Author Guidelines
Article Preparation and Submission guidelines for authors of Veterinary Evidence:
- Before submitting
- Submitting your paper
- After acceptance
- Promoting your paper
- Contact us
Before submitting
Read the journal's Focus and Scope to ensure the relevance of your paper.
Templates
Everything written for Veterinary Evidence is done so using our easy-to-follow templates. This makes writing your paper as simple as possible; as all of the formatting is already laid out and each section is clearly explained – all you have to do is fill it in.
Please download the relevant template and begin your writing process. For our editorial policies please read on below.
Authorship criteria
All authors listed must meet the following four criteria recommended by the ICMJE:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
- Final approval of the version to be published; AND
- 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.
More information can be accessed on the ICMJE website.
Where all criteria are not met, individuals should be acknowledged in an acknowledgements section at the end of the main text.
Adding, removing or changing the author order
The editorial office must be made aware of any changes to the author list at proof stage. The corresponding author must contact the editorial office and state why the change is taking place and provide written confirmation from all authors, including the author(s) being added/removed, that they agree with the change. The corresponding author must also confirm that all authors meet the four ICMJE criteria detailed above.
ORCID
ORCID is a system of identification for authors. An ORCID identifier is unique to an individual and acts as a persistent digital identifier to ensure that authors (particularly those with relatively common names) can be distinguished and their work properly attributed.
Our submission system supports ORCID, allowing authors to enter their unique identifier.
Declaration of interest
The potential for conflicts of interest can exist whether or not an individual believes that the relationship affects his or her scientific judgment. Financial relationships (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony) are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest and the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and of science itself. However, conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion. – ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors)
Potential conflicts of interest must be declared. These include relevant financial, personal, political or intellectual interests that may bias the work, as well as disclosing:
- How the article is funded
- Comprehensive explanation of the role of the sponsors in article preparation (if the article is sponsored in part or whole).
- Disclosure of any assistance with the preparation of the article
Conflict of interest statements are published at the end of the article above the references.
Open Access Policy
Veterinary Evidence is an online only, open access journal which publishes continuously. Accepted articles are made open access immediately upon publication on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
This means all content published within Veterinary Evidence can be read by anyone, anywhere for free.
Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. The content must be credited appropriately. In all cases, the requirement to link to the journal's website is designed to protect the integrity and authenticity of the scientific record.
License
We publish under the CC-BY 4.0 license.
CC-BY 4.0: This license allows others to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Self Archiving
Author’s can deposit the published version to their institution's repositories or personal websites immediately on publication. Please place a link to the URL of the published article on the journal's website – doing so protects the integrity and authenticity of the scientific record.
Copyright and permissions
Upon submitting their article authors are asked to sign a declaration agreement and a non-exclusive license to publish. Authors retain the copyright of their article and retain publishing rights.
By signing the non-exclusive license to publish, the author gives RCVS Knowledge permission to edit, adapt, translate, publish, reproduce, distribute and display the article in printed, electronic or any other medium and format whether now known or yet to be developed.
Free Publication
It is free to publish in and read Veterinary Evidence.
There are no submission fees or article processing charges (APCs). All articles undergo a thorough open peer-review process, and accepted articles are published open access immediately upon publication.
Submitting your paper
Submission system
Once you have completed your template please upload it to our submission system.
You will be updated of your paper’s progress by the Managing Editor.
Peer review process
All manuscripts submitted to Veterinary Evidence undergo an open peer-review process and are sent to a minimum of two reviewers. The names of the reviewers are published alongside the paper with the aim that this will encourage an unbiased and transparent critique of papers.
The Editor shall ensure that the peer review process is fair, unbiased, and timely. Reviewers are invited to review only if they have suitable expertise in the relevant field.
Authors can provide names, affiliations and contact details of potential reviewers. Suggested reviewers will be used at the editor’s discretion, and if their contact details can be verified from an independent source.
All disclosures of potential conflicts of interest made by reviewers are reviewed by the Editor in order to determine whether there is any potential for bias.
Frequency
Veterinary Evidence publishes content using a continuous publication model. A new online issue will become available every quarter (March, June, September, December) and articles will publish directly into the current issue. Instead of page numbers each paper has an article ID that is related to its digital object identifier (DOI) number – making everything citable upon publication. At the end of each quarter, the respective issue will close.
Continuous publication will allow Veterinary Evidence to have a fast and efficient turn-around time; authors won’t have to wait for the next available issue in order to get their work published. It will also enable content to be available to the veterinary community quickly; allowing readers to download, share and put their findings into practice.
Audio Summaries
Upon acceptance of your paper we will contact you with the request for your Audio Summary.
An Audio Summary is a 3 minute overview of your Knowledge Summary or Article. The purpose of it is to help listeners easily digest the main points of the paper in order to implement the findings into practice.
See below for some example points to help structure your Knowledge Summary audio clip:
- Background - what question is the Knowledge Summary answering and why was this question chosen?
- Please give an overview of what evidence there is and what the evidence says – what is the clinical bottom line?
- And if appropriate - how someone in practice could implement the recommendations of the Knowledge Summary.
Please feel free to adapt it as you see fit, but ensure the clip is no longer than 3 minutes.
Images
Please provide clearly labelled images, figures and tables and insert them into your paper throughout the text. Images must be of a high resolution and quality.
After acceptance
Editing
All accepted submissions are edited by our in-house editors to ensure that language is clear and precise, to apply house style and to adjust article length where necessary. Author queries will be sent to the author to resolve at the copyediting stage.
We recommend that all authors check and correct the eproof, but request that a single set of corrections is coordinated by one author. Please check the accuracy of all content, in particular the names and affiliations of authors, and duplication of data.
Misconduct cases
In the event that the editorial office is made aware of any allegation of misconduct relating to either an article under consideration or to a published article, then we will follow COPE’s guidelines (Committee on Publication Ethics) in dealing with the allegations.
Upon agreement with the Editor the Publisher will issue corrections, retractions or other suitable sanctions when required.
Correcting a published article
If a published article requires correcting then an erratum will be published. The article will link to the erratum, and vice versa. Corrections are made by following the guidance of COPE and ICMJE.
Promoting your paper
After publication your paper can be promoted in various ways by RCVS Knowledge and by you, the author.
Social Networking – You can use social networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to promote and share your content. When sharing your content always link it to the published version on Veterinary Evidence. Follow RCVS Knowledge on Twitter and Facebook to receive updates of latest published papers.
Conferences – talk about your article at relevant conferences or meetings that you attend.
Email signature – use your email signature to tell people about your article by adding a short abstract/title and link to the online version of the article at the bottom of your signature.
Department website or personal webpage – use your staff profile entry on your department website, or your personal webpage, to add information about your involvement with the journal and link directly to your article or the issue’s table of contents.
Contact us
If you have any queries or have any feedback then please get in touch:
Managing Editor
Bridget Sheppard
bridget@veterinaryevidence.org
Click here for more information on our editorial policies.
