AI-based search engine to facilitate replacement (by: Swedish 3R Center)

A search engine based on AI can be used to find studies related to the 3Rs. Photo: Mostphotos.
AI-based search engine to facilitate replacement

An international collaboration including Karolinska Institutet has led to a new free online tool for researchers, regulators and ethic reviewers when it comes to finding methods to replace animal models.

Funded by the Swedish Fund for Research Without Animal Experiments, the 3Ranker portal was launched for public use in the beginning of 2023.

The project has developed an artificial intelligence-based search algorithm for 3R-relevant papers, and it currently works for 35 million abstracts that are indexed in Medline. The project has so far focused on Replacement, but plans to include Refinement and Reduction in the future. The 3Ranker portal is setup as a collaborative platform and users interested in contributing as certified reviewers can apply for a review access free of charge.

In addition to the search function, the 3Ranker portal also contains curated abstracts, abstracts that have been evaluated by experts. These abstracts have been considered to have a clear connection to the 3Rs principle and cover so far, the research fields neuroscience and skin. The evaluation work is constantly in progress.

The 3Ranker portal aims to facilitate the identification of scientific articles describing methods and other content with a clear connection to the 3Rs principle. The portal is open to everyone and has great potential to increase the use of methods with a 3Rs focus and as a tool in the 3Rs work in various research-related organizations.

For further information, contact the Swedish representatives Rafael Frias and Brun Ulfhake at Karolinska Institutet.

https://www.open3r.org/