Recently revised on 1 March, 2023
Animal Bioscience (AB), the official journal of the Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies (AAAP), is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal. Original Articles, Reviews, Technical Notes, Editorials, and Book Reviews in the field of animal science are published by this monthly journal on the first day of each month.
Manuscripts submitted to AB should be prepared according to the following instructions. For issues not addressed in these instructions, authors should refer to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/) from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
AIMS AND SCOPE
AB aims to publish original and cutting-edge research results and reviews on animal-related aspects of the life sciences. Emphasis will be placed on studies involving farm animals such as cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, and poultry. AB will encompass all areas of animal production and fundamental aspects of animal sciences: breeding and genetics, reproduction and physiology, nutrition, dairy and meat science, biotechnology, behavior, health, welfare and livestock farming systems. AB is subdivided into 10 sections;
- Animal Breeding and Genetics: quantitative and molecular genetics; genomics; genetic evaluation; bioinformatics; epigenetics; functional genomics
- Animal Reproduction and Physiology: reproductive physiology; lactation, growth and developmental biology; endocrinology; stem cell biology; assisted reproductive technology
- Ruminant Nutrition and Forage Utilization: nutrition and metabolism; physiology; lactation and mammary biology; rumen function and microbiology; forage utilization
- Swine Nutrition and Feed Technology: nutrition and metabolism; physiology; gut microbiology; feed ingredients and additives; feed processing technology
- Poultry Nutrition: nutrition and metabolism; physiology; gut microbiology; feeds and feed additives; facility and environment
- Animal Biotechnology: molecular nutrition; transgenic animals; genetic engineering; gene identification and manipulation; functional omics
- Animal Health: immune modulation; nutritional immunology; stress alleviation; infection and immunity; protective immunity and vaccine
- Animal Products: dairy, meat and egg science and technology; muscle biology; food safety; functional foods; meat analogue
- Animal Behavior and Welfare: social behavior; sexual behavior; ethology; animal welfare
- Environment and Management: waste management; livestock and environment; farming system
ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES
There is no submission fee. Article processing charge (APC) for accepted manuscript will be charged US$ 35~70 per one type-set page, differently according to the specific geographic location (country) of the corresponding author(s). For further information on APC for publication, see "Article Processing Charge (APC)" (https://www.animbiosci.org/authors/subscription.php).
Waivers and Discounts
AB offers waivers and discounts for papers whose corresponding authors are based in low-income countries classified by the World Bank (https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519) as of July of the year before the submission. Please request your waiver at the point of submission. To request a waiver, please contact us by email (animbiosci@gmail.com). The waiver status of the manuscript does not influence the editor’s decision, as editors are not made aware when a waiver has been granted.
RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION ETHICS
AB adheres to the guidelines and best practices published by professional organizations, including ICMJE Recommendations and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (https://doaj.org/bestpractice). Furthermore, all processes of handling research and publication misconduct (or when faced with cases of suspected misconduct) shall follow the applicable Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) flowcharts (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). Any attempts to duplicate publications or engage in plagiarism will lead to immediate and automatic rejection, may prejudice the acceptance of future submission, and may be highlighted within the pages of the journal.
Authorship
According to the ICMJE recommendation, authorship credit should be based on the following four criteria: (1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; (2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) Final approval of the version to be published; and (4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Authors should meet all four aforementioned criteria.
- Correction of authorship: After the initial submission of a manuscript, any changes whatsoever in authorship (adding author(s), deleting author(s), or re-arranging the order of authors) must be explained by a letter to the editor from the corresponding author(s). This letter must be signed by all authors of the paper. AB does not correct authorship after final acceptance unless a mistake has been made by the editorial staff.
- A copyright assignment must also be completed by every author.
- It is mandatory to specify the roles of authors in “AB Author Declaration Form” when submitting a paper.
- Role of corresponding author: The corresponding author takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process. The corresponding author typically ensures that all of the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing the details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and conflicts of interest forms and statements, are properly completed, although these duties may be delegated to one or more coauthors. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely manner, and after publication should be available to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information or questions about the article.
- Corresponding author and the first author: AB allows multiple corresponding authorship (maximum two) for one article. Only one designated author should correspond with the editorial office for one article. AB accepts notice of equal contribution for the first author when the study was clearly performed by co-first author.
