A recent article by Cynthia Radnitz in the Journal for Critical Animal Studies points to the future when animals in research studies will have the same protections as humans used in research studies. Radnitz argues that research decisions involving animals should fall under the auspices of the same Institutional Review Board process that oversees human research, and that ethics protocols protecting vulnerable human groups (like young children, and people with cognitive disabilities) can be adapted for nonhuman animals involved in observational studies, ethnographic research, clinical trials, and therapeutic treatments.

See the full study here (p.51-83).