How to search:

Since any of the 3 Rs-- Refinement, Reduction, and Replacement-- may constitute an alternative,  your search strategy will necessarily be open-ended. Another challenge is that alternatives are not always, or even usually, identified as such.  This requires considering and using search terms that might retrieve articles including alternatives, articles on a refinement or new method that results in reduction.

Keyword searching. Terms such as model, or husbandry, or analgesia, may indicate alternative information, but the indexing may not include them. For example, terms like restraint or adjuvant or noninvasive used as keywords will locate articles that would not be identified searching under the subject heading Animal Welfare, for example. In fact, searching under the subject headings Animal Welfare or Animal Testing Alternatives will generally lead you to articles which discuss the concepts rather than specific information.

A list of suggested terminology for alternatives is available from this website. While this list of terms is not exhaustive, you can use it as a model, combining alternatives terms with those specific to your area of research.

Databases.  The next step, and arguably most important, is selection of  databases.  This list of databases includes bibliographic databases as well as websites dealing specifically with animal welfare and alternatives. There are additional websites that may be of interest on the related links page. 

Each database indexes a selective piece of the published world.  While there is crossover and duplication, each also provides areas of unique coverage. Each database has its own strengths and perspective. For example: CAB covers veterinary medicine better than PubMed; PsycInfo includes behavior and pain publications, as well as indexing information back to the 1800s; and, Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts provides unique access to related research.

The following sites provide additional search strategies:

AWIC Literature Searching and Databases

AltWeb
Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, Johns Hopkins University

A Guide to Searching for Alternatives to the Use of Laboratory Animals
FRAME How to search for 3Rs information

Information on Alternatives Databases: a Joint Initiative
ECVAM Workshop on Alternatives Databases

Santa Barbara Animal Care Council
Sources of information about alternatives. Lists relevant books available at the UCSB Main Library with call numbers.

Select List of Databases

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Consider:

At some point, you may wish to consider the potential of implementing the three Rs into your protocol. A recent publication from FRAME and UFAW provides details on a variety of 3R methods--  Selection and Use of Replacement Methods in Animal Experimentation (Nottingham : FRAME ; Wheathampstead : UFAW, c1998).  It's available from UFAW publications list.

FRAME poster:
Early planning for a project which migh involve the use of animals

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UCDavis Center for Animal Alternatives Information
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of California, Davis

Updated 2/13/07

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