Research and Publication Ethics

Animal Reports expects all research to be conducted and reported honestly, responsibly, and with respect for human participants, animals, and the environment. Authors must comply with the ethical requirements of their institutions and the laws of the country in which the research was conducted. Publication ethics matters not specifically addressed in this policy will be handled in accordance with COPE guidance.

Research Involving Humans▲

Studies with human subjects, identifiable human data, or human biological materials must be approved by an institutional review board or an equivalent independent ethics committee. A committee's name and its approval or protocol number should be written on the manuscript. Authors should ensure that informed consent is obtained where necessary and confidentiality and privacy of participants are respected. If an individual could be identified, consent should be obtained for publication. When informed consent or ethical approval was not required, the manuscript should state the name of the committee that waived or exempted informed consent and provide a reason. For human research, the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki are followed, if applicable.

Research Involving Animals▲

Animal studies must be approved by an institutional animal care and use committee or other ethics committee prior to conducting the research. The manuscript must include the name of the approving body and the number of the approval/protocol. If not formally required, the authors should describe the reasons for this and affirm that the study was in compliance with the institution and national guidelines. Authors are responsible for ensuring the welfare of animals, ensuring minimum pain and distress, and the principle of replacement/reduction/refinement. Animal studies should be reported as per the ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines.

Researchers should also adhere to regulations applicable to the location in which the research is carried out, e.g. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, Directive 2010/63/EU or the UK Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Descriptions of any permits that may be needed should be included in field and wildlife studies. If the research was conducted with privately-owned animals, informed consent of the animal's owners must be stated in the study.

The journal may request supporting ethics documents. Manuscripts that do not meet the applicable ethical requirements may be rejected.

Conflict of Interest▲

Authors must disclose any financial, personal, professional, or other interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing their work. The corresponding author is responsible for submitting a declaration on behalf of all authors. All funding sources and the funders’ roles in the study must also be clearly stated. If no conflict exists, the manuscript should include the statement: “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

Editors and reviewers must disclose any potential conflict before handling or reviewing a manuscript and should withdraw when their impartiality could be affected. Relevant conflict-of-interest declarations will be published with the article.

Originality and Duplicate Publication▲

Manuscripts submitted to Animal Reports must be original and must not have been published or be under consideration by another journal. Posting a manuscript on a recognized preprint server is not considered prior publication, but it must be disclosed at submission. Authors must disclose any related publications, preprints, conference papers, or manuscripts and clearly explain any overlap.

Plagiarism and Text Recycling▲

Plagiarism and inappropriate text recycling are not acceptable in Animal Reports. Plagiarism includes using another person’s words, ideas, data, images, or other material without appropriate attribution. Substantial or undisclosed reuse of an author’s previously published material may constitute inappropriate text recycling or redundant publication.

All submitted manuscripts are screened for text similarity using Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate). The editor reviews each similarity report to determine whether any matched material is inappropriate, considering its source, nature, extent, and location rather than on the similarity percentage alone.

If substantial or inappropriate overlap is identified, the manuscript may be rejected, the authors may be asked to provide an explanation or revise the manuscript. Concerns identified after publication will be investigated in accordance with COPE guidance and may result in a correction, an Expression of Concern, or retraction.

Authorship▲

Animal Reports follows the ICMJE authorship criteria. To qualify as an author, each person must meet all four criteria:

Make a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or to the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data.
Draft the manuscript or critically revise it for important intellectual content.
Approve the final version for publication.
Accept responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the work.

All authors must approve the manuscript, the order of authorship, and its submission to the journal. Individuals who contributed but do not meet all four criteria should be named in the Acknowledgments section with their permission. Guest, gift, and ghost authorship are not permitted. Equal contributions may be indicated when they accurately reflect the authors’ roles.

Author Contributions▲

Every manuscript must include an author contribution statement using the CRediT taxonomy. CRediT describes individual roles but does not determine who qualifies for authorship.

Example: A.B.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. C.D.: Investigation, Data curation, Visualization, Writing – review and editing. E.F.: Supervision, Funding acquisition, Writing – review and editing. All authors approved the final manuscript and agreed to be accountable for the work.

Changes to Authorship

Authors should confirm the names and order of all authors before submission. All authors must appear in both the manuscript and the journal’s submission system.

Any request to add, remove, or reorder authors must:

Be submitted by the corresponding author using the journal’s authorship change form.
Explain the reason for the requested change.
Include written agreement from all authors, including anyone being added or removed.
Receive approval from the Editor.

Any changes after acceptance will only be considered under special circumstances and may be postponed till the request is being considered. When a change is accepted after the publication, a correction will be published in the journal. The issue of authorship should be resolved within the authors' institutions if there is no resolution. The presentation of misrepresentations or other unauthorized changes may result in rejection or retraction.

Use of Artificial Intelligence▲

The authors are required to report any use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in the preparation of their manuscript. The disclosure should include information about the tool and how and where it was used. It should be included in the cover letter and, if applicable:

In the Declaration of AI use for writing, editing, or language assistance.
In the Methods for data collection, analysis, coding, or the creation or modification of figures and images.

