When engaged in animal research you are legally required to perform and record an appropriate literature search.
According to Policy 12 - Consideration of Alternatives of the Animal Care Resource Guide, a database search is the primary means of meeting this requirement, the narrative should include:
- the name(s) of the databases searched (due to the variation in subject coverage and sources used, one database is seldom adequate)
- the date the search was performed
- the time period covered by the search
- the search strategy (including scientifically relevant terminology) used