- Contributors: Any researcher who does not meet all four ICMJE criteria for authorship discussed above but contributes substantively to the study in terms of idea development, manuscript writing, conducting research, data analysis, and/or financial support should have their contributions listed in the Acknowledgments section of the article.
- Recommendations for working with people with personal connections: Authors who intend to include minors (under the age of 19) or their family members (such as spouse, children, and relatives) in their research, including publishing or presenting papers jointly with them, should clearly indicate this in the cover letter. For further information, please refer to the "Guidelines for Preventing Illegitimate Authorship" by the National Research Foundation of Korea (https://www.cre.re.kr/).
Scientific Misconduct
The authors should be responsible for the credibility of all allegations of scientific misconduct, e.g., suspected fabrication or falsification of data, double publication, or plagiarism. Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published and not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the editorial board of AB. Submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication by Crossref Similarity Check upon receipt by the journal. If a redundant or duplicate publication is attempted or occurs without such notification, the submitted manuscript will be rejected immediately, and the incident will be announced in the AB, and their institutions may be informed. There will also be penalties imposed by AB ethics committee. It is the responsibility of the authors to request permission from the appropriate authority for any material that is being reproduced for the publication in the AB. This requirement applies to text, figures, tables, audio and/or video.
With any allegation raised by the reviewers, readers, or the third party, editor-in-chief together with the AB ethics committee will first attempt to address the matter with the corresponding author(s). In case this fails to resolve the situation satisfactorily, the editor-in-chief will contact the institution of the corresponding author to request an investigation; the editor-in-chief may also contact the coauthors and/or the funder(s) of the published research.
Secondary Publication
It may be justifiable to republish manuscripts if they satisfy the conditions of secondary publication of the ICMJE Recommendations (https://www.icmje.org/recommendations).
Statements of Animal Rights and Ethical Approval
When conducting experiments on animals, authors should adhere to the local or national requirements for the care and use of laboratory animals. All animal experiments should be reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the organization at which the experiment was carried out. The manuscript must include the statement of IACUC compliance that should appear as the first item in the Methods section. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copy of the document to resolve the questions about IACUC approval and its related issues. AB retains the right to reject any manuscript on the basis of unethical or misconduct of animal studies. It is also recommended that the sex of animals and, if any, influence or association of sex on the results of the study should be described.
Conflict of Interest Statement
All participants in the publication and peer review process—not only authors but also peer reviewers, editors, and Editorial Board members of the AB—must consider their conflicts of interest when fulfilling their roles in the process of submission, article review, and publication, and must disclose all relationships that could be viewed as potential conflicts of interest.
All authors should disclose their conflicts of interest, i.e., (1) financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony), (2) personal relationships, (3) academic competition, and (4) intellectual passion.
Authors must include these conflicts of interest on the title page and certify the disclosure of any conflict of interest with their signatures. If the undisclosed conflict of interest is suspected in a submitted manuscript or published article, a committee composed of Editorial Board members will be held and discussed, and AB will follow the process of the applicable COPE flowchart (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts).
Managing Process for Research and Publication Misconduct
When the AB faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fraudulent or fabricated data, changes in authorship, a fraudulent undisclosed conflict of interest, ethical problems with a submitted (or published) manuscript, the AB will follow the flowcharts provided by the COPE (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The discussion and decision on the suspected cases will be carried out by ethics committee of AB.
Editorial Responsibilities
The Editorial Board will continuously work to monitor and safeguard publication ethics: provision of guidelines for retracting articles; maintenance of the integrity of the academic record; preclusion of business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards; publication of corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed; and exclusion of plagiarism and fraudulent data. The editors maintain the following responsibilities: responsibility and authority to reject and accept articles; confirmation of no conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject or accept; promotion of publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found; and preservation of the anonymity of reviewers.
COPYRIGHTS AND LICENSE
Copyright
Authors must declare that the submitted work is their own and that copyright has not been breached in seeking its publication. Copyright in all published material is owned by the Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies. Copyright Transfer Form must be signed by every author and be submitted during the first online submission process. The corresponding author is responsible for submitting the Copyright Transfer Form (Author Declaration Form) during the submission process. In addition, it is the authors’ responsibility to obtain written permission to reproduce (in all media, including electronic) any material that has appeared previously in all other publication. Authors should provide copies of permission letters for any material reproduced from copyrighted publications. Submitted material will not be returned to the author unless specifically requested.
