Australian Veterinary Journal
Author Guidelines
1. SUBMISSION
Authors should kindly note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.
Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines (Word, 65KB), manuscripts should be submitted online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/avj
Click here for more details on how to use ScholarOne, our online manuscript submission system.
Data protection:
By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (Wiley) and partners for production and publication. The publication and the publisher recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services, and have practices in place to ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed. You can learn more at https://authorservices.wiley.com/statements/data-protection-policy.html.
Preprint policy:
Please review Wiley’s preprint policy here.
Subscription/hybrid journals
This journal will consider for review articles previously available as preprints on non-commercial servers such as ArXiv, bioRxiv, psyArXiv, SocArXiv, engrXiv, etc. Authors may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to non-commercial servers at any time. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.
For help with submissions, please contact: avj.eo@wiley.com
2. AIMS AND SCOPE
AVJ is the official journal of the Australian Veterinary Association for the past 90 years. The AVJ aims to advance veterinary science by publishing and promoting high-quality, refereed scientific and clinical articles. The AVJ welcomes original contributions, including original research articles, short contributions, reviews, case series, clinical updates and letters on all aspects of veterinary science. The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to the Australasian veterinary profession.
3. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS
Manuscripts must:
be original i.e. should include the work of the authors, rather than simply reporting the work of others
fit the definition of “research;” i.e defined as the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies and understandings. This could include synthesis and analysis of previous research to the extent that it leads to new and creative outcomes
be consistent with the aims and scope of the journal.
Articles that are unsuitable for publication include those that:
are simply opinion pieces
are simply a collection of readily available information (such as a university lecture or textbook chapter) where there is no original research or critique from the author(s)
are simple reports of laboratory results or other activities, with no discussion as to the importance or significance to Australasian veterinary science.
The editors may change the categories of submitted articles at their discretion. In general, articles will follow the IMRD system - introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE (MAX 6500 WORDS)
Original articles will be judged against all 5 of the following core criteria:
to be aimed at new findings (novel),
to be based on original, not obvious, concepts and hypotheses (creative),
to be uncertain about the final outcomes (uncertain),
to be planned and budgeted (systematic), and
to lead to results that could be possibly reproduced (transferable and/or reproducible).
The format of an original article should be:
Structured or unstructured abstract (up to 250 words)
Include up to 6 key words and an abbreviation list if applicable.
Introduction – set premise for study, give sufficient background to justify study, state objective(s) and hypothesis if study is hypothesis driven. The introduction does not need to be a complete literature review. A common structure is to summarise (a) What is known about the subject. (b) what is not known; and (c) the hypothesises of the present study and how they add to our knowledge.
Materials and methods – state methods in enough detail for readers to reproduce your work. For observational studies, the data manipulation is the main focus of the methods and must be described in detail.
Results – succinctly report the results, provide sufficient detail that data analysis can be replicated, refer to figures and tables when necessary (do not duplicate results).
Discussion – interpret and critique findings that relate to objectives. Do not present new data, do not over interpret results nor propose mechanisms beyond the scope of the study. Finish with appropriate conclusion, again, relative to objective(s). Ensure that limitations of your study are explicitly addressed.
Acknowledgements – acknowledge funding, technical support, contributions from people who do not qualify as authors etc.
Conflict of Interest statement – required for all manuscripts. If there is no conflict of interest, this should be stated.
Up to 60 references including DOIs where available
Tables.
Legends.
CRITICAL REVIEW (MAX 8000 WORDS)
Critical or systematic reviews and invited reviews may be accepted by the AVJ. Critical or systematic reviews usually pose a research question, provide details about how the literature was searched (i.e. precisely which databases and search terms), describe how the analysis of each paper was conducted then seek to answer the research question. Such reviews add to the body scientific knowledge because the authors make their own conclusions based on an analysis of the work of others.
Simple reviews which simply summarise some of the literature and are really no more than referenced lecture notes or continuing education material are generally not appropriate for inclusion in the AVJ as review articles.
Systematic reviews should follow PRISMA guidelines (http://www.prisma-tatement.org/PRISMAStatement/). Scoping reviews should follow the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (http://www.prisma-statement.org/Extensions/ScopingReviews).
The general format for a review article would be:
Introduction – set premise for review, justify why one is necessary, state objective clearly (i.e. propose question to be answered by review).