AI tools cannot be authors or cited as primary sources because they cannot approve a manuscript or accept responsibility for its content. Human authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and appropriate citation of all submitted material, including AI-assisted content.

Authors must carefully verify AI-generated output and must not use AI to fabricate or misrepresent text, data, results, images, or references. Undisclosed or inappropriate use may result in rejection or other action under the journal’s publication ethics policy.

Reviewers and editors must not upload manuscripts, supplementary files, review reports, or confidential information to external generative AI tools. AI must not be used to produce peer-review reports or editorial decisions.

Approved automated tools may be used for limited integrity checks, such as similarity screening, under human supervision. Editorial decisions will never be based solely on automated results.

Research Misconduct▲

Research misconduct includes plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, inappropriate image manipulation, citation manipulation, false authorship, duplicate publication, compromised peer review, paper-mill activity, and misrepresentation of ethical approval or conflicts of interest.

Concerns will be assessed confidentially by an editor with no conflict of interest. Authors may be asked to respond and provide original data or supporting records. The journal may contact relevant institutions or funders and may reject the manuscript, issue a correction or Expression of Concern, or retract the article. Cases will be handled in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Correction▲

Animal Reports is committed to maintaining an accurate scholarly record. Authors or readers who identify an error in a published article should notify the journal promptly.

The editor will assess the error and its effect on the article. Errors that affect accuracy or interpretation without making the main findings unreliable will be addressed through a correction notice. The notice will describe the correction and will be linked to the article. The online article will also identify the change and its date. Minor typographical or formatting errors that do not affect the scientific content may be corrected without a formal notice. Errors that make the findings unreliable may require retraction.

Retraction▲

A published article may be retracted when there is clear evidence that its findings are unreliable because of a major error, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, unethical research, manipulation of the publication process, or another serious breach of publication ethics.

The journal will take a neutral and equitable approach to investigation and give the authors a chance to respond. Relevant institutions or funders can be contacted as required. A retraction notice will describe the reason, and state who authorized the retraction. The notice and the original article will be linked to each other. The article will be available as part of the scholarly record, but it will be clearly indicated that it has been retracted. Removal will only be considered in exceptional circumstances, as a result of legal obligations, serious privacy concerns, or a high risk of harm.

Manuscript Withdrawal▲

Authors may withdraw a manuscript before publication by sending a written request to editor@royalacademicpress.com. The request should explain the reason for withdrawal and include confirmation that all authors agree.

The journal will confirm the withdrawal in writing and retain a confidential record of the submission. Until confirmation is received, authors must not submit the manuscript to another journal. Withdrawal does not prevent the journal from investigating suspected duplicate submission, research misconduct, or other ethical concerns.

Once an article has been published, it cannot be withdrawn. Any concerns will instead be addressed through correction or retraction. Animal Reports does not charge a manuscript-withdrawal fee.

Peer Review▲

All research manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening undergo single-anonymous external peer review by at least two independent reviewers. The purpose of this process is to assess the manuscript’s scientific quality, validity, originality, and clarity before publication.

For a complete description of manuscript screening, external review, editorial decisions, appeals, and special-issue safeguards, please see the journal’s Peer Review Process.

Reviewers should also consult the journal’s Reviewer Guidelines for information on confidentiality, conflicts of interest, ethical responsibilities, use of generative AI, and preparation of review reports.

Research articles must include a Data Availability Statement. Authors should deposit supporting data, code, and protocols in a suitable repository whenever ethical and legal requirements permit.

Restrictions caused by privacy, confidentiality, legal requirements, or the protection of threatened species must be explained. Methods and analyses should be described clearly enough to support verification or reproduction. The journal may request underlying data during peer review or an ethical investigation.

Post-Publication Discussion and Expressions of Concern▲

Readers may report errors or evidence-based concerns to editor@royalacademicpress.com. The journal may invite the authors to respond and seek independent advice.

When a serious concern remains under investigation, an Expression of Concern may be published and linked to the article. Following the investigation, the Expression of Concern will be updated or followed by an appropriate notice, such as a correction, retraction, or statement that the concern was not substantiated. Changes affecting the scholarly record will not be made without a public notice.

Intellectual Property▲

Authors retain copyright and publish their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors must ensure that their submission is original, does not infringe the rights of others, and properly acknowledges reused material. Permission must be obtained when required. Copyright concerns will be investigated and may result in correction, removal of the affected material, or other appropriate action.

Complaints and Appeals▲

Complaints about the journal’s procedures, ethics, or staff should be sent with relevant details to editor@royalacademicpress.com. Complaints concerning the Editor-in-Chief should be sent to info@royalacademicpress.com and will be handled by an independent editor.

Authors may appeal a rejection within 30 days by explaining the grounds for reconsideration. Appeals are reviewed by an editor who was not involved in the original decision. Only one appeal is permitted per manuscript, and the decision on the appeal is final.

Animal Reports remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Updated on 10 August 2026