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Topic · Small Animals

Animal testing and alternatives

Animal testing and alternatives is a research topic within Small Animals. Science Explorer counts 18k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on improving the reporting and conduct of animal research studies, with an emphasis on the use of ARRIVE guidelines, cytotoxicity assays, ethical considerations, systematic reviews, in vitro testing methods, and addressing publication bias. It also discusses the challenges in translating findings from animal studies to human applications and the determination of sample sizes for preclinical studies.

  • ARRIVE Guidelines
  • Animal Research Reporting
  • Cytotoxicity Assays
  • Preclinical Studies
  • Translation to Humans
  • Ethical Considerations
  • Systematic Reviews
  • In Vitro Testing
  • Publication Bias
  • Sample Size Determination
Research works
18k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+11%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
43% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Animal testing and alternatives

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Animal testing and alternatives research?

By volume, the United States and Germany publish the most (876 and 197 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 876 works
  2. 2 Germany 197 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 185 works
  4. 4 India 167 works
  5. 5 China 141 works
  6. 6 Brazil 139 works
  7. 7 France 116 works
  8. 8 Japan 85 works
  9. 9 Italy 73 works
  10. 10 Canada 65 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 42.9%Germany: 9.6%United Kingdom: 9.0%India: 8.2%6 others listed: 30.3%43%largest
United States876 · 42.9%Germany197 · 9.6%United Kingdom185 · 9.0%India167 · 8.2%6 others listed619 · 30.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Animal testing and alternatives research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Michigan publishes the most Animal testing and alternatives research, followed by Universidade de São Paulo and University of Pennsylvania.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of MichiganUnited States 29 works
  2. 2 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 29 works
  3. 3 University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 27 works
  4. 4 Research Institute for Fragrance MaterialsUnited States 25 works
  5. 5 University of ArizonaUnited States 25 works
  6. 6 University of WürzburgGermany 25 works
  7. 7 Columbia UniversityUnited States 25 works
  8. 8 Oregon Health & Science UniversityUnited States 23 works
  9. 9 Lund UniversitySweden 21 works
  10. 10 University of Tennessee at KnoxvilleUnited States 21 works

Who are the leading researchers in Animal testing and alternatives?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Animal testing and alternatives include David Moher, Douglas G. Altman and Rob Knight.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 862k citations
  3. 3 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  4. 4 Julian P. T. Higgins United Kingdom 390k citations
  5. 5 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  6. 6 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k citations
  7. 7 John P. A. Ioannidis United States 317k citations
  8. 8 Jeremy Grimshaw Canada 281k citations
  9. 9 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Animal testing and alternatives?

The most cited paper in Animal testing and alternatives is "Superoxide dismutase: Improved assays and an assay applicable to acrylamide gels" (Charles Beauchamp, Irwin Fridovich, 1971), with 12,959 citations. Next come "Ethical guidelines for investigations of experimental pain in conscious animals" (7,814) and "Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research" (7,456).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Superoxide dismutase: Improved assays and an assay applicable to acrylamide gels Charles Beauchamp, Irwin Fridovich · Analytical Biochemistry Nov 1971 12,959
2 Ethical guidelines for investigations of experimental pain in conscious animals Manfred Zimmermann · Pain Jun 1983 7,814
3 Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research Carol Kilkenny, William J. Browne, Innes C. Cuthill et al. · PLoS Biology Open access 29 Jun 2010 7,456
4 A simple practice guide for dose conversion between animals and human Anroop Balachandran Nair, Shery Jacob · Journal of Basic and Clinical Pharmacy Open access 2016 6,160
5 The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research Nathalie Percie du Sert et al. · PLoS Biology Open access 14 Jul 2020 6,005
All 95 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Animal testing and alternatives research done?

The largest centres of Animal testing and alternatives research in 2022-now are New York (United States), São Paulo (Brazil), London (United Kingdom) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Woodcliff Lake, Wurzburg and Knoxville.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 New YorkUnited States 53 works
  2. 2 São PauloBrazil 48 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 48 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 40 works
  5. 5 Washington D.C.United States 40 works
  6. 6 PhiladelphiaUnited States 36 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 32 works
  8. 8 Ann ArborUnited States 30 works
  9. 9 BerlinGermany 29 works
  10. 10 SeoulSouth Korea 28 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Woodcliff LakeUS · 25.2 works725×
  2. WurzburgDE · 25.7 works24×
  3. KnoxvilleUS · 21.3 works13×
  4. PortlandUS · 24.0 works13×
  5. LundSE · 21.5 works11×
  6. TucsonUS · 25.4 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Animal testing and alternatives than the world average.

See Animal testing and alternatives on the map

Where is the best place to study Animal testing and alternatives?

Among universities, judged by research, Johns Hopkins University, University of Basel and University of Zurich score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 6.94%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Johns Hopkins Univer…University of BaselUniversity of ZurichUniversity of Michigan
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 73.023.2%3.8×15 +21.6%
2University of BaselSwitzerland 64.117.2%11.2×11 +497.5%
3University of ZurichSwitzerland 60.815.2%5.9×10 +43.0%
4University of MichiganUnited States 60.41.6%7.6×29 +32.5%
5Columbia UniversityUnited States 58.72.5%8.9×24 +22.4%
6University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 58.61.2%10.4×28 +28.5%
7Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 57.05.8%7.4×13 +52.5%
8Lund UniversitySweden 56.01.7%15.0×21 +16.6%
9University of WürzburgGermany 54.71.0%31.6×25 +29.7%
10University of ArizonaUnited States 53.60.0%15.5×25 +39.3%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Animal testing and alternatives, country by country

Is Animal testing and alternatives research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 11% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Animal testing and alternatives.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Animal testing and alternatives as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Animal testing and alternatives0.012% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Animal testing and alternatives over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Animal testing and alternatives10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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