Instructions for Authors

Veterinary Record aims to help vets in their professional lives.

It is the official journal of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and has been published weekly since 1888.

It contains news, comment, letters, scientific reviews and original research papers and communications on a wide range of veterinary topics, along with disease surveillance reports, careers information, product news and summaries of research papers in other journals.

Contributions and suggestions for all sections of the journal are welcome. Papers, short communications and scientific reviews are subject to peer review; other items are published at the discretion of the Editor.

Case reports may be considered if they make a significant contribution to veterinary knowledge.

Submissions are accepted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere and that they are subject to editorial revision. All published material is copyright of the British Veterinary Association.

Summary of research

From January 2011, research papers and short communications in Veterinary Record will be published online. This will mean that research findings can be published more quickly, in a form that is most frequently used by researchers internationally.

With the move to the new system, papers will no longer be published in full in the print version of Veterinary Record. Instead, a structured summary in the print journal will highlight the main findings and significance of the work, along with any factors that might affect interpretation of the results. By presenting the information in a concise standardised format, the findings will be readily accessible to a wider professional readership. Readers wanting more detail will be able to find this by referring to the full paper online.

Each summary will include the title of the paper, author details and the doi number that will link to the full paper online.

Authors will be requested to provide the summary once the paper has been reviewed and the reviewer(s) comments have been taken into account. Please submit the summary together wth the revised version. A summary of a paper will be approximately 900 words, 700 with a figure or table and for a short communication it will be approximately 400 words. It should be formatted as individual paragraphs with the following headings:

• Context (why the question addressed by the paper is important);
• Main conclusion;
• Approach (including an indication of methods);
• Results (including one figure or table as appropriate);
• Interpretation (including any reasons why the results should be interpreted with caution);
• Significance of findings (potential application/impact).

If authors wanting to submit papers have any question about this, these can be directed to editorial{at}bva-edit.co.uk
More information can be found here

Welfare and ethics

All material published in Veterinary Record must adhere to high ethical standards concerning animal welfare.

Manuscripts will be considered for publication only if the work described:

• Follows international, national and institutional guidelines for humane animal treatment and complies with relevant legislation.
• Has been approved by the ethics review committee at the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted where such a committee exists;
• For studies using client-owned animals, demonstrates a high standard (best practice) of veterinary care and involves informed client consent.

Before acceptance of a manuscript, to verify compliance with the above policies, the authors must:

• Confirm that legal and ethical requirements have been met with regards to the humane treatment of animals described in the study;
• Specify in Materials and Methods the ethical review committee approval process and the international, national, and/or institutional guidelines followed.

The Editor retains the right to reject manuscripts on the basis of ethical or animal welfare concerns. Papers may be rejected on ethical grounds if the study involves unnecessary pain, distress, suffering or lasting harm to animals, or if the severity of the experimental procedure does not appear to be justified by the value of the work presented. We ask that the work would be likely to gain approval in Britain under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act or equivalent regulations.

Open access/Unlocked articles

Authors are able to make their articles freely available online, immediately on publication, for a fee, using the Unlocked service. This service is available to any author publishing a paper or short communication in Veterinary Record for a fee of £1700(+VAT)/€2515(+VAT)/$3145. This option is available once a manuscript has been accepted.

If authors do not wish to pay the Unlocked fee, their article will be published in the usual way and remain behind access controls. Use of any article published in Veterinary Record, including deposition on institutional repositories, is covered by the terms and conditions of the exclusive licence agreement

Article types

• Research papers
• Short communications
• Scientific reviews
• Viewpoints
• Letters
• Research digest
• Products & services
• VetRecord Careers
• Books
• Gazette
• News and features

Cover pictures

We invite authors to submit photographs or illustrations that might be used on the front cover of Veterinary Record when their paper is published. Digital images should be sent as GIF, TIFF, EPS or JPEG files at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi at an image size of 22 cm width. When submitting images please include details of who the picture should be credited to.

