Instructions for Authors – Equine Veterinary Journal

Equine Veterinary Journal (EVJ) publishes original articles and reviews on all aspects of equine veterinary science. Categories include Science: Overviews, General Articles, Clinical Evidence Articles, Short Communications, Case Reports and Review Articles.

Papers submitted are assessed by at least two referees and, if accepted for publication, the copyright becomes the property of EVJ Ltd.

Submitted papers should be accompanied by a signed statement that the paper:

1. is original
2. has not been submitted or published elsewhere
3. has the approval of all authors.

If abstracts have been published, in print or online, full papers will be considered only if the abstract was less than 1000 words and contained no figures or tables. A copy of the abstract should accompany the submitted paper.

If reference is made to papers cited as 'in press', 3 copies should be provided. If material is used that has been published elsewhere or is given as a personal communication, it is the author's responsibility to obtain permission from the publisher and author. The Editor's decision is final.

Any direct or indirect commercial interest in any product under study held by any of the authors of a paper must be declared at the time of submission of the paper and will be brought to the attention of readers at the time of publication.

Authors are requested to enclose payment of the £50 submission fee towards the cost of the peer review process with their manuscript on submission (all major credit cards accepted; if you prefer to pay by cheque, these should be in UK pounds sterling, drawn on a UK bank and made payable to EVJ Ltd.).

Manuscripts should be emailed to viv@evj.co.uk or sent to:

The Editor
Equine Veterinary Journal
Mulberry House
31 Market Street
Fordham
Ely
Cambridgeshire
CB7 5LQ
UK

Communications on editorial matters may be sent to the address above, or:

Tel: +44 (0)1638 720250
Fax: +44 (0)1638 721868
Email: viv@evj.co.uk

General Instructions

Disks

A disk, preferably compatible with Apple Macintosh, Word 5.0/6.0 or QuarkXpress (v. 4.11/6.1) format, is requested on submission of the paper and should be returned with the final revision. If the disk is not compatible, please state the format and word processor used. If a disk is not made available there will be a charge of £70.00 ($110).

Format

All manuscripts, figures and tables should be submitted in triplicate (original and 2 copies) and also on disk (1 disk). This includes revised manuscripts; the final accepted version of a manuscript must be supplied on disk. If the manuscript is submitted via email it is not necessary to also send triplicate copies. Please save your document in Microsoft Word, formatted for Macintosh. All figures should be saved in Jpeg format. Manuscripts should be typed in double spacing on A4 paper (single-sided) with margins of at least 2 cm and the pages and text lines should be numbered. The first page should include the title, which should accurately describe the subject matter, the name(s) of the author(s), the Institution where the work was done (full postal address/es), any present address(es), contact details (telephone number, fax number and email address) and about 5 relevant keywords. Authors are also requested to provide a word count. Papers should be no more than 4000 words including references. Division of the paper should be indicated clearly by major headings, subheadings and sub-subheadings.

Doses and measurements should be given in metric (SI) units with /kg bwt added where appropriate. Specialised abbreviations must be explained. Spelling should conform to the Oxford English Dictionary, medical terminology to Dorlands Medical Dictionary and units, symbols and abbrevations should conform to the International System of Units defined by Baron, D.N. (Ed) (1994) 'Units, Symbols, and Abbrevations: A Guide for Medical and Scientific Editors and Authors, 5th edn.' Royal Society of Medicine Press, London. All quantitative results should be analysed by appropriate statistical methods.

Summaries

The objective of the Summary format used in EVJ is to make the papers contained in the journal more acceptable to clinical readership so as to encourage them to read the paper in full and to understand the reasons why the work was performed; and also to emphasise its potential for clinical relevance and/or the need for further research. The Summary should be no more than 300 words in total.

Authors should prepare the Summary carefully and cover the main outcomes of the study under the following headings:

• Reasons for performing study: i.e. why the work was undertaken in the first place, the background behind the decision to choose this subject to study.
• Hypothesis or Objectives: The statement which is being tested, and is testable by the methods (below); or the original aims of the study, the deliverables.
• Methods: Brief description of materials and methods, study design, methods of testing hypothesis.
• Results: Brief highlights of the results obtained.
• Conclusions: Conclusions drawn from results.
• Potential relevance: The potential relevance/significance of the results to clinical application and/or the need for further research; and/or the need for further work.

In adopting this format, it should be remembered that a Summary is provided to encourage the reader both to think more deeply about the subject involved as well as to read the paper in full. Too much detail can confuse rather than clarify in both aspects of this intention. Data should be kept to a minimum as the work presented should stand upon a full reading of the paper, not on the basis of the Summary itself.

The same applies to conclusions, since it is up to the readers to draw their own conclusions upon the reading of the paper, and care should be taken by the authors not to overstate their conclusions.

Tables

Tables should be referenced in the appropriate place in the text, typed on separate sheets and accompanied by adequate headings and legends. Duplication of data in tables, figures and text should be avoided. Tables should be limited to no more than 3.

Illustrations

Illustrations should be provided when necessary to clarify the text. The legends should be intelligible without reference to the text. Figures should also be referred to in the text. Authors may be charged a fee for publication of more than six illustrations (this includes figures labelled a, b, c etc.). Photographs, radiographs and photomicrographs should be saved separately as high resolution Jpegs. The 'top' should be indicated on the reverse side together with the figure number and the author's name. Photomicrographs must state magnification, preferably with a scale bar, and staining technique. Line drawings should be original diagrams on clean white paper or board. Symbols and lines should be standard and not drawn by hand. Any tables or illustrations which have been published previously should include a suitable acknowledgement to the original source. It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission for their reproduction. Illustrations must be a MINIMUM resolution of 300 dpi at an image size of 85 mm (width). Illustrations at a resolution of 72 dpi are not acceptable. If illustrations have been reduced in resolution to enable them to be sent via email you may be asked to supply high resolution images on CD-ROM.