Open Access Policy
AB is an open access journal. The person using AB online may use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of content from this journal for any purpose, even commercially. Articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative definition of open access.
Article Sharing (Author Self-Archiving) Policy
AB is an open access journal, and authors who submit manuscripts to AB can share their research in several ways, including on preprint servers, social media platforms, at conferences, and in educational materials, in accordance with AB open access policy. However, it should be noted that submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals is strictly prohibited.
EDITORIAL POLICY
Data Sharing
AB encourages data sharing wherever possible, unless it is prevented by compelling justifications. Authors wishing to do so may deposit their data in a publicly accessible repository and include a link to the digital object identifier (DOI) within the text of the manuscript.
Archiving Policy
AB provides the electronic archiving and preservation of access to the journal content in the event the journal is no longer published by archiving in the National Library of Korea and PubMed Central from the 25th volume, 2012 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/3985/).
Preprint Policy
A preprint can be defined as a version of a scholarly paper that precedes formal peer review and publication in a peer reviewed scholarly journal. AB allows authors to submit the preprint to the journal. It is not treated as duplicate submission or duplicate publication. Authors should follow the guidelines below to submit a preprinted manuscript to the AB:
- Authors should provide information of a preprint including DOI and licensing to the editorial office when submitting a manuscript to the AB.
- Once the manuscript is accepted, at the editing stage in the AB, authors should update the preprint record with the AB publication reference information including the DOI and URL link provided by the AB.
Retain Original Data
Authors are expected to retain the original, raw data presented in a published article for the length of time required by the authors’ funding source or institution; in case the institution or funding source does not have the policy for data retention, all the original and raw data should be kept for at least 6 years after the publication of the article. The AB reserves the right to alter the time limit in extenuating circumstances.
Peer Review Policy
All papers, including those invited by the editor, are subject to rigorous peer review. AB has adopted a single-blind peer review policy, where the identity of the reviewers is not disclosed to the authors of the manuscript, but the reviewers are aware of the identity of the authors throughout the review process. However, the identity of reviewers and authors is visible to editors while managing the review process. The Editorial Board selects reviewers based on expertise, publication history, and past reviews. During the peer review process, reviewers can interact directly or exchange information (e.g., via submission systems or email) with only an editor, which is known as “independent review.” An initial decision will normally be made within 8 weeks of receipt of a manuscript. No information about the review process or editorial decision process is published on the article page.
SUBMISSION AND PEER REVIEW PROCESS
Online Submission
All manuscripts should be submitted via the journal’s website (https://animbiosci.org) by the first or corresponding author. Once you have logged into your account, the online system will lead you through the submission process in a step-by-step orderly process. Submission instructions are available on the website. In case of any trouble, please contact the editorial office (Tel: +82-2-888-6558, Email: animbiosci@gmail.com).
Screening before Review
All papers, including those invited by the editor, are subject to peer review. If the manuscript does not fit the aims and scope of AB or does not adhere to the Instructions for Authors, it may be returned to the author immediately after submission without review. Submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication by Similarity Check upon arrival.
Peer Review Process
The suitability of papers for publication in AB is judged by the members of the editorial board. The editor-in-chief has full responsibility for the papers submitted, which are evaluated in the order received. At the initial stage, the editor-in-chief may ask the associate editors to evaluate submitted papers for suitability for further review. Each paper that is deemed suitable will be evaluated by at least two members of the editorial board or other scientifically qualified reviewers. The editor-in-chief handles all correspondence with the author and makes the final decision as to whether the paper is recommended for acceptance or rejection or needs to be returned to the author for revision. A reviewer may not be from the same institution as the author.
The suitability of papers for publication in AB is judged by the members of the editorial board. The editor-in-chief has full responsibility for the papers submitted, which are evaluated in the order received. At the initial stage, the editor-in-chief may ask the associate editors to evaluate submitted papers for suitability for further review. Each paper that is deemed suitable will be evaluated by at least two members of the editorial board or other scientifically qualified reviewers. The editor-in-chief handles all correspondence with the author and makes the final decision as to whether the paper is recommended for acceptance or rejection or needs to be returned to the author for revision. A reviewer may not be from the same institution as the author.
