Advancing the measurement and laying the foundation for improved animal welfare through a three-step approach (2025)

To qualify and quantify animal welfare, novel assessment tools have been and are being developed, while existing assessment tools are being modified so that they can be applied to multiple species living under different housing and management conditions. The results...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Staay, F. J. van der, Goerlich, V. C., Meijboom, F. L. et al. 2025. Animal welfare definitions, frameworks, and assessment tools: Advancing the measurement and laying the foundation for improved animal welfare through a three-step approach. Animal Welfare, 34, e30.

Defending and refining the Birch et al. (2021) precautionary framework for animal sentience (2025)

It is widely accepted that we ought to avoid taking excessive risks of causing gratuitous suffering. The practical implications of this truism, however, depend on how we understand what counts as an excessive risk. Precautionary frameworks help us decide when...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: Cephalopod, Invertebrate

Citation: Fischer, B., Gottlieb, J., Schnell, A. K. et al. 2025. Defending and refining the Birch et al. (2021) precautionary framework for animal sentience. Animal Welfare 34, e28.

Creating an effective, inclusive and open Animal Welfare and Ethical review Body: Learning and legacy (2024)

This paper reports on our use of reflective practice to analyse and map the evolution of our legacy Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB) over 7 years. We identified 6 interconnected principles that support underlying behaviours and prsent them...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

“Killing in the name of 3R?” The ethics of death in animal research

Changing relationships with nonhuman animals have led to important modifications in animal welfare legislations, including the protection of animal life. However, animal research regulations are largely based on welfarist assumptions, neglecting the idea that death can constitute a harm to...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Euthanasia, Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Persson, K., Rodriguez Perez, C., Louis-Maerten, E. et al. 2024. “Killing in the name of 3R?” The ethics of death in animal research. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 38(1), 4.

Considerations for implementing regulation of decapods in science

Decapod crustaceans, commonly utilised for pure or applied scientific research and commercial food production, have generally remained outside ethical debate. However, in the last decade many parts of the world have seen an increase in public interest in the welfare...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: Crustacean, Invertebrate

Citation: Powell, A., Agnalt, A.-L., Heasman, K. et al. 2024. Considerations for implementing regulation of decapods in science. Animal Welfare 33, e55.

Perceptions of 3R implementation in European animal research: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-synthesis of barriers and facilitators

Objectives The purpose of this systematic review was to examine how the scientific community in Europe that is involved with research with animals perceives and experiences the implementation of 3R (Replace, Reduce, Refine). Methods A systematic search of the literature...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Louis-Maerten, E., Milford, A., Shaw, D. M. et al. 2024. Perceptions of 3R implementation in European animal research: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-synthesis of barriers and facilitators. PLOS ONE 19(3), e0300031.

Animal research regulation: Improving decision-making and adopting a transparent system to address concerns around approval rate of experiments

The use of nonhuman animals in biomedical research is regulated under stringent conditions, not only in response to societal attitudes towards animal experimentation but also because ethical responsibility in scientific research requires researchers and veterinarians to be more invested and...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Azilagbetor, D. M., Shaw, D., Elger, B. S. 2024. Animal research regulation: Improving decision-making and adopting a transparent system to address concerns around approval rate of experiments. Animals 14(6), 846.