The LAG-R guidelines, a framework for standardizing and improving laboratory animal genetic reporting

Introduction

A major problem in biomedical research is poor reproducibility, with many scientific results not being successfully replicated. Many biological factors can explain this, from sampling effects to the influence of environmental factors such as microbiota. But other factors that are much easier to address, such as a lack of access to methodological details, raw data, and research materials, are also playing a major role in the reproducibility crisis. In particular, inadequate reporting of the genetics of laboratory animals in research papers is common.

Methods

ARRIVE has been a pioneer in demonstrating to researchers using in vivo animals the importance of structured documentation for animal research. In the same vein, we brought together a large number of leading international experts, consortia, and learned societies in the field of animal genetics to define the LAG-R recommendations for Laboratory Animal Genetic Reporting.

Results

Our recommendations have been published in Nature Communications (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49439-y). This LAG-R framework defines a set of guidelines to support more complete documentation of the genetic make-up of animals that are used in research.

Conclusions

The purpose of LAG-R is to help authors better describe the information they should already have in scientific papers, but also to provide reviewers with a checklist of essential genetic information that needs to be included in a publication. LAG-R provides an easy-to-understand list of recommendations with the goal of improving reproducibility, reliability, and overall scientific rigor.