Author Guidelines

Animal Reports (E-ISSN: 3068-5044; P-ISSN: 3071-4141) aims to advance knowledge and foster scientific innovation in the fields of animal sciences, veterinary medicine, aquaculture, wildlife science and related fields by publishing high-quality research. These authors guidelines explain the main requirements for preparing and submitting a manuscript. Authors should also read the journal’s Research and Publication Ethics and Peer Review Process.

1. Article Types▲

The journal considers the following types of articles:

Original Research Articles: Full reports of original research with a clear question, appropriate methods, results, sufficient interpretation, and clear conclusions.
Review Articles: Critical and balanced syntheses of published research. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must describe their search and selection methods and follow an appropriate reporting guideline.
Short Communications: Concise reports of original and complete findings that merit timely publication.
Case Studies: Well-documented cases with clear scientific, clinical, welfare, or educational value.
Perspectives: Evidence-based discussions of an emerging question, development, or direction in the field.
Editorials: Short articles addressing matters of interest to the journal’s community. Editorials may be invited and are assessed editorially rather than through external peer review.

The journal does not set a fixed word limit or a fixed maximum number of tables, figures, or references. Authors should nevertheless present their work clearly and without unnecessary material. Manuscripts must fall within the journal’s Aims and Scope.

2. Submission▲

Manuscripts must be submitted through the online submission system. The corresponding author is responsible for the submission and for communication with the journal. Before submission, all authors must approve the manuscript, the author list and order, and the decision to submit to Animal Reports.

Submit the manuscript as one editable Microsoft Word file (.doc or .docx), with tables and figures placed near their first citation. PDF-only and LaTeX submissions are not accepted. Authors are encouraged to use the journal’s manuscript template, but a free-format initial submission is acceptable if it contains all required information and follows a consistent style.

Each submission must include:

the manuscript file;
a cover letter confirming the manuscript’s originality, author approval, ethical compliance, and any related papers or preprints; and
a completed Suggested Reviewers form.

3. Submission Checklist▲

Before submitting, please confirm that:

the manuscript is original, has not been published, and is not under consideration by another journal;
all authors qualify for authorship, approve the submitted version, and are entered correctly in the submission system;
the manuscript is written in clear English and includes all required sections and declarations;
ethical approval, informed consent, animal-owner consent, and field permits are reported where applicable;
all references have been checked, and DOI links are included where available;
all tables and figures are numbered, captioned, and cited in the text;
permission has been obtained for any copyrighted material reproduced or adapted from another source;
related manuscripts, conference papers, theses, and preprints have been disclosed and cited where appropriate; and
any use of generative AI has been disclosed as required by the journal’s ethics policy.

4. Manuscript Preparation▲

4.1 Title Page

Provide a clear and informative title, the full name of each author, institutional affiliations, and the corresponding author’s email address. Number affiliations when authors have different addresses. Include ORCID iDs where available. A short running title may also be provided.

4.2 Abstract and Keywords

Research and review manuscripts should include a self-contained abstract of no more than 300 words, written as one paragraph. It should briefly state the background or purpose, methods, main results, and conclusion, as appropriate to the article type. Do not include citations unless they are essential. Add three to eight keywords that do not simply repeat words from the title.

4.3 Main Text

Original Research Articles normally use the following structure: Introduction; Materials and Methods; Results; Discussion; and Conclusion. Results and Discussion may be combined when this improves clarity. Other article types may use headings suited to their content.

Introduction: Explain the context, the research gap, and the study objective or hypothesis.
Materials and Methods: Provide enough detail for the work to be evaluated and, where possible, reproduced. Identify study design, animals or participants, sampling, interventions, instruments, software and versions, and statistical methods. Give registry or accession numbers where relevant.
Results: Report the findings clearly without unnecessary repetition of data shown in tables or figures.
Discussion: Interpret the findings in relation to the study question and relevant literature. Address limitations and avoid conclusions not supported by the results.
Conclusion: State the main take-home message without introducing new results.

Use an appropriate reporting guideline where one is available. Animal experiments should follow ARRIVE 2.0. Systematic reviews, observational studies, and clinical trials should follow the relevant accepted reporting standard.

4.4 Tables, Figures, and Supplementary Files

Number tables and figures consecutively in the order in which they are cited (for example, Table 1., Table 2., Fig.1., Fig. 2. etc.).
Give each table a short clear title and each figure a clear caption (not displayed on the figure itself). Define abbreviations and explain symbols in table footnotes or captions.
Prepare tables as editable text rather than images (use three line open table, avoid vertical rules and shading within table cells).
Provide figures in a clear and publication-quality format. Journal may ask for separate high resolution files upon acceptance.
Caution: Do not alter an image in a manner that alters or obscures the scientific record. All adjustments are to be applied in all instances and should be described if applicable.
Supplementary files should be directly relevant to the article and be cited in the text and be supplied in commonly used formats.

A graphical abstract is recommended. If supplied, it should be original, easy to read, and uploaded as a high-quality PNG, JPEG, or TIFF file.

4.5 Style, Abbreviations, and Units

Manuscripts must be written in clear academic English. Define non-standard abbreviations at first use and use them consistently. Use internationally accepted nomenclature and SI units. Authors may use a language-editing service, but this does not guarantee acceptance.

