FAQ

          
Why should I register my study in animalstudyregistry.org?

With your registration you contribute to improving the quality of science. We strongly believe that our animalstudyregistry.org will enhance the reproducibility of biomedical studies and will improve the quality of biomedical research by preventing selective reporting and encouraging the publication of negative results, by supporting thorough planning of the study including the statistical analysis and by asking for a detailed description of methods. Consequently, registering your study in animalstudyregistry.org proves your commitment to transparency and data quality to reviewers and editors, to third party donors and to the general public.

Who can register a study?
Any researcher can register a study with the animalstudyregistry.org. However, as studies are performed over longer periods and someone has to take the responsibility for updating the entry in the animalstudyregistry.org for the full duration of the study, e.g. to change the embargo period, to add comments or to insert a link to the final publication. For this reason we recommend that the person either holds a permanent position (e.g. as a principal investigator) or at least can ensure updating the entry accordingly.
How can I register a study?

To register a study you have to create an animalstudyregistry.org account first. Therefore, go to our Homepage and click on "Register as a new user" or use the following link.

Can I download the preregistration template from animalstudyregistry.org?

Please download our template here.

What makes animalstudyregistry.org different from other preregistration platforms?

animalstudyregistry.org is a platform provided by the German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R) which is part of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). As a governmental organization, we can guarantee high security standards for your data and most importantly continuity. We are independent from donations.
Our platform is specific for studies involving animals. We offer an intuitive format which will facilitate entering your study data. Our system is designed for both confirmatory and exploratory studies and supports you in thoroughly planning your study. If you prefer not to reveal the contents of your study right away, you can use our five years embargo option. Moreover, every study registered in Animal Study Registry will be assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). A DOI is unique for every study and serves as a reference.

Who is behind the animalstudyregistry.org?

The German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R) is part of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). The mission of the German Centre for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R) is to reduce the number of animal experiments wherever possible and to refine all animal experiments that are not avoidable.
We believe that the incomplete publication of results gained from animal experiments strongly contradicts ethical principles. Animal experiments can only be justified by a gain of knowledge for the society. This reasoning is lost if results remain unavailable for the public. The animalstudyregistry.org is meant to encourage the publication of all results gained from animal experiments and make research more transparent.
We ask researchers to register their study design including a description of methods and statistical planning. However, it is equally important to enter information about all circumstances that may have impact on the results and the reproducibility of the studies. Those are housing conditions, handling and analgesic treatment of animals. This also aims to raise researcher's awareness of the well-being of the laboratory animals they use.

What does the animalstudyregistry.org do to ensure data security?

The animalstudyregistry.org fulfills the security standards of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI, www.bsi.bund.de). Despite all security measures taken, we cannot fully guarantee that unauthorized persons will not be able to access the database. To enhance the security of your data, you must keep your password confidential.
Please note that the animalstudyregistry.org will never ask for your bank data, your credit card number or any other payment information. Should you encounter such requests coming from an animalstudyregistry.org-email, please ignore them and notify us as soon as possible.

What kind of studies can I register?

You can register any kind of study involving animals. Confirmatory studies that test a priori hypotheses usually derived from a theory or based on results of previous studies are particularly suitable for preregistration. Nevertheless, we also highly encourage you to register exploratory studies that aim to generate a posteriori hypotheses by examining a data-set and looking for potential relations between variables.
The study you want to register can either cover large projects designed for a couple of years, but also small projects with a limited number of animals and experiments. Hence you can also register two or more successive studies that might later be assembled in one publication.

Are there any criteria which need to be met by my study?

Following criteria should be fulfilled when submitting your study:

  • Only studies written in English will be accepted.
  • All mandatory fields should contain meaningful text.
  • Non-standard abbreviations and acronyms should be explained on their first occurrence.
  • Common units shall be used substances, height, weight, sizes etc.
  • A person and not an institution should be named as a responsible person.
  • Requirements of the applicable Animal Welfare Act should be respected.
Will my study be peer reviewed?

No, your study will not be peer reviewed as part of the registration process. However, we will check if the submitted study meets the criteria of animalstudyregistry.org, e.g. whether it is a research project involving animals. Apart from that, animalstudyregistry.org reserves the right to reject any study that contains any offensive contents.

Who can see my studies?

Your studies are fully visible for everyone once they have reached the status "accessible" which is latest five years after registration. Studies with the status "registered", i.e. automatically two weeks after submission, are visible in animalstudyregistry.org only with limited information, i.e. short summary, name of the institution and optionally your name.

Will my name and institutional address be published?

It depends on the status of your study. As long as your study is "in preparation" nothing will be displayed in animalstudyregistry.org. Two weeks after submitting your study to animalstudyregistry.org, it will be assigned as "registered" and limited data will be visible in animalstudyregistry.org including a short summary, the name of your institution and optionally your name. Once your study reaches the status "accessible", which is after the embargo period expired (five years maximum), your name and institutional address will be published together with the full content of your study.

Why are some studies displayed only with limited contents?

Studies that are displayed just with a short summary and the name of the institution and optionally name of the author are still within the embargo period. This means that those studies have been registered with in animalstudyregistry.org but the author has decided not to make the full content of the study publicly available immediately. The date of the full accessibility of each study is displayed at the end of the short summary.

Can I change my study or withdraw it from registration?

It depends on the status of your study. After submission, you can edit or withdraw your study from registration within two weeks by going to "My Studies" and clicking the edit or delete button. Editing your study will bring it back to the status "in preparation". Once your study is assigned as "registered" you can ask the animalstudyregistry.org team (support-asr@bfr.bund.de ) to delete your study by providing a reason. Note, that the summary of your study as well as the name of the institution and optionally your name won't be deleted in animalstudyregistry.org. It will then be assigned with the status "withdrawn".
If your study is fully publicly "accessible" and is uniquely identified with a DOI, the study cannot be deleted anymore.

Can I make my study registration immediately publicly accessible?

Yes, when submitting your study you can choose the date of accessibility within the time frame of five years. Within this period you are able to advance or postpone the date of accessibility at any time. To change the date of accessibility of your study, go to "My Studies" after logging into animalstudyregistry.org and click on the change accessibility button. Please note: once your study becomes publicly accessible, you won't be able to embargo it again.

What kind of proof do I get that I registered a study in animalstudyregistry.org?

With registration, your study receives a Digital Object Identifier (DOI by DataCite) which will be sent to your e-mail address and will also be displayed on the pdf-version of your study. Once your study is fully accessible, it receives a DOI which can serve you as a reference and will also be displayed on the pdf version of your study.

How can I add updates to my study?

Once your study is registered you can add updates to your study any time. To add updates go to "My studies" after logging into animalstudyregistry.org and clicking on the update study button. You will be forwarded to a site where you can add any additional information including links, e.g. if you already collected data and stored it in an open access repository or upload documents related to the study. You can save and edit each comment as much as you like before you submit it and it becomes visible together with the other contents of your entry. The updates will then be displayed with a date at the end of your study and will be saved as a new version under the same Digital Object Identifier (DOI by DataCite).

How can I change my e-mail address?

If you would like to change your e-mail address of your account, please contact our support team support-asr@bfr.bund.de.

Who can I contact if I have any further questions?

You can write to our support team support-asr@bfr.bund.de anytime or come to our regular consultation hour every Tuesday at 10AM CET. Please use following link: https://bundesinstitutfuerrisikobewertung.webex.com/bundesinstitutfuerrisikobewertung-en/j.php?MTID=m437fc41a5a42fd143af11a8a5504d6cd