Databases & Guidelines

• NAL: a collection of literature references relating to the 3Rs from the US National Agricultural Library
• European Commission datasets:
  • 3Rs Knowledge Sources: over 800 resources collected by the Commission in 2016
  • 3Rs Education and Training Resources, over 560 items collected in 2018
  • Non-animal models for respiratory tract diseases, over 280 models identified in a literature review of over 21,000 papers, published in 2020
  • Non-animal models for cardiovascular diseases, citing over 400 models, identified in a literature review of over 14,000 papers, published in 2022

The EU Commission has now published 30 datasets of this type.

Here is an alphabetical global list of all the databases cited on the Norecopa website.

Norecopa also collaborates with the other European 3R centres and has produced an interactive global map of centres and associations. An overview is available here.

Collaboration

Norecopa has continued the work of the Laboratory Animal Unit at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science of systematically collecting information on alternatives, databases and guidelines for animal experiments since the early 1990s. The 3R Guide database is an expanded and updated electronic version of a comprehensive review published in 2005 in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC):
The use of databases, information centres and guidelines when planning research that may involve animals. Smith AJ & Allen T (2005), Animal Welfare, 14, 347-359. (available here with permission from UFAW)

The paper included a comprehensive list of guidelines, databases, information centres, journals, email lists, regulations and policies which may be of use when planning experiments which might include animals.

Norecopa's collaboration with AWIC is described on a poster which was displayed at the Pan American Conference for Alternative Methods in Baltimore, 12-14 April 2016.

How to conduct a literature search by Alice Tillema, Radboud University (more advice on literature searching here)

The EURL ECVAM Search Guide provides a good overview of literature databases and principles for setting up a 3R search.

History of the development of alternatives databases

Although the 3R concept was launched in the 1950s, at least 20 years passed before a concerted effort was made to advance the concept and disseminate information about alternatives. This was partly due to a lack of faith in the existing technology to replace animal experiments. There were few global sources of information on 3R resources until the development of the internet.

The first European initiative to collect and disseminate information on databases was the ECVAM workshop in Neubiberg, just outside Munich, in September 1996, hosted by the Akademie für Tierschutz, which is a part of of the Deutscher Tierschutzbund (German Animal Welfare Federation). Information experts from Europe and the USA, constructed an overview of the approximately 20 databases in existence at that time and categorised them according to their scientific field:

Janusch A, van der Kamp M, Bottrill K, Grune B, Anderson DC, Ekwall B, Howald M, Kolar R, Kuiper HJD, Larson J, Loprieno G, Sauer UG, Smith AJ & van der Valk JBF (1997): Current status and future developments of databases on alternative methods. The Report and Recommendations of ECVAM Workshop 25. ATLA 25 (4): 411-422.

An overview of the participants with their affiliations at that time is available here.