Objective To analyze the current status of animal experiments of acupuncture in intervening chronic fatigue syndrome

so as to search for methods to improve the quality of animal experiment reports. Methods From the databases

such as CNKI

VIP

Wanfang

SinoMed

PubMed

Web of Science

Embase and Cochrane Library

the literature of animal experiment on acupuncture treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome was searched from January 1

(st)

2011 to April 2(st)

2011 to April 2

(nd)

2022. Data were extracted according to the animal research reporting in vivo experiment(ARRIVE) guidelines 2.0 and gold standard publication checklist(GSPC)

and statistical analysis was performed using Excel 2019. Results A total of 16 studies were finally included. The satis-faction rate of essential items in the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0 is 41.76%

while the satisfaction rate of recommended items is only 27.73% and of the GSPC is 25.89%. Out of 16 studies

13 of them explained the reasons for animal exclusion in the experiment

8 provided specific randomized methods

8 described detailed information on animal species

strains

and quantities

3 basically indicated that they had passed ethical review

7 explained the limitations of the research. All 16 studies reported the main findings and elucidated their potential clinical or scientific value. Conclusion Current animal studies on acupuncture in intervening the chronic fatigue syndrome are of certain limitation. Descriptions of multiple items are incomplete or missing

which prevents rea-ders from assessing reliability and authenticity of the animal experiment. It is recommended that in future research

experimental design

execution and report should be carried out according to the report guidelines for animal experiment to improve research quality.