Papers needing revision will be returned to the corresponding author, and the author must return the revised manuscript to the editor-in-chief within 4 weeks; otherwise, the author will be notified that the paper has been withdrawn. The editor-in-chief may send the revised manuscript to associate editors to examine whether the manuscript has been revised as suggested by the reviewers.
If a paper is not suitable for publication, the corresponding author will be notified with a statement of reasons for rejection. The author may appeal if she/he believes an erroneous or unfair judgement has been made. A letter to the editor-in-chief presenting reasons why the decision should be reconsidered will be given due consideration.
Submission by Editors
Final decision regarding manuscript publication shall be made by the editor-in-chief or a designated editor who does not have any relevant conflicts of interest. In the event that an editor has a conflict of interest with submitted manuscript or with the authors, the manuscript will be handled by other editors who do not have the conflict. In such circumstances, full masking of the process will be ensured so that the anonymity of the peer reviewers is maintained.
Appeals on Decisions
Any appeal against an editorial decision must be made within 2 weeks of the date of the decision letter. Authors who wish to appeal against a decision should contact the editor-in-chief, explaining in detail the reasons for the appeal. All appeals will be discussed with at least one other associate editor. If consensus cannot be reached thereby, an appeal will be discussed at a full editorial meeting. The process of handling complaints and appeals follows the guidelines of COPE available from (https://publicationethics.org/appeals). AB does not consider second appeals.
MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
General Requirements (see also Style Guide)
The entire manuscript should be written in English. Medical terminology should be written based on the most recent edition of Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary. The main document with manuscript text and tables should be prepared with an MS-word program.
- The manuscript for a major paper should be organized in the following order: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables, Figure legends, and Figures.
- The manuscript must be double-spaced in Times New Roman font (size 12). All pages should be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner, beginning with the title page.
- The lines on all pages, including those pages for references and figure legends, must be numbered consecutively in the left margin, beginning with number one at the top of the title page. A 2.5 cm margin on both sides of the page is desirable.
- All abbreviations must be spelled out in the first appearance in abstract, main text and tables/figure, respectively and then use abbreviations thereafter. Please refer to the List of Standard Abbreviations in Appendix 2 of Instructions for Authors for proper abbreviation of commonly used terminology.
- Weights and measures must be expressed in the SI unit (metric) system and temperatures in the Celsius (centigrade) scale.
- The names of manufacturers of equipment and non-generic drugs should be given.
- Name for microorganism is fully stated at the first appearance (e.g., Escherichia coli), then the abbreviation for the genus is used (e.g., E. coli). Scientific name of species is italicized. Do not italicize if the calling of a species is not a scientific name (e.g., E. Coli, Papovaviridae, Hepadnavirus, streptococci, coagulase negative staphylococci, Epstein-Barr virus, hepatitis B virus, herpes simplex virus). Gene nomenclature is written in italics, whereas protein product of certain genes is not italicized (e.g., BCR-ABL mutations, HER2 gene, BCR-ABL kinase domain, HER2-positive).
- P-value from statistical testing is expressed as lower case p.
- When quoting from other sources, a reference number should be cited after the author’s name or at the end of the quotation.
- Authors whose native language is not English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscripts proofread prior to the submission.
- Manuscript preparation is different according to the publication type, including Original Articles, Reviews, Technical Notes, Editorials, and Book Reviews. Other types may also be negotiated with the editorial board of the AB.
Manuscript Type
- Original articles are reports of basic investigations. Although there is no limitation on the length of the manuscripts, the editorial board may abridge excessive illustrations and large tables. The manuscript for an Original Article should be organized in the following sequence: title page, abstract, keywords, main text (introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion), implications (optional), acknowledgments (optional), references, tables, and figure legends. The figures may be submitted as separate files.
- Review articles are usually commissioned, but submitted review articles on occasion, can be peer reviewed. Review articles should cover comprehensive analyses of specific topics. They are to be organized in the same way as an original article with an unstructured abstract (300 words maximum).
