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The Animal Welfare Act Regulations, Section 2.31 and USDA (Policy #11 and #12) require that a written narrative be provided by the Principle Investigator (PI) to determine whether or not alternatives exist to procedures which may cause pain or distress in animals used for teaching or research. This website was established by librarians at UIUC to assist animal users with this federally mandated responsibility.
Selecting the Appropriate Database
The UIUC Libraries subscribe to a number of online databases that index and abstract most of the journal literature in the biological and medical sciences. These online resources make keyword and subject searching relatively easy. However, selecting the most appropriate database(s) to search and the most effective terminology is not always an easy task. Databases frequently used for alternatives searches include MEDLINE, SCOPUS, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, AGRIS and AGRICOLA. Depending on the subject, searching several of these databases for alternatives is considered adequate by the IACUC. In addition to the Library's online databases, a number of excellent Internet sources for alternatives are available (see list in side-bar).
Selecting the Appropriate Terminology
A thorough literature search is important before the start of any new research project in order to prevent duplication of work already performed and to establish priority. An effective literature search strategy incorporates keywords and concepts that describe the project and/or area of study. The original project literature search can serve as the foundation for an animal alternatives search by adding keywords used in the scope of the 3R's (refine, reduce, replace).
Problems may arise in choosing appropriate keywords to develop an effective search strategy that yields the most pertinent information. The databases listed below, with the exception of BIOSIS, all contain controlled vocabulary terms for locating alternative animal use procedures. When the controlled terms are employed to create a subset of the database, searching for specific animals, procedures, chemicals, etc within that subset will narrow the subject and hopefully, improve relevancy of the search results
Appropriate search terms or keywords include animal testing alternatives, alternatives, tissue culture, cell culture, simulation, in vitro, and model. Additional keywords can be found on the UC Center for Animal Alternatives web page. These terms are useful, but are not the only terminology possible.
The US Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Information Center (USDA/AWIC) provides an excellent worksheet for developing search strategies that help determine if alternatives exist and whether the protocol unnecessarily duplicates previous research.
Also, a recent article by Chilov, et al. describes the effective use of MEDLINE's medical subject heading (MeSH) terms for identifying alternatives to animals in biomedical research.
Table 1. Index terms for alternative methods used by selected databases*
| Database |
Subject |
Thesaurus |
Relevant Terms |
Medline (PubMed)
National Library of Medicine
(US NLM)
http:www.nlm.nih.gov |
The major US medical database from the National Library of
Medicine, available for free as PubMed or through library
subscriptions as MEDLINE. Good for surgical or toxicological
studies; also covers veterinary medicine, but not as well as
CAB. 1960-present. |
Medical subject
headings (MeSH) |
Animal Testing Alternatives
Animal Use Alternatives |
SCOPUS
Elsevier Science, NL
http://www.scopus.com/scopus/home.url |
A broad database covering the Life Sciences, Health Sciences,
Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences; coverage includes
Medline and quality web sources. 1960-present.
|
NONE |
Animal Welfare
Animal Testing
-Reduction
-Alternatives
-Refinement
-Replacement |
AGRIS
United Nations
Food & Agric. Org. (FAO)
http://www.fao.org/agris |
An agricultural database from the FAO; good for research from
developing countries; also does veterinary medicine. 1975-present. |
AGROVOC |
Animal Testing Alternatives |
CAB Abstracts
Commonwealth Agric.
Bureau Int (CABI) UK
http://www.cabi.org |
An agricultural database from CAB (formerly the Commonwealth
Agricultural Bureau); larger than AGRIS but also good for
developing country research; the primary veterinary medicine
database. 1910-present. |
CAB Thesaurus |
Animal Testing Alternatives |
AGRICOLA
National Agriculture Library
(USDA)
http://www.nal.usda.gov |
The major US agricultural database from the National
Agriculture Library; includes veterinary medicine. 1970-present. |
CAB Thesaurus |
Animal Testing Alternatives
Animal Use
-Alternatives
-Reduction
-Refinement
-Replacement
|
BIOSIS
Biological Abstracts
Thompson Scientific
|
Also known as Biological Abstracts; the main database for
biological and non-clinical biomedical research. Unlike the
other databases in this list, does not use controlled subject
headings. Good for non-traditional research species.1970-present. |
Taxonomic only |
Animal Testing Alternatives
Animal Use
-Alternatives
-Reduction
-Refinement
-Replacement |
*Table adapted from: Grune, Barbara, et al. ALTEX 21, 3/04 p. 122
Chilov, Marina, et al. "Using MeSH to search for alternatives to the use of animals in research." Medical Reference Services Quarterly. Vol. 26(3), Fall 2007 doi: 10.1300/J115v26n03_04 |
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