New platform to maximise the 3Rs impact of NC3Rs-funded research

All articles will be published almost immediately and then undergo invited open peer review.

The NC3Rs has previously described a 3Rs “valley of death” between the development of new 3Rs technologies and approaches and their subsequent uptake into practice. This lag is influenced by a range of factors including a lack of information in the published literature on 3Rs approaches such that awareness of their utility can be poor.  

The collaboration with F1000Research and its open and rapid publication model is part of the NC3Rs strategy to tackle the “valley of death” for the research it funds. This is by ensuring that the outputs of its investment in 3Rs R&D are not only widely available but that they contain sufficient technical detail to enable others in the scientific community to make an informed decision as to whether the new models and tools are appropriate for their purposes. To ensure that the scientific literature is complete, the NC3Rs will be working closely with their grant holders to identify gaps in information that could be filled by publishing in the NC3Rs portal.

The NC3Rs is the UK’s major funder of 3Rs research, committing around £8 million each year in grants and early career awards. The portal (one of F1000Research’s Gateways) will ensure that its grant holders have an opportunity to publish the full extent of their work, avoiding publication bias. The primary focus will be on providing a format where NC3Rs grant holders can describe the method development, its performance characteristics and steps taken to validate it as well as a full exposition of the 3Rs impacts. This information is relevant to a wide range of stakeholders including scientific peers and collaborators as well as ethics committees and regulators who are charged with ensuring the 3Rs are put into practice. 

Dr Vicky Robinson, Chief Executive at the NC3Rs welcomed the launch of the new NC3Rs Gateway:

“This is an exciting new collaboration for the NC3Rs and we are really pleased to be working with F1000Research to ensure all of the outputs from the research we fund are in the public domain. The scientists we support have great track records in publishing the scientific findings obtained using the new models and tools we have funded the development of. But, often, the papers don’t include much detail on the impacts of the work in terms of minimising the use of lab animals or the suffering they may experience. This is a missed opportunity and the NC3Rs Gateway will ensure greater transparency and ultimately the shift in animal research that we are committed to delivering.” 

Dr Rebecca Lawrence, Managing Director of F1000, the publisher of F1000Research, said:

“We are delighted to be partnering with NC3Rs to launch a new Gateway on their behalf that will be dedicated to showcasing the 3Rs research that they fund. By publishing method and review articles in an immediate and transparent manner, and by ensuring that they include any underlying data and associated methods information, others will be able to build upon this work. In making a central point for researchers to publish and access this information, NC3Rs are ensuring new advances and discoveries can become common practice much sooner than before.”

The NC3Rs Gateway can be found at www.f1000research.com/NC3Rs.

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Notes for Editors:

Contact the NC3Rs Media Office:

Dr Kasia Makowska, Press and communications officer
Email: kasia.makowska@nc3rs.org.uk
Tel: 020 7611 2275

About the NC3Rs:

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) is a leading independent scientific organisation dedicated to replacing, refining and reducing the use of animals in research and testing (the 3Rs). It supports the UK science base by driving and funding innovation and technological developments that minimise the need for animals in research and testing, and lead to improvements in welfare where animals continue to be used. It funds research, supports training and development, and stimulates changes in regulations and practice.

Primarily funded by Government, the NC3Rs is also supported by the charitable and private sectors. It works with scientists in universities and industry in the UK and internationally.

Further information can be found at: www.nc3rs.org.uk @nc3rs

About F1000:

F1000 provides a suite of services to support researchers in discovering literature, and then writing and communicating their own work. F1000Prime helps with literature discovery; F1000Workspace makes it easier to write and share articles; F1000Research provides an author-driven approach to the publication of research results in an immediate and transparent way. F1000 also works with funders and research institutions to ensure their grantees can publish the outputs of their funding in more rapid and open ways. https://f1000.com

About F1000Research: 

F1000Research is an open research publishing platform for life scientists from F1000, that offers immediate publication and transparent peer review, avoiding editorial bias and ensuring the inclusion of all source data. All articles must pass an initial in-house quality check and are then published in an open access format on F1000Research. Following open, invited peer review (where the referee’s name and affiliation and the referee reports are published alongside the article), authors can revise their article which are then published as new article versions. Once articles are deemed to have passed peer review they are indexed in PubMed. https://f1000research.com