Conference Collaboration Program

1. Introduction▲

The Royal Academic Press Conference Collaboration Program is a publisher-level initiative administered by Royal Academic Press LLC. It allows verified national and international scientific conferences to explore non-exclusive collaboration with participating journals whose scope is relevant to the conference theme.

Under this program, Animal Reports may consider original conference-related manuscripts that fall within its aims and scope. Royal Academic Press LLC manages applications, agreements, communications, sponsorship disclosures, and permitted use of the publisher’s and journal’s names and logos. The journal remains solely responsible for manuscript screening, reviewer selection, peer review, and publication decisions.

Participation in the program does not mean that Royal Academic Press or Animal Reports organizes, accredits, or endorses the conference. It does not guarantee that a conference collection will be established or that any manuscript will be accepted or published.

2. Purpose of the Program▲

The program aims to:

support responsible communication between verified scientific conferences and participating journals;
give authors a clear and voluntary route for submitting eligible conference-related research;
apply the same scientific, ethical, and editorial standards used for regular journal submissions;
support the responsible dissemination of conference research without promising publication, indexing, citations, or other metric-related outcomes; and
encourage useful collaboration between publishers, journals, and academic communities while protecting editorial independence.

3. Eligible Conferences▲

A conference considered for collaboration must have a scientific theme that falls within the scope of a participating journal. For Animal Reports, relevant areas include animal production, veterinary medicine, aquaculture, wildlife science, and related fields.

The application should demonstrate:

an identifiable organizing institution and scientific committee;
an official conference website or institutional page;
a clear scientific scope and academic program;
appropriate ethical and conflict-of-interest procedures;
transparent information about conference registration fees, sponsors, and funding;
responsible communication with presenters and potential authors; and
agreement not to promise journal acceptance or publication.

Royal Academic Press LLC will not collaborate with conferences associated with paper mills, misleading publication practices, undisclosed commercial manuscript recruitment, false indexing claims, or guaranteed publication.

4. Role of the Conference▲

Conference organizers are expected to:

provide a suitable academic platform for original research and scholarly discussion;
inform presenters that submission to a participating journal is entirely voluntary;
invite authors of relevant presentations to consider submission without promising peer review, acceptance, accelerated handling, or publication;
ensure that authors understand the journal’s originality, prior-publication, and ethics requirements;
refrain from selecting journal reviewers, accessing confidential editorial information, or participating in decisions where a conflict exists;
refrain from collecting submission, processing, or publication fees on behalf of Royal Academic Press or a participating journal;
disclose conference sponsors, funding sources, and relevant conflicts of interest; and
use the publisher’s or journal’s name and logo only with prior written permission and exactly as approved.

Royal Academic Press LLC may be described as an approved conference collaboration partner. Animal Reports may be identified as a potential publication venue for independently submitted manuscripts, but no announcement may imply that conference papers have already been accepted or are guaranteed publication.

5. Role of Royal Academic Press LLC▲

Royal Academic Press LLC manages the administrative side of the program. Its responsibilities include:

receiving and reviewing conference collaboration applications;
verifying the identity and academic standing of the organizing body;
preparing and approving the Memorandum of Understanding;
managing communications, sponsorship disclosures, and permitted logo use;
coordinating publisher-level announcements and non-editorial support;
maintaining records of approved collaborations; and
reviewing, renewing, or ending a collaboration when necessary.

Royal Academic Press LLC does not select reviewers or make decisions on individual manuscripts. Publisher-level agreements, sponsorships, and promotional activities do not influence editorial decisions.

6. Role of the Participating Journal: Animal Reports▲

Animal Reports is responsible for the editorial handling of every manuscript submitted to the journal. The journal will:

assess independently whether a proposed manuscript or collection falls within the journal’s aims and scope;
require authors to submit manuscripts individually through the journal’s online submission system;
apply the same initial checks, research-integrity requirements, and editorial standards used for regular submissions;
select reviewers independently and without influence from conference organizers or sponsors;
base decisions on scope, originality, scientific merit, methodological quality, and ethical compliance;
publish accepted articles through the journal’s normal production, licensing, DOI-registration, and metadata procedures;
decide whether accepted articles should appear individually, in a clearly identified thematic collection, or in a Special Issue; and
retain the Editor-in-Chief’s final authority over all publication decisions.

