Circumstances relating to animal experimentation must meet the International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals as issued by the Council for the International Organizations of Medical Sciences. They are obtainable from the following URL: http://www.cioms.ch/frame_1985_texts_of_guidelines.htm
Unnecessary cruelty in animal experimentation is not acceptable.
Conflict of interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal, or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence their work.
Submission declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright holder.
Copyright
The journal allows authors to retain the copyright of their papers and to retain publishing rights without restrictions.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these).
All articles published in our journals are open-access and freely available online, immediately upon publication. This is made possible by an article-processing charge (APC) of 30 US dollars, to contribute to review costs. The APC is payable when your manuscript is editorially accepted and before publication.
Manuscript preparation
The use of English, punctuation, and grammar should be of a sufficiently high standard to allow the article to be easily read and understood. Do not quote decimals with naked points (e.g. use 0.08, not .08). Times of day should be in the format 10:00 h. Numbers less than 10 should be text, unless they are followed by a unit of measurement or are used as designators e.g. seven fishes from Group 3 were each trained for 7 days, with three sessions each lasting 3 min. Numbers greater than nine should be written as numerals.
Article Structure
Manuscripts in general should be organized in the following order:
Title (should be clear, descriptive, and not too long).
Name(s) of the author(s) - we would like to publish full first names rather than initials and would appreciate it if you would provide this information. If available, write the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s).
Complete postal address (es) of affiliations Full telephone, Fax No. and the e-mail address of the corresponding author. Present address (es) of the author(s) if applicable. Complete correspondence address including an e-mail address to which the proofs should be sent
Abstract (not more than 350 words)
Keywords: 4-8 items (words or phrases)
Introduction
Material studied, area descriptions, methods, techniques, and ethical approval
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgment and any additional information concerning research grants, etc.
Conflict of Interest
References
Tables
Figure captions
Tables (separate file(s))
Figures (separate file(s)).
Manuscripts should have numbered lines and pages (mid-bottom), with wide margins and double spacing throughout, i.e. also for abstracts, footnotes, and references. Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc., should be numbered (right bottom corner). However, in the text no reference should be made to page numbers; if necessary one may refer to sections. Avoid excessive usage of italics to emphasize part of the text. Articles should not normally exceed 25 pages of text (12-point font, fully justified and double-spaced) and contain a maximum of eight or nine Tables and Figures in total.
Full-Length Manuscripts
For full-length manuscripts are limited to 4000 words of text (introduction through discussion). Exceptions may be made for solicited review articles. The first page should be a title page containing a Running Heading consisting of authors' last names and an abbreviated title consisting of 75 characters (including spaces), the full title (the title is listed entirely in the First capital letter; abbreviations are not permitted. The title should be as brief as possible, should state the principal finding, and should include the species involved (with scientific name in all Italic) when applicable, the authors' names, each author's affiliations, with a complete mailing address, and the name, address, phone, and fax numbers, and email address of the corresponding author. If available, write the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s).
The next pages should contain the Abstract (limited to 350 words), four to eight Keywords (or phrases) in alphabetical order, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, Literature Cited, tables (each table on a separate page), and Figure Legends (also on a separate page). All pages, starting with the Title Page, and including the Literature Cited, tables, and figure captions page, must be numbered in the upper right-hand corner on all copies.
Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results, and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided. Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself. As this is the most-read part of a paper, it is useful to provide some data and significance levels in the description of the main results. The Abstract should not be longer than 350 words.
Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results. The introduction "sets the scene" for your work. Do not over-reference statements; two or three key references should suffice unless each adds something specific. The introduction should not normally be more than 750 words (approximately three pages) and end with the aim of the work.
Material and methods
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. When locations are given, it should be remembered that this is an international journal and provides the state/county and country, or longitude and longitude for lesser-known locations. Full details of commercial products and technical equipment should be provided, as necessary, including the name of the model, manufacturer, and location of manufacture, and any Trademarks. As appropriate, a statement should be made that the work has received ethical approval or that the authors have read the policy relating to animal ethics and confirm that their study complies. Data collection and collation: units of all measures need to be specified; the experimental design should be explained together with an explanation of the experimental unit; how data are derived must be specified (e.g. individual scores were summed for the four, 12-h periods and the mean used for the analysis); the methods used for determining the normality of distribution of the residuals and homogeneity of variances need to be specified; any transformations of data need to be described; statistical analyses need to be reported in full.
