Response to letter to the editor: "End effects in mechanical testing of biomaterials"

We appreciate the detailed response from Professor Horgan, discussing our letter to the editor concerned with end effects when mechanical testing soft tissues (Anssari-Benam et al., 2012a), and providing further insightful analysis. The concepts of end effects and characteristic decay length have indeed been well established for a long time in the context of solid mechanics, with substantial contributions from Professor Horgan, towards establishing theoretical and analytical criteria for their characterisation, as referenced in our previous publication (Anssari-Benam et al., 2012b; from Horgan (1972), Choi and Horgan (1977).