7. Peer Review, Ethics, and Editorial Independence▲

Conference-related manuscripts follow the same peer-review process, research and publication ethics, authorship, conflict-of-interest, AI-use, data, correction, and retraction policies applied to regular submissions.

Research manuscripts are evaluated through single-anonymous peer review by at least two qualified and independent external reviewers.
Invited or conference-recommended manuscripts are not guaranteed acceptance.
Conference organizers may not select reviewers or participate in decisions where they have a conflict of interest.
If a collection uses Guest Editors, their qualifications and conflicts of interest are reviewed under the journal’s Special Issues Policy.
A manuscript authored by a Guest Editor or conference organizer is handled by an independent editor.
Articles authored or co-authored by Guest Editors must not exceed 25% of the articles published in the relevant Special Issue or conference collection.
Conference-related articles are clearly identified on the article page and in the relevant issue or collection.
Any exception to the journal’s normal peer-review process is clearly stated on the published article.

8. Promotion and Communication▲

Royal Academic Press may announce an approved collaboration through the publisher’s website, a participating journal’s website, and appropriate official communication channels. Conference announcements must be clearly distinguished from journal editorial content and must not imply endorsement of individual presentations, authors, or research findings.

Direct email communication must be accurate, appropriately targeted, and unobtrusive. Recipients must have a clear way to opt out of future promotional messages. Communications must not promise acceptance, accelerated review, indexing, citations, or other publication advantages.

9. Financial Policy▲

Animal Reports is a diamond open-access journal and charges no submission, editorial processing, publication, page, colour, or DOI fees.
Conference organizers must not collect publication fees from authors on behalf of Royal Academic Press or the journal.
Conference registration fees are separate from journal publication and must not include a charge for guaranteed journal submission or publication.
No payment, sponsorship, conference registration, or publisher-level service guarantees peer review, acceptance, or publication.
Any separate financial, sponsorship, administrative, or in-kind arrangement between Royal Academic Press LLC and a conference must be documented in writing and disclosed where relevant.
Financial or in-kind support must not depend on the number of manuscripts submitted, accepted, or published and must not influence editorial decisions.

10. Duration and Termination▲

Each agreement covers the conference period and an agreed post-conference submission window, normally not exceeding one month. This submission window does not impose a deadline on peer review, revision, editorial decisions, or publication.

Either party may end the collaboration in writing. Manuscripts submitted before the end of a collaboration will continue to be handled independently under the journal’s normal policies unless an ethical or research-integrity concern requires different action.

11. Memorandum of Understanding and Relationship▲

The collaboration is documented through a Memorandum of Understanding that records its scope, duration, responsibilities, permitted logo use, financial disclosures, confidentiality requirements, and termination arrangements.

The agreement does not transfer journal ownership, give conference organizers editorial authority, accredit the conference, or guarantee manuscript submission, acceptance, or publication.

12. How to Apply▲

Applications must be submitted directly to Royal Academic Press LLC by an authorized representative of the conference-organizing institution. The application should include:

the conference title, dates, location, and official website;
full details of the organizing institution and authorized representative;
the conference aims, themes, scientific scope, and academic program;
the names and affiliations of the conference chair and scientific committee;
information about conference sponsors, funding, and registration fees;
the proposed form of collaboration;
the estimated number and types of potential manuscripts, for administrative planning only;
the names and profiles of proposed Guest Editors, where applicable;
relevant conflicts of interest;
the requested use of publisher or journal names and logos; and
confirmation that the organizers accept the journal’s editorial-independence and no-guaranteed-publication requirements.

The estimated number of manuscripts is used only for administrative planning. It does not create a submission, acceptance, or publication target.

13. Review and Approval▲

Royal Academic Press LLC reviews the conference’s identity, governance, proposed collaboration, financial disclosures, and suitability for the program. Additional information may be requested before a decision is made.

The Editor-in-Chief of Animal Reports is consulted independently regarding academic scope, editorial feasibility, and research-integrity concerns. Approval by the publisher does not require the journal to establish a collection or accept any manuscript.

Applicants are notified in writing after the review has been completed. Royal Academic Press may decline or end a collaboration if information is inaccurate, the conference no longer meets the program’s standards, or organizers attempt to influence editorial decisions.