RIVER Recommendations

Transparent and accurate reporting of experiments is an essential component of good biological research. Well reported studies allow readers to assess the reliability of published results, and facilitate reproduction of the methods.

Reporting standards help researchers ensure that manuscripts are complete. Building on our experience developing and revising the ARRIVE guidelines, we have developed RIVER (Reporting In Vitro Experiments Responsibly), a set of six recommendations specifically tailored to reporting in vitro experiments, such that manuscripts describe the minimum information necessary for a reader to assess the methodological rigour and reliability of the study.

Reporting of in vitro experiments is important for several reasons. In vitro studies directly impact animal use, either because they use animal-derived reagents, or because they lead to subsequent animal experiments. In vitro models also provide significant replacement opportunities for some animal studies. For these models to be credible, and for the research community to have confidence in them, it is important that they be reported to the same standards expected of animal experiments. However, recent studies have shown that the reporting of in vitro experiments is often inadequate. For example, in a recent large-scale project examining reproducibility in cancer biology studies, none of the manuscripts contained enough detail to fully reproduce their methods. The RIVER recommendations promote a harmonised approach for journals to improve the standards of reporting in in vitro research.

The recommendations have been developed by a diverse, international working group, drawing from its expertise in research funding and publishing, methodology and statistics, and research in academic, regulatory and industry settings. They were released as a preprint in June 2023.

Throughout 2024 we have conducted a study to 'user test' the RIVER recommendations and assess whether the recommendations and their explanations are clear, well understood and useful in practice. Recruitment for the user testing study has now closed. 

Findings from the user testing will be used to revise the recommendations. We are currently performing a qualitative analysis of the feedback we have received, and once complete we will publish our findings. 

While recruitment is now closed we welcome any feedback from in vitro researchers on the RIVER recommendations. If you would like to share any comments or would like information on the recommendations please email RIVER@nc3rs.org.uk.

Some members of the RIVER working group have declared competing interests, these are listed in the document below.