Announcing a call for Brief Reports

Brief Reports include single-finding papers that can be reported with one or two illustrations (figures/tables), descriptions of unexpected observations, and lab protocols. Posters from conferences or internal meetings can also be summarised as Brief Reports.

If you have made a simple modification to an existing model that enables a reduction in the number of animals used or an improvement in their welfare, or a dataset generated as part of an attempt to characterise or validate a novel 3Rs approach (regardless of whether the attempt was successful or not), this can be published in a Brief Report.

Brief Reports are papers that don’t necessarily need a huge introduction or discussion section, they mainly include the relevant context of the work with detailed methods and protocols, and a clear description of the results supported by the source data. These papers therefore shouldn’t take as long to write up and can be published very quickly after acceptance.

Publishing this work enables authors to get credit for experimental work that would normally fall by the wayside and helps to disseminate useful resources that can be put into practice immediately.

The objective of the NC3Rs gateway is to raise awareness of new 3Rs approaches and increase confidence in their capability. All article types on the gateway have a customised format that allows the 3Rs, scientific and practical benefits of the work, as well as current and potential applications to be highlighted.

The F1000Research publishing model is designed to speed up the sharing of research, improve transparency and reproducibility, and reduce editorial barriers to publishing. Peer review by independent invited experts takes place openly after publication. Transparent peer review helps to address potential biases in the process, adds value to the article in question, provides reviewers with credit for their work, and can provide better written and more constructive feedback than anonymous peer review. Authors are encouraged to respond openly to the peer review reports, which are published with the article, and can publish revised versions of their article at no further cost, if they wish. Articles that pass peer review are then indexed in Scopus (receiving a Citation Score) and PubMed.

1. Please note that the NC3Rs gateway is open only to NC3Rs-funded researchers.
2. Authors should read the guidance provided to assist them in ensuring their article meets the requirements for publishing a Brief Report on the gateway.
3. F1000Research advise authors to read their post-publication peer-review model and their policies prior to submission.
4. For this call we are operating an updated submission process, whereby authors should submit their draft directly to the gateway by 15 June 2022.
5. The NC3Rs will pay for the Article Processing Charges for Brief Reports submitted under this call.

To support this call we have developed specific guidance and resources to aid our researchers in drafting Brief Reports.

In need of some inspiration? Take a look at the gateway to read the latest 3Rs developments our grant holders have published.

Online workshops

Finding it difficult to get uninterrupted time to start drafting your Brief Report? Sign up to join one of our workshops. Attendees will get a short presentation from a member of the team about the article type, with the rest of the time available to use to work on your draft.

Schedule (click the title to find out more and register):

• Recording: Abstract, Introduction and Research Highlights box

• Recording: Methods (including experimental design)
• Recording: Results and Discussion
• Recording: Making sure your draft is submission ready

1:1 call

Do you have a question about the article type or publication process? Arrange a call with a member of the NC3Rs team via 3rsgrants@nc3rs.org.uk to discuss.