The Animal Data Project curates sources about animals used for food, products, entertainment, and research that relate to five topic areas: climate, environment, human health, communities, and animals themselves. We organize resources into three categories of sources:
- Peer-reviewed Research: These resources are published in academic journals with an explicit process for reviewing submissions. Resources include qualitative data, quantitative data, meta-analyses, and literature reviews.1
- Data Sources: Open access datasets.
- Other Documents: Includes resources from various sources, such as original research, meta-analyses, and literature reviews conducted by organizations. Legal documents, such as Amicus briefs and legislation, and investigative reports published by news sources are also found in this category.
Most resources include a summary prepared by an Animal Data Project team member. These summaries provide a concise overview of the resource and are not comprehensive. For open-access original research published in peer-reviewed journals, the summaries typically include a description of one or two main findings, a few strengths and limitations of the study, and possible implications. Note that the strengths and limitations are meant to assist the reader with a preliminary evaluation of the research and may not reflect those that a subject matter expert would identify.
Other resources, including literature reviews published in journals, may be structured differently, given the type and amount of content. For example, the summary may not include strengths and limitations.
The Animal Data Project is continually expanding the scope and depth of resources. Currently, resources are available for the following topics in sources published in 2016 onward:
- Meat consumption and environmental outcomes
- Meat consumption and all-cause mortality. Review articles on cancer outcomes
- Food waste and climate outcomes
- Factors affecting meat & plant-based consumption; nudging and the meat paradox
- Specific farmed animal welfare topics for pigs, dairy cows, cattle, and chickens
- Antibiotic use and disease transmission, including zoonosis
- Wildlife-human interactions
- How climate change affects wild animals, including conservation efforts
- Impacts of deforestation and logging on wild animals (sub-focus on Asia)
- Slaughterhouse workers and health outcomes
- Ethics of using animals for entertainment and ecotourism
- Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) associations with human health, property values, and community outcomes
- Legislation in Brazil, Canada, the United States, and European Union
1 Peer review does not guarantee that a particular published article (i.e., resource) is without substantial limitations or criticism; however, the process provides an important level of vetting.