- Technical notes are used to report a new method, technique, or procedure of interest to AB readers. When possible, a Technical Note should include a comparison of results from the new method with those from previous ones, using appropriate statistical tests. The advantages and disadvantages of the new procedure should be discussed. They are to be organized in the same way as an original article with an unstructured abstract (200 words maximum). The length of the text excluding references, tables, and figures should not exceed 2,500 words. The number of references is limited to 15.
- Editorials are invited by the editor-in-chief and should be commentaries on recent issues and events of the journal and related-fields. Editorial topics may include active area of research, fresh insight, and debates in all fields considered to be of interest to AB readers. Editorials should not exceed 2,000 words, excluding references, tables, and figures. The number of references is recommended not to exceed 15. A maximum of 3 figures including tables is allowed.
- Book Reviews are solicited by the editor. These will cover recently published books considered to be of interest to AB readers. The format is same as that of Editorials.
Title Page
The following items should be included on the title page: the title of the manuscript, authors’ names (including ORCID), affiliations, corresponding author’s name and contact information, and notes. The corresponding author’s contact information must include the name, address, and email. When applicable, the source of any research funding and a list of where and when the study has been presented in part elsewhere. Also, information on preprint publication, if applicable, should be provided.
- Title: The title should be as brief as possible, but it is recommended to include the animal species involved in the research when applicable. Abbreviations are not permitted in the title.
- Name: Naming an author on a paper implies that the person named is aware of the research reported and agrees with and accepts responsibility for any results or conclusions reported. Indications of professorial rank or other professional titles should not be used.
- Affiliation: The address of the institution where the research was conducted should include the name of the institution, city, zip code, and country. If the affiliation is different from the first author, the authors should be marked “1,” “2,” “3,” and so forth in Arabic numerals, which should appear in superscript at the top right-hand corner of the author’s name and at the beginning of each affiliation.
- ORCID: We recommend that the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) of all authors be provided. To obtain an ORCID, authors should register at the ORCID website (https://orcid.org). Registration is free for all researchers.
- Authors’ Contributions: The work authors have conducted for the study should be described in this section. Contributions will be published with the final article, and they should accurately reflect contributions to the work. The submitting author is responsible for completing this information at submission, and it is expected that all authors will have reviewed, discussed, and agreed to their individual contributions ahead of this time. The information concerning sources of author contributions should be included in AB Author Declaration Form with all authors' signatures and in the title page at the first submission.
- Notes include conflicts of interest, funding, availability of data, authors’ contributions, additional contributions, and ORCID of all authors. All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined above should be listed in an additional contribution section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Authors should disclose whether they had any writing assistance and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.
Abstract and Keywords
A structured abstract is required for original articles and an unstructured one for reviews papers. The abstract appears on a separate page following the title page. A structured abstract should consist of four sections, labeled as “Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.” The length should be no more than 300 words for original articles and review articles, and less than 200 words for technical notes. References should never be cited in the abstract.
- Keywords: Three to six keywords should be listed immediately after the abstract to be used as index terms. Keywords should include the animal species, variables tested, and the major response criteria. Keywords must be selected from the CAB Thesaurus (https://www.cabi.org/cabthesaurus/).
Main Text
The main text of the paper may have separate Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion sections.
- Introduction: Briefly justifies the research and specifies the hypotheses to be tested. Extensive discussion of relevant literature should be included in the discussion of results, not in the introduction. To minimize length and avoid redundancy, generally no more than three references should be cited to support a specific concept.
- Materials and Methods
-
- Ethical statements: All articles using clinical samples or data and those involving animal subjects must include information on the IACUC approval or waiver. If specimens from human subjects were used in research, the manuscript must include a statement of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval or waiver and informed consent. An example is shown below.
“We conducted this study in compliance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study’s protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee OO (No. OO).” or The study’s protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of OO (No. OO). Written informed consent was obtained / Informed consent was waived.”
- - It is also recommended that the sex of animals and, if any, influence or association of sex on the results of the study should be described.
