[1][2] Additionally, it found issues with the way animal research is reported, with large proportions of articles not stating a hypothesis or objective of the study, lacking specifics about the characteristics of the animals used, not having used techniques such as randomization or blinding to reduce experimental bias, and not fully describing statistical methodology or providing measures of the precision or variability of the results.
This initial revision of the guidelines was a checklist of 20 items intended to cover the "minimum information that all scientific publications reporting research using animals should include," such as specific details about the animals used, their living conditions, and the experimental, statistical, and analytical methods used in the study.
The guidelines were written using the CONSORT statement, a general-purpose 25-item checklist of recommendations for reporting randomized trials, as a basis.
[5][6] The most significant change from the original ARRIVE guidelines was the splitting of the checklist into two separate checklists – an "Essential 10", which encompasses the "basic minimum" that must be included in a manuscript for its findings to be assessed reliably, and a "Recommended Set", which encompasses items that add context and helpful details to a manuscript.
[5] Meta-analyses of studies in the fields of peritoneal dialysis and orthodontics have found that adoption and enforcement of the revised guidelines continues to be sub-optimal.