Style guide and format

Research papers

Research papers should include a title of not more than 15 words, the names, qualifications and addresses of each author, an e-mail address for the corresponding author, and an abstract of not more than 200 words covering the methods and results of the study. They should be set out in the following sections: abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, references. Clinical papers should follow a similar overall arrangement, modified appropriately. The text should be as concise as possible; the length should not exceed 4000 words. The word count excludes the title, author details, abstract, tables, figure legends, acknowledgements and references. On acceptance, a one-page summary of the article will be requested and must be provided before the paper is published online (for more information click here). To submit a paper click here

Short communications

Preliminary accounts of work, short clinical reports and significant case reports for publication as short communications should follow a similar format to papers but should exclude a summary and subheadings. The title should be no more than 10 words, the text should not exceed 1000 words and only one or two figures and/or tables should be included. The word count excludes the title, author details, abstract, tables, figure legends, acknowledgements and references. On acceptance a half page summary of the article will be requested and must be provided before the short communication is published online (for more information click here). To submit a short communication click here

Scientific reviews

Scientific reviews are commissioned, but submitted manuscripts will also be considered. All manuscripts are peer reviewed and can be submitted here. If submitting an unsolicited manuscript, please state in the covering letter that it is a review article. Typically, we would expect articles to be around 3000 words, excluding references. If you would like to suggest a subject for a review article please email editorial{at}bva-edit.co.uk.

Viewpoints

Viewpoint articles aim to provide informed comment on topical subjects relevant to the veterinary profession; they are usually commissioned but submissions will be considered. A short title of no more than eight words, text of between 750 and 1000 words and a brief (about 40 words) introduction highlighting the argument presented should be included, along with a head and shoulders photograph of the author(s), full name, address and email address. Articles can include up to five references. Images or diagrams can be included, but may reduce the space available for the text. To submit a viewpoint article e-mail: viewpoint{at}bva-edit.co.uk

Letters

Letters on all topics related to the science, practice and politics of veterinary medicine and surgery will be considered for publication. The length should not usually exceed 400 words and may be shortened for publication. References should given when necessary. Up to two photographs can be accommodated if appropriate and tables will occasionally be allowed. Submission by e-mail is preferred but letters submitted by post or fax will be considered. Full address details of all authors as well as an e-mail address for the corresponding author should be supplied and will be published. To submit a letter to the editor e-mail: letters{at}bva-edit.co.uk

Research digest

Papers that have been published in other journals, that are likely to be of interest to readers of Veterinary Record, will be considered for summary in the Veterinary Record's Research Digest section. If you have a recently published paper you would like to be considered for this section, please email a PDF of the published article to: researchdigest{at}bva-edit.co.uk

Products & services

Products & services aims to help keep readers up to date with some of the products and services available to the veterinary profession. Manufacturers, suppliers and service providers who wish to submit information about new products and services for possible inclusion in the Products & services section are encouraged to do so, and should email any news releases to: products{at}bva-edit.co.uk

Vet Record Careers

Vet Record Careers aims to reflect the diverse range of career options available to vets and related professionals. It includes features, tips, news and interviews on employment and educational issues, and on personal and professional development. Suggestions for articles are welcome. To send an idea e-mail: vetcareerseditorial{at}bva-edit.co.uk

Books

Book reviews are published regularly in Veterinary Record. Books to be considered for review should be sent to:

Veterinary Record, BMJ Group
BMA House, Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9JR
UK

If you are unsure about the suitability of a book or have any queries about the review process please e-mail: books{at}bva-edit.co.uk Published reviews include full details about the book as well as a colour image of the cover, which should be sent to books{at}bva-edit.co.uk

Gazette

Among other things, Veterinary Record's Gazette includes obituaries and notifications of deaths. Aimed at a UK audience it also includes personal announcements, such as births, marriages and news of professional appointments or awards, along with details of grants and awards that are available or have recently been made. Death notices should include the date of death, the deceased's full name, qualifications as would be listed in the RCVS Register, the deceased's address, the veterinary school where they qualified and their year of qualification. These details can be published as a standalone notice or as part of a full obituary. Obituaries should include the name(s) of the author(s); those submitting obituaries or death notices should provide their full name and contact details. Submissions by e-mail are preferred, but items can also be submitted by post or fax. To submit an item for the Gazette e-mail: gazette{at}bva-edit.co.uk

News and features

If you have information you would like considered for inclusion in the News section of Veterinary Record, or ideas for feature articles, e-mail: editorial{at}bva-edit.co.uk.

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