According to the Animal Welfare Act, the principal investigator is required to provide the following (at minimum) in the IACUC application:
- the names of the databases searched;
- the date the search was performed;
- the period covered by the search; and
- the key words and/or the search strategy used.
The written narrative should include adequate information for the IACUC to assess that a reasonable and good faith effort was made to determine the availability of alternatives or alternative methods.
It will help your report to keep a log of the above four points for each search performed. See examples below.