- - Statistics: Biology should be emphasized, but the use of incorrect or inadequate statistical methods to analyze and interpret biological data is not acceptable. Consultation with a statistician is recommended. Statistical methods commonly used in the area of animal sciences need not be described in detail, but adequate references should be provided. The statistical model, classes, blocks, and experimental unit must be designated. Any restrictions used in estimating parameters should be defined. Reference to a statistical package without reporting the sources of variation (classes) and other salient features of the analysis, such as covariance or orthogonal contrasts, is not sufficient. A statement of the results of statistical analysis should justify the interpretations and conclusions. Please refer to the following article for statistical guideline: Guidelines for experimental design and statistical analyses in animal studies submitted for publication in the AJAS. Asian-Australas J Anim Sci 2018;31(9):1381-1386. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.18.0468
- - A clear description or original reference is required for all biological, analytical, and statistical procedures used in the experiment. All modifications of procedures must be explained. Diets, animals (breed, sex, age, body weight, and weighing conditions [i.e., with or without restriction of feed and/or water]), surgical techniques, measurements, and statistical models should be described clearly and fully. Brand names and company names for all substances and equipment referred to in the text should be included in parentheses within the text, not in footnotes.
- Results: Results should be presented in tabular form when feasible. Do not repeat all the data in the tables or figures in the text; emphasize or summarize only the most important observations. The discussion may be combined with the results in one section if desired.
- Discussion: The discussion, whether in a separate section or combined with the results, should interpret the results clearly and concisely in terms of biological mechanisms and should integrate with the research findings of other studies to provide the readers with a broad base for understanding whether the hypotheses tested were accepted or rejected.
- Implications (optional): This section, consisting of no more than 100 words in one paragraph, follows the discussion and should explain in lay terms, without abbreviations, acronyms, or citations, what the findings of this research imply for animal production and/or biology. Though some speculation is permitted, this section should also caution the reader against over-extrapolation of results. For manuscripts with direct applications, this section will consist of an interpretive summary.
- Headings: The article’s major headings (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion [or Results and Discussion], and References) appear in roman bold-faced type. First level subheadings appear at the left margin on a separate line in bold-faced print, are not followed by punctuation, and only the first word is capitalized. They are used when subsections consist of several paragraphs.
Second level subheadings appear at the beginning of the first line of a paragraph. They are italicized and do not require labeling (a, b, c, etc.).
Each heading level of main text should appear as follows.
References
In the text, references should be cited with Arabic numerals in brackets, numbered in the order cited. In the references section, the references should be numbered and listed in order of appearance in the text. The number of references is limited to 40 for original articles and 100 for review papers. All authors of a cited work should be listed if there are six or fewer authors. The first three authors should be listed followed by “et al.” if there are more than six authors. If a reference has a digital object identifier (DOI), it should be supplied. Non-published findings and personal communications should not be included in the list of references. Journals titles shall be abbreviated according to the conventional ISO abbreviations used by PubMed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals). A short list of journal title abbreviations is provided in Appendix 1. Sample references are given below. Other types of references not described below should follow The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine).
• Examples of AB references style
- - Journal articles
- 1. Lee SA, Lopez DA, Stein HH. Invited review: mineral composition and phosphorus digestibility in feed phosphates fed to pigs and poultry. Anim Biosci 2023;36:167-74. https://dx.doi.org/10.5713/ab.22.0322
- 2. Du J, Zhao H, Song G, et al. Overexpression of cholinergic receptor nicotinic gamma subunit inhibits proliferation and differentiation of bovine preadipocytes. Anim Biosci 2022 Sep 7 [Epub]. https://dx.doi.org/10.5713/ab.22.0144
- 3. Krehbiel CR, Cranston JJ, McCurdy MP. An upper limit for caloric density of finishing diets. J Anim Sci 2006;84 Suppl:E34-49.
- 4. Mahan DC, Weaver EM, Russell LE. Improved postweaning pig performance by adding NaCl or HCl to diets containing animal plasma [abstract]. J Anim Sci 1996;74(Suppl 1):58.
- - Books and book chapters
- 5. Field TG, Taylor RE. Scientific farm animal production: an introduction to animal science. 11th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall; 2015.
- 6. Committee on Nutrient Requirements of Swine, National Research Council. Nutrient requirements of swine. 11th ed. National Academy Press; 2012.
- 7. Latimer GW; AOAC International. Official methods of analysis of AOAC International. 19th ed. AOAC International; 2012.
