Scientific publication practices shape what animal welfare research is conducted, funded, and applied, with significant implications for welfare progress.
Scientific publication practices have welfare consequences. Publication bias toward positive results means that failed welfare interventions are rarely reported, causing repetition of ineffective approaches. Refinement research — finding better ways to conduct procedures with less suffering — is systematically underfunded relative to its welfare impact because it lacks the commercial return of pharmaceutical development. Journals that require welfare justification for animal studies and publish negative results improve the evidence base for welfare decision-making.