5. Required Declarations▲

Include the following sections before the reference list. If a section does not apply, state “Not applicable” or use the suggested wording below.

Patents: This section is not mandatory but may be added if there are patents resulting from the work reported in this manuscript.
Acknowledgments: Recognize individuals or organizations that contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship. Obtain permission before naming an individual.
Author Contributions: Describe each author’s role using the CRediT taxonomy. CRediT describes contributions but does not determine authorship.
Funding: Name all funders, grant numbers, and the funders’ role. If there was no specific funding, state: “This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.”
Ethics Approval: For research involving animals or humans, give the approving committee’s full name and the approval or protocol number. If formal approval was not required, explain why and identify the applicable institutional or national requirements.
Informed Consent: State whether participant consent, consent for publication, or consent from animal owners was obtained where applicable.
Data Availability: Explain where and how the data supporting the findings can be accessed. Include a repository name, persistent identifier, or reason for any restriction. If no data were generated or analysed, state that data sharing is not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: Disclose any financial, personal, professional, or other interest that could be perceived as influencing the work. If none exist, state: “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”
Generative AI Declaration: If generative AI or an AI-assisted tool was used, name the tool and explain how and where it was used. AI use in data collection, analysis, coding, or image creation must also be described in the Methods. Basic spelling and grammar checks do not require a declaration. AI tools cannot be listed as authors, and the human authors remain responsible for the entire manuscript.

6. References▲

Use APA style, 7th edition. Every source cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and every item in the reference list must be cited in the text. Check author names, titles, year, volume, issue, pages or article number, and links carefully. Include the DOI as a clickable https://doi.org/... link whenever one is available.

In-text examples: (Ahmed, 2025); Ahmed and Lee (2025); (Ahmed & Lee, 2025);(Ahmed et al., 2025).

Journal article:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Journal Title, volume(issue), page–page or article number. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Book:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Book chapter:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In B. B. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Dataset:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of dataset (Version) [Data set]. Repository. https://doi.org/xxxxx

7. Authorship, Originality, and Research Ethics▲

Only individuals who meet the journal’s authorship criteria may be listed as authors. Each author must have made a substantial contribution, participated in drafting or critically revising the work, approved the final version, and agreed to be accountable for it. Guest, gift, and ghost authorship are not permitted.

Requests for the addition, removal or change in the order of the authors should be justified by the corresponding author and be agreed to in writing by all authors involved. Any change must be approved by the Editor. Any changes made after acceptance will be reviewed only in exceptional circumstances, and may need to be published as a correction.

Submissions must be original and cannot be submitted at the same time to any other journal. If disclosed on submission, recognized preprints are allowed. Relevant conference papers, theses, reports, preprints and manuscripts should be referenced and the overlap discussed. Only if substantial new work is included in the journal submission and all rights and permissions have been discussed, should a conference paper be considered.

Animal Reports screens submissions using Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate). Editors assess the source, nature, extent, and location of matched material rather than relying on a similarity percentage alone. Authors must comply with the journal’s full Research and Publication Ethics policy.

Animal studies require prior approval from an appropriate animal ethics committee unless formal approval was not required under the applicable rules. Authors must protect animal welfare, apply the principles of replacement, reduction, and refinement, and report any necessary permits. Studies involving privately owned animals must report owner consent. Research involving humans, identifiable human data, or human biological material requires appropriate ethics approval and informed consent where applicable.

8. Peer Review and Suggested Reviewers▲

The journal uses single-anonymous peer review: reviewers know the authors’ identities, but reviewer identities are not disclosed to authors. Research-based submissions that pass the initial editorial and ethical checks are reviewed by at least two independent external reviewers. Reviewers advise the journal; the handling editor makes a reasoned recommendation, and the Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision. When the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict of interest, an independent Senior Editor handles the decision. Invited and special-issue submissions follow the same ethical and peer-review standards and are not guaranteed acceptance.

Authors invited to revise must submit a clean revised manuscript, a marked version if requested, and a point-by-point response to every reviewer and editor comment. A request for revision does not guarantee acceptance. Full details are available in the Peer Review Process.

Authors should suggest three to five qualified reviewers. Suggested reviewers should have relevant expertise and should not:

work at the same institution as any author;
have co-authored or actively collaborated with an author during the previous three years;
have a current or former supervisor–student relationship, close personal or family relationship, or direct financial, academic, or competitive interest in the work.

Provide an institutional email address and enough information for the journal to verify each suggested reviewer’s identity and expertise. The journal is not required to invite suggested reviewers and may select other independent experts.

9. After Acceptance▲

Accepted manuscripts undergo copyediting and typesetting. The corresponding author will receive proofs and should return essential corrections within the stated time. Proofs are intended to correct production errors; major changes to the text, data, results, or authorship are not normally permitted at this stage.

The article is published online after production is complete and receives a DOI. If an important error is found after publication, authors should contact the journal promptly. Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions are handled under the journal’s Research and Publication Ethics policy.

10. Open Access, Copyright, and Fees▲

Animal Reports is a diamond open-access journal. It charges no submission, processing, publication, page, color, or DOI fees. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right to publish the work under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. More information is available on the journal’s Article Processing Charge and License and Copyright pages.