- 8. Preston ND, Daszak P, Colwell RR. The human environment interface: applying ecosystem concepts to health. In: Mackenzie JS, Jeggo M, Daszak P, Richt JA, editors. One health: the human-animal-environment interfaces in emerging infectious diseases. Springer-Verlag; 2013. p. 83-100. https://doi.org/10.1007/82_2013_317
- - Online sources
- 9. Raosoft. Sample size calculator [Internet]. Raosoft Inc.; c2004 [cited 2016 Apr 1]. Available from: http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html
- 10. Metagenomics: sequences from the environment [Internet]. National Center for Biomedical Information; 2006 [cited 2016 Feb 20]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=metagenomics.TOC
- - Dissertations and theses
- 11. Ha JK. Studies on beneficial and adverse effects of dietary buffers for lambs [dissertation]. South Dakota State University; 1981.
- 12. Yoon CH. Effects of lysine and sodium levels on growth performance, acid-base balance and lysine-arginine antagonism in broiler chicks [master's thesis]. Seoul National University; 1991.
- - Conference papers
- 13. Moss KJ, Greening L. The effect of age and gender on the time taken for horses to learn an operant task. In: Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science 2009; 2009 Mar 30-Apr 1; Southport, UK. British Society of Animal Science; 2009. p. 1.
- 14. Patrias K. Computer-compatible writing and editing. Interacting with the digital environment: modern scientific publishing. 46th Annual Meeting of the Council of Science Editors; 2003 May 3-6; Pittsburgh, PA.
- - Research Reports
- 15. Page E, Harney JM. Health hazard evaluation report. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; 2001. Report No.: HETA2000-0139-2824.
Tables
Tables are used to present numerical data in a self-explanatory manner. They should be intelligible without consulting the text and should not duplicate data already given in the text or in illustrations.
- Tables should be double-spaced with each table on a separate sheet and should appear immediately after the references. The tables should be paginated in series with the text.
- All tables should be cited in the text. Arabic numerals are used to number tables. The table number (i.e., Table 4.) is typed in bold face followed by a period.
- Each table must be typed on a separate page with its title above it.
- The title of the table should concisely describe the content of the table so that a reader can understand the table without referring to the text. It continues on the same line with only the first letter capitalized. A period should not appear at the end of the title. Column headings should have the first letter of each word capitalized while the names of variables are to be typed with only the first letter capitalized (i.e., Average daily gain).
- Explanatory matter is placed in footnotes below the tabular matter and not included in the heading. All abbreviations are explained in the footnotes.
- Footnotes in a table are to be specified by superscript numbers 1), 2), 3). Superscript letters are used to designate statistical significance.
- For numerals less than 1, a zero should be inserted to the left of the decimal point. If there are no data for a particular entry, a hyphen should be inserted. If an explanation is necessary, an abbreviation can be used in the body of the table (e.g., ND) and it should be explained clearly in the footnotes.
- References to footnotes in a table are to be specified by superscript numbers, independently for each table. Superscript letters are used to designate statistical significance. Use a lower case p to indicate probability values (i.e., p < 0.05).
- Presentation of pooled standard errors, the general basis for statistical comparisons of means, is recommended when variance is homogeneous. These should be presented in a separate column or row. Standard errors can be attached to each mean by ± signs when variance or SE is heterogeneous (e.g., unbalanced experiments or unequal numbers of observations in treatment means). The pooled standard error is the preferred estimate of experimental error because presenting individual standard errors tends to clutter up the table.
- For diet composition, major ingredient inclusion levels should be presented as a percentage of the total rather than in grams or kilograms of food.
- In tables, remove internal horizontal or vertical lines. The horizontal line is only used for the title field and the bottom line.
Figures and Figure Legends
- Figures should be placed at the end of the manuscript with each figure on a separate page. Figure legends should be typed (double spaced) on a separate page.
- Figures should fit in one column (8 cm wide), or full-page width (17 cm wide). A minimum type size of 8 points (Times New Roman) is recommended so as to be readable in the final publication size.
- Figures should be numbered, using Arabic numerals, in the order in which they are cited.
- If a figure contains more than two pictures, they must be labeled as A, B, C, and so on. The description of the entire figure as well as the individual explanation of A, B, and C must be included.
- In the case of multiple prints bearing the same number, distinguish them by adding alphabet labeling in capital letters, such as A, B, and C (e.g., Figure 1A).
