2023, Maximizing value and minimizing waste in clinical trials in swine: Selecting outcomes to build an evidence base

• Published in the Journal of Swine Health and Production, impact factor 1.029

2022, Invited review: Maximizing value and minimizing waste in clinical trial research in dairy cattle: Selecting interventions and outcomes to build an evidence base

• Published in Journal of Dairy Science, impact factor 4.225

2022, Maximizing value and minimizing waste in swine research: Availability and accessibility of research reports

• Published in the Journal of Swine Health and Production, impact factor 1.029

2022, Watch your language: An exploration of the use of causal wording in veterinary observational research

• Published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, impact factor: 3.471

2022, Food insecurity among African Americans in the United States: A scoping review

• Published in PLoS ONE, impact factor 3.7

The MERIDIAN Network was created as this is a single place where all the reporting guidelines for research related to the animals traditionally associated with veterinary sciences- cats, dogs, livestock and equids are in one place for all researchers to assess.

Reporting guidelines are a checklist of the minimum standards of items that should be reported based on the study design used. Reporting guidelines contain two main items:

1. An abbreviated checklist with the items that should be included
2. An explication and elaboration document that provides examples of good reporting for authors to use and an explanation for why it is important that researchers provide the information

Reporting guidelines are designed to improve reporting so that society can maximize the value of research information. Reporting guidelines arose from efforts to synthesize research; these efforts have found a lot of important information as missing. This led to the first reporting guidelines called CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement to improve the quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials. CONSORT, written for clinical trials with human participants, was first published in 1996 and updated in 2001, and then again in 2010.

Clinicians also have ethical considerations around the use of animals for biomedical-uses research and for client-owned animals. Whether studying humans or animals, researchers should maximize the value of information of those involved in research.

When veterinarians started efforts to synthesize research, it became obvious that veterinary research suffered the same problems as human clinical trials. Information is critical for assessing if risk of errors in the research was missing. For example, in one area – vaccine research for the disease pinkeye in cattle - more than 80 percent of the reports did not discuss if the research was randomized or blinded- essential features of high-quality research. Further, it was documented that studies not blinded or randomized were associated with more favorable outcomes. This lead a group of 25 researchers, led by Dr. Annette O’Connor and Dr. Sargeant, to write REFLECT – reporting guidelines for randomized trials in livestock and food safety. This publication was considered so important by journal editors that it was published in 5 journals – at the time, an unheard-of precedent in veterinary sciences. Since then, it has become clear that reporting has improved. For example, in beef cattle, more than 90 percent of trials now report if they are randomized or blind. This has had a major impact of the quality of research reporting and conduct of future research.

As evidence of poor reporting was growing, the need for new reporting guidelines was identified. STROBE- VET – reporting guidelines for observational studies was published in [DATE]. Now in 2023, O'Connor et al. have published PETSORT, which is targeted at improving the reporting of clinical trials in cats and dogs and a critical adjunct to MSU's Clinical Innovations Program (CLIP). PETSORT involved more than 50 researchers in client-owned cat and dog research working together for 2 years to establish these guidelines.

Researchers are now working on PETSORT-EQ, which is about clinical trials in horses.