We launched a cross-sectional survey of international pain researchers on two occasions from March- April and  June 2024.  Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Galway’s Research Ethics Committee (ID no. 2024.01.013).

The survey comprised 99 questions and examined current practice in, and opinion on, methodological approaches to the study of sex and gender as variables in preclinical pain research (non-human animals, cells or tissues) and human/clinical research (humans, and/ or cells, tissues or fluids derived from humans, e.g. iPSCs, biopsies, plasma etc.).

Participants were invited to complete the preclinical and/or human/clinical arms of the survey, depending on their area(s) of research.

The Survey has informed the the development of recommendations and guidelines for the best practice inclusion and study of sex and gender in pain research