Critical review – the relevant literature must be critiqued (in light of the question posed) examining the relevance and validity of findings and conclusions. You must source original information (i.e. do not include other reviews).
Conclusion – summarise findings in light of objective(s).
Acknowledgements – acknowledge funding, technical support, contributions from people who do not qualify as authors etc.
Conflict of Interest statement
Tables
Legends
We encourage evidence-based reviews that critically evaluate the effect of specified treatments or interventions on defined conditions form a valuable part of evidence-based medicine.
CRITICALLY APPRAISED TOPIC (CAT; MAXIMUM 2000 WORDS)
CATs are short summaries of the most up-to-date, high-quality available evidence that is found using thorough structured methods. They can be used to answer specific, clinically-orientated questions that arise recurrently in real-life practice.
Clinical Scenario (equivalent to the Introduction)
Question (equivalent to the hypothesis; in PICO format)
Search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and search outcome results (broadly equivalent to the Methods section) in Table format; columns include databases searched and dates, date ranges, search terms.
Description of inclusion and exclusion criteria in Table format; columns include database, number of results, number excluded (column each for different reasons), total relevant papers.
Summaries of the evidence (equivalent to the Results section) in Table format; columns include author and year, population, intervention studied, outcome studied, design and sample size, main findings, limitations.
Critical appraisal of the evidence (equivalent to the conclusion)
Acknowledgements – acknowledge funding, technical support etc.
References
INVITED REVIEW (Consult the Editor before choosing this) AND CASE REPORTS/SERIES (MAX 3500 WORDS)
In general case reports should be directed towards the AVP or AEV (https://www.ava.com.au/library-resources/library/ava-scientific-journals/contribute-to-a-journal/).
For consideration for publication in the AVJ, case reports should be novel and concern a rare or new condition. Case reports need to clearly identify what they are adding to scientific knowledge and why the information is new and why it is significant to the Australian Veterinary Profession. A case report of a single case where a particular procedure did or did not work does not generally meet these criteria as it could also be looked at as being equivalent to a single data point in a larger study.
Case reports that do not add substantially to the existing literature will not be published. For example, the first published example in Australia (or any other country) of a condition that is well recognised elsewhere, or in another species, is not necessarily of sufficient interest to warrant publication in the AVJ.
Descriptions should be brief and clear. The clinical features should be only those needed to convince readers that the case is what it is claimed to be and that other plausible diagnoses have been excluded. Reference ranges of values for any laboratory tests conducted must be included.
Unstructured abstract (up to 250 words)
Case report/series – include a referenced introduction to specify the reason for publication and justify merit. Case reports must provide substantial evidence to support publication.
Clinical features – history and clinical findings, diagnosis, treatment and outcome.
Discussion – discuss the case in light of other published, discuss evidence provided by case, discuss relevance or implications of the case.
Conclusion.
Acknowledgements – acknowledge funding, technical support, contributions from people who do not qualify as authors etc.
Conflict of Interest statement
Up to 30 references including DOIs where available
Tables.
Legends.
SHORT CONTRIBUTION (MAX 1500 WORDS)
May include novel observations and interpretations that have not arisen within rigorous experimental constraints and may not therefore warrant a full article, or observations that are of wide interest, but of a minor nature.
Unstructured abstract (up to 250 words)
The body of the text is unstructured (no headings required)
Acknowledgements – acknowledge funding, technical support, contributions from people who do not qualify as authors etc.
Conflict of Interest statement
Up to 15 references including DOIs where available
Tables.
Legends.
HISTORY (MAX 5000 WORDS)
History articles will be peer reviewed. Particular consideration will be given to the originality of the manuscript and its importance to the Australasian veterinary profession. Like review articles, History articles should include interpretation and conclusions of the authors, based on the evidence they present. We can often learn from history, and lessons from history are encouraged as part of the conclusions. Articles which simply describe historical events without explaining why the information is important or relevant, or which do not make conclusions based on the evidence provided will not be accepted.