- For figures containing multiple lines, solid, long-dash, short-dash, and dotted lines should be used, while gray or shaded lines should be avoided. Lines with different symbols for the data points may also be used to distinguish curves. Unnecessary backgrounds and grid lines should be removed from graphs. Each axis should have a description and a unit. For bar charts, different fill patterns may be used if needed (black, white, gray, and stripes). Curves and data points should be identified using different symbols (example: ●, ○, ■, □, ♦, ◊, ▲, △, +, and ×). Symbols should be defined in the figure legend or in a key on the figure.
- The preferred file type for figures is JPEG, TIFF, or PPT. If figures are to be reproduced in grayscale (black and white), they should be submitted as such. If figures are to appear in color in the print journal, the files must be submitted in CMYK color (not RGB). The minimum resolution is 300 dpi for color and grayscale figures, and 600 dpi for line art.
- Photomicrographs must have their unmagnified size designated either in the caption or with a scale bar on the figure.
- A legend should be prepared to provide sufficient information and all abbreviations. The abbreviations and symbols used in the figure should be defined in the legend.
Permission
If any tables or figures are taken or modified from other papers, authors should obtain permission through the Copyright Clearance Center (https://www.copyright.com/) or from the individual publisher, except where the materials concerned have been published in an open access journal under the Creative Commons License. For tables or figures from an open access journal, simply verify the source of the journal precisely in the accompanying footnote. Please note the distinction between a free access journal and an open access journal: it is necessary to obtain permission from the publisher of a free access journal for using tables or figures published therein. Examples are shown below:
Reprinted (Modified) from Preston et al. [8], with permission of Springer-Verlag.
Reprinted (Modified) from Tizioto et al. [2], according to the Creative Commons License.
Use of Numbers
- The following rules address the formatting of numbers:
- Numbers one through nine should be spelled out and numerals be used for 10 and above.
- Arabic numerals should be used with abbreviated units of measure: 2 g, 5 d, $4.00, 3%, and numerical designations in the text: exp 1, group 3, etc.
- Arabic numerals should be used to express times and dates: 08:00 h, 3 Sept. 1985, etc.
- In a series using some numbers less than 10 and some more than 10, numerals should be used for all (i.e., 2 Holsteins, 6 Charolais, and 15 Friesians).
- When writing a large number ending in several zeros that represents an approximation, a word should be used for part of the number (i.e., 1.8 million rather than 1,800,000).
- When two numbers appear adjacent to each other, the first should be spelled out (i.e., ten 2-d-old chicks rather than 10 2-d-old chicks).
- A sentence should not begin with a numeral. The number should be spelled out, and when possible, the sentence can be rearranged to eliminate lengthy sentence-initial numbers.
- The 24-h clock system should be used: 09:30, 13:40, etc. Periods of time should be expressed in quantitative hours (e.g., 2 h 16 min). The terms hour (h), minute (min), second (s), and year (yr) should be abbreviated when used with a number in the text but spelled out when they are used alone.
- A hyphen should not be used to indicate inclusiveness (e.g., 12 to 14 mg or wk 3 and 4, not 12-14 mg or wk 3-4).
FINAL PREPARATION FOR PUBLICATION
Manuscript Editing
Before publication, the manuscript editor may correct the manuscript such that it meets the standard publication format. The author(s) must respond within 2 days when the manuscript editor contacts the author for revisions. If the response is delayed, the manuscript’s publication may be postponed.
Galley Proof
The author(s) will receive the final version of the manuscript as a PDF file. Upon receipt, within 2 days, the editorial office (or printing office) must be notified of any errors found in the file. No major changes including changes to the author list will be allowed at this stage. Any errors found after this time are the responsibility of the author(s) and will have to be corrected as an erratum.
Errata and Corrigenda
To correct errors in published articles, the corresponding author should contact the journal’s editorial office with a detailed description of the proposed correction. Corrections that profoundly affect the interpretation or conclusions of the article will be reviewed by the editors. Corrections will be published as corrigenda (corrections of the author’s errors) or errata (corrections of the publisher’s errors) in a later issue of the journal.
Contact Us
Editor-in-chief: Jong Kyu Ha, PhD
Email: jongha@snu.ac.kr
Editorial Office:
Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies
Room 708 Sammo Sporex, 23 Sillim-ro 59-gil, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08776, Korea
Tel: +82-2-888-6558, Fax:+82-2-888-6559
Email: animbiosci@gmail.com
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