Protocol for an analysis of in vivo reporting standards by journal, institution and funder

BackgroundThe reporting of the measures taken to reduce risks of bias in in vivo research provides important information to research users and represents an important aspect of research quality. The testing of the effectiveness of interventions to improve research quality, and efforts in research improvement, both require the timely and efficient assessment of performance. MethodsWe describe methods which will allow (i) Identification of reports of in vivo research, (ii) retrieval of full text; (iii) attribution of journal, institution, and funder; (iv) automated annotation of the reporting of measures to reduce risks of bias, aggregated by year, journal, institution and funder.DiscussionThis observational study will provide information to guide efforts in research improvement.