Unstructured abstract (up to 250 words)
Articles should be relevant to the history of the veterinary profession in Australasia
Acknowledgements – acknowledge funding, technical support etc
Up to 40 references including DOIs where available
Tables
Legends
ORIGINAL PAPERS BASED ON AVA CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS (MAX 6500 WORDS)
AVJ may accept papers that are closely based on papers submitted as part of any AVA conference proceedings which would otherwise be available only from the AVA Resource Library. These articles will be:
clearly identified in the journal as being based on conference proceedings
consistent with the normal requirements for AVJ submission, except that publication of results at an AVA conference will specifically not preclude publication in the journals
will go through a standard peer review process
likely to be different to the original paper submitted to the conference.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (MAX 800 WORDS)
The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to not publish any letter. Letters will be subject to minimal editing procedures, such as spelling, punctuation and verification of facts. While members and industry are encouraged to express their views freely and completely in this forum, the AVJ does not accept letters that:
defame or maliciously slander individuals
defame or bring false claims against organisations
quote misleading figures or facts
exceed 800 words
blatantly endorse a particular veterinary product manufacturer, practice or veterinarian over other members for commercial gain.
Authors should:
quote sources or provide references for any figures or information referred to in the correspondence
provide all their contact details to enable prompt processing and verification of their letters.
The Editor-in-Chief may:
discuss any correspondence being considered for publication with the AVA President, AVA management and/or members of the Editorial Advisory Board, when appropriate
seek a response from other parties and publish responses together with the original letter - particularly when letters refer to previous AVJ articles
seek legal advice
suggest changes to letters
INVITED REVIEWS
The AVJ publishes invited reviews on topics of interest. Invited reviews are referenced opinion pieces that present a summary of the current knowledge about a particular topic that are written by experts in that particular field. They differ from critical or systematic reviews in that they do not necessarily answer a particular research question or have a systematic search criteria, but rather rely on the authors’ experience and judgment. Invited reviews may include clinical oriented reviews – for example the best way to treat a certain condition.
Invited reviews usually consists of a short unstructured abstract, introduction, subheadings to organise the topic, and a summary. The reference list is expected to comprehensively cover all the relevant major published work. The review should be topical, current, balanced, accurate, quotable and easily understood, with clear take-home messages.
Authors interested in writing a review should contact the editor-in-chief, editor@ava.com.au, with justification for the review. Ultimately, the invitation for submissions and overseeing of the peer-review process are the responsibility of the editor-in-chief. Authors should not submit an Invited Review without first receiving an invitation letter. The Invited Reviews editor may also solicit reviews on topics of interest. Invited reviews undergo a peer review process, and an invitation to write a review does not guarantee publication. The AVJ does not publish unsolicited reviews.
GRADUATE STUDENT LITERATURE REVIEWS
Students who have passed their thesis examination from higher degrees in the previous 3 years may submit a suitably modified version their literature review (as Grad Student Literature Review) to be evaluated by the journal for publication as review papers. Papers must be prepared according to AVJ Style and Form and modified to suit a standalone format (e.g. they must not refer to chapters in the thesis). Students submitting papers should note in the cover letter that the paper is a graduate student literature review. It is acknowledged that there has been some form of peer review already on such papers, and authors are encouraged to nominate their examiners as peer reviewers during the submission process. Acceptance criteria includes the quality and originality of the review and its significance to the Australasian veterinary profession.
Wherever possible time or date-sensitive material will endeavour to be published in an appropriate time-frame but this is subject to space availability and deadlines.
4. PREPARING THE SUBMISSION
Cover Letters
Cover letters are not mandatory; however, they may be supplied at the author’s discretion.
Parts of the Manuscript
The manuscript should be submitted in separate files: main text file; figures.
Main Text File
The text file should be presented in the following order:
A short informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations (see Wiley's best practice SEO tips);
A short running title of less than 40 characters;
The full names of the authors;
The author's institutional affiliations where the work was conducted, with a footnote for the present address if different from where the work was conducted;
Acknowledgments;
Abstract and keywords;
Main text;
References;
Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes);
Figure legends;
Appendices (if relevant).
Figures and supporting information should be supplied as separate files.
Acknowledgments
Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section. Financial and material support should also be mentioned. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not appropriate.
Conflict of Interest Statement
Authors will be asked to provide a conflict of interest statement during the submission process. For details on what to include in this section, see the ‘Conflict of Interest’ section in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section below. Submitting authors should ensure they liaise with all co-authors to confirm agreement with the final statement.
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