Results
This section should include only results that are relevant to the hypotheses outlined in the Introduction and considered in the Discussion. Present results in tabular or graphical form (see following sections) wherever possible. Sufficient data should be presented so that the reader can interpret the results independently. If data have been transformed then these are the data that should be presented because these were the data analyzed. For biological meaning, back-transformed means (but not errors) should be presented. Include the type of test, the precise data (including a measure of variability) to which it was applied, the value of the relevant statistic, the sample size and/or degrees of freedom, and the probability level (abbreviated as an upper case P). Any assumptions that have been made should be stated. In doubt, a statistical expert should be consulted.
Discussion
The separate discussion should interpret the results, and set them in the context of what is already known in the appropriate field. This section should normally start with a summary of the main findings. The discussion should be focused and limited to the actual results presented, and should normally not exceed about 1500 words. All results presented in the Results section should be discussed (if they do not warrant discussion, they do not warrant inclusion) and there should be no presentation and discussion of results that have not been presented in the Results section (i.e. no new data presented in the Discussion). Any necessary extensive discussion of the literature should be placed in the Discussion, and not in the Introduction.
Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion. It should provide a brief "take home" message and briefly outline the application/implications of the study's findings.
Essential title page information
• Title.Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with an upper-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available. The e-mail address of each author and ORCID are required.
• Corresponding author. Indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, as well as post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
Math formulae
Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
In chemical formulae, the valence of ions should be given as, e.g. Ca2+, not as Ca++. Isotope numbers should precede the symbols e.g.18O. The repeated use of chemical formulae in the text is to be avoided where reasonably possible; instead, the name of the compound should be given in full. Exceptions may be made in the case of a very long name occurring very frequently or in the case of a compound being described as the end product of a gravimetric determination (e.g. phosphate as P2O5).
Table footnotes
Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Courier, Times New Roman
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.
Supply figures in the following formats (JEPG, TIF, PNG, and PDS).
Please do not:
• Supply embedded graphics in your word processor (spreadsheet, presentation) document
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, and WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used. Figure captions should be understandable without reference to the main text. Figures should not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.
Tables
Number tables consecutively following their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Table captions should provide sufficient detail so that the Table can be understood without reference to the main text.
Limitations
Authors should take notice of the limitations set by the size and layout of the journal. Large tables should be avoided. Reversing columns and rows will often reduce the dimensions of a table.
References
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" The Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given, and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.
References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.
Reference style
Text: All citations in the text should refer to:
1. Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
2. Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication;
3. Three or more authors: first author's name followed by "et al.," and the year of publication.
Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first chronologically, then alphabetically.
Examples: "as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ...."
List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication. If available, please always include DOIs as full DOI links in your reference list (e.g. “https://doi.org/abc”).
Examples:
Article in a journal:
SMITH, A. B., and JONES, C. D.,1994. Hepatitis of viral origin in Leporidae: Introduction and etiological hypotheses. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 25: 000-000.
_____, _____, GARWIN, E. F., 1995. An outbreak of cowpox in captive cheetahs: Virological and epidemiological studies. Journal of Hygiene 89: 000-000.
Chapter in a book or an edited book:
SMITH, A. B. 1998. The insects of Australia. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Division of Entomology, 2nd Edition, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 542 pp.
JORDAN, F. T. 1996. Avian mycoplasmosis. In Poultry diseases, F. T. Jordan and M. Pattison (eds.). W. B. Sanders Company Ltd., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pp. 81- 93.
Proceedings:
CHRISTOPHER, M., MNAGY, K. A., WALLIS, I., KLASSEN, J. K., and BERRY, K. H., 1997. Laboratory health profiles of desert tortoises in the Mojave Desert: A model for health status evaluation of chelonian populations. In Proceedings: Conservation, Restoration, and Management of Tortoises and Turtles - an International Conference, J. Van Abbema (ed.). New York Turtle and Tortoise Society, New York, pp. 76-82.
SCHUBERT, B. 1995. Quantitative determination of methylxanthines and methylic acids in urine from horse and dog by solid-phase extraction - HPLC. In Proceedings of Racing Analysts and Veterinarians, Stockholm, Sweden, P. Kallings, U. Bondesson and E. Houghton (eds.). R&W Publications, Newmarket, UK, pp. 364-366.
Dissertation/Thesis:
HOOPER, T. R. 1967. An urban environment as an ecological trap for Cooper’s hawks. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85 pp. HATHAWAY, S. C.1978. Leptospirosis in free-living animals in New Zealand, with particular reference to the possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). Ph.D. Thesis, Veterinary Pathology and Public Health, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, 434 pp.
Proofs
One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves.
The guide for authors is available in PDF format at this link.
Preprint registration:
If you submitted or registered your manuscript as a preprint in Research Square or other online digital indexes, we recommend that you should declare in your cover letter that you have a registered preprint online and provide the link so that the editor is aware of it before the similarity check.
Status of manuscript
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles, please contact us at the editorial office at:
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