Colour

Authors of articles containing colour figures are required to provide funding for colour reproduction, which will be in the region of £400 per page. We will attempt to minimise the number of pages for which funding must be supplied, but the final layout of the figures depends on their size, format and the order in which they appear.

Manufacturers' addresses

The generic name should be given in the text with product name in parentheses, followed by a number indicating a footnote, e.g. phenylbutazone (Equipalazone)1. The manufacturer's details (company name, town/city, state/county and country where manufacturer is based) should then be listed under a heading at the end of the article before the Reference section.

References

References in the text are given as the author(s) and year, i.e. (Evans 1961; Smith and Jones 1990) or Evans (1961). Papers with more than 2 authors are cited as et al. i.e Jones et al. (1989). References in the text within the same parentheses are given in chronological order. The final list of references should be alphabetical. References by the same first author and published in the same year should be labelled a, b, c etc within the text (e.g. Smith 1992a) and listed sequentially in the reference list.

The format in the reference list is as follows: author(s) name(s) and initials, year of publication in parentheses, full title of article, journal title as abbreviated in the World List of Scientific Periodicals, volume number and page numbers:
e.g. Foster, B.W., Codd, J. and Smith, R. (1992) Effect of stress on ulcers in foals. Equine vet. J. 35, 43-52.

References to book articles should be set out as follows: author(s) name(s) and initials, date of publication in parentheses, title of chapter or article, full title of book, edition, name(s) of editor(s) if relevant, publisher, place of publication and pages referred to:
e.g. Robin, C. (1991) Calcium in plants eaten by horses. In: Dietary Calcium, 2nd edn., Ed: J. Chalk, Blackwells Scientific, London. pp 195-201.

It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that all reference details are accurate.

Proofs

The corresponding author will receive proofs prior to publication. These should be read and returned with corrections immediately. Major alterations will be accepted only at the author's expense.

Reprints

A reprint order form will accompany the proofs and should be completed and returned with them, whether or not reprints are required. Ordering of reprints after you have returned the proofs will incur considerable expense which would have to be borne by the author(s).

Science: Overviews

These are often written by the Editors or members of the Editorial Board. They can relate to the content of the issue, providing a useful means of introducing, and generating interest in, specific subjects. They may also be independent of other content and they give an opportunity to express opinions on any matters of interest to the veterinary profession. They should be approximately 1000 words and may include a limited number of references and are signed.

Clinical Evidence Articles

Clinical evidence articles should:

• Address a clearly defined clinical question.
• Describe a study, based on naturally-occurring disease, that provides strong clinical evidence to define outcomes relating to specific therapeutic or diagnostic interventions, and/or to refine prognostic indicators.
• Provide objective and unambiguous case definition criteria that are rigorously applied and explicitly reported.
• Evaluate clearly defined clinical outcomes that are rigorously applied and explicitly reported.
• Utilise and explicitly report the details of appropriate controls, randomisation and blinding as appropriate or feasible.
• Include a pre-study estimate of the power of the study to resolve a clinically useful difference (or other appropriate estimation of numbers required). For therapy or prevention trials, this power value should be 80% or more*.
• Include a flow chart of subjects through each stage of eligibility, stating numbers agreeing to participate, randomisation, receiving the intervention in question, completing the study protocol and analysed for the study outcome. Retrospective studies should also include a flow chart to account for the numbers of animals eligible, recruited and used in the analysis.
• Use appropriate analytical methods and report effect size estimates and the confidence intervals of any results*.
• Conform in length to General Articles (see below).

*See Rossdale, P.D., Jeffcott, L.B. and Holmes, M.A. (2003) Clinical evidence: an avenue to evidence-based medicine. Equine vet. J. 35, 634-635.

Articles submitted for this category are subject to the same review process as for General Articles before they are referred to the Clinical Evidence Committee for consideration.

Articles accepted in this category are eligible for the Home of Rest for Horses Clinical Evidence Literary Prize, will be fast-tracked for publication, as are Short Communications, and will be published wherever possible within 3 months of acceptance.

Short Communications

Articles accepted in this category will be fast-tracked for publication. They should be no more than 2000 words in length, and should contain no more than 2 figures and 2 tables. A short summary should be supplied for Short Communications.

Case Reports

Case Reports will be accepted only if they contain no less than 4 cases, unless the report concerns a case of particularly high scientific interest and relevance. A short summary should be supplied. Case Reports should be no more than 2500–3000 words in length.

Review Articles

Review Articles are welcome; a preliminary discussion with the Editor regarding subject and length of the article is advisable before submission. A short summary should be supplied.

General Articles

Content

The content of the paper should state clearly the: a) hypothesis being tested, b) objectives, c) study design and d) implications/significance of the study to clinical practice and/or further research. All papers containing experimental protocols are subjected to ethical review and should contain information regarding ethical standards of the institute of origin. Reports of clinical trials are welcome but authors are recommended to consult Altman, D.G. (1996) Better reporting of randomised controlled trials: the CONSORT statement. Br. med. J. 313, 570-571.

Length of manuscript

The current heavy submission rate to EVJ has necessitated our making a decision to achieve the current word limit of 4000 words, and 8 pages or less of the Journal, for General Articles. Authors are advised that, if this limit cannot be adhered to, a fee of £200 per page will be levied for each page over and above 8. The objective is to publish as many papers as possible within as short a period as possible between acceptance and publication.

As a guide, 4000 words, 3 or 4 figures and 2 tables would fit into 6 pages (see article by Holcombe et al. [2001] Equine vet. J. 33, 244-249 in the archive).