Author Guidelines

Instructions for Authors

1. Aim and Scope

The East African Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (EAJVAS) publishes original scientific papers and technological information on aspects of veterinary and animal sciences to users in Eastern Africa and elsewhere in the world. It also enhances the exchange of ideas among scientists engaged in research and development activities, and accepts papers from anywhere else in the world. Manuscripts related to economically important large and small farm animals, poultry, equine species, aquatic species, and bees, as well as companion animals such as dogs, cats, and cage birds, and laboratory animals are particularly welcome. Manuscripts written on the subjects of basic sciences and clinical sciences related to veterinary medicine, nutrition, and nutritional diseases, as well as the breeding and husbandry of the above-mentioned animals and the hygiene and technology of food of animal origin, as well as papers describing the animal-related aspects of Life Sciences at molecular level (proteomics) or environment and animals (or humans), biotechnology are also under the domain of the Journal.

2. Peer Review Process

The East African Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (EAJVAS) maintains a high standard of publication quality through a double-blind peer review process, in which the identities of author(s) are not disclosed to reviewers and the identities of reviewers are also not disclosed to author(s). All research articles published in EAJVAS are subjected to a full double-blind peer review process as indicated below:

• All research articles are reviewed by at least two suitably qualified experts.
• Decisions are made by the journal’s Editorial Board based on reviewers' and editors’ comments.
• International members of the Editorial Board of the journal lend insights, advice, and guidance to the other Editorial Board members of the journal.
• The Editorial Manager provides administrative support and facilitates communications between editors, authors, and reviewers. This allows EAJVAS to maintain the integrity of the peer review process and ensures a rapid turnaround with maximum efficiency.
• The Editorial Board of EAJVAS will decide promptly whether to accept, reject, or request revisions of referred papers based on the reviews and editorial insight of the journal.
• Authors will be advised to incorporate all the comments made by the reviewers and editors.

3. General Style and Format

3.1. Preparing main manuscript text

• Manuscripts should be written in concise English and consecutively paged.
• Manuscripts should not exceed 25 pages (double-spaced, Font size 12, Times New Roman), including tables, figures, and illustrations.
• Manuscripts should have A4-size paper; a margin of 2.5cm on the left, right, top, and bottom sides of each page.
• Headings and sub-headings should be in title case, bold, and numbered.
• Only the International System of Units (SI) is acceptable.
• Symbols and nomenclatures should conform to international recommendations with respect to the specific field of specialization.
• Drugs should be mentioned by their generic (nonproprietary) name, if necessary, followed by the proprietary brand name in parentheses: e.g., doxorubicin (Adriamycin).
• Length, height, weight, and volume measurements should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degrees of Celsius (°C), and blood pressures should be measured in millimeters of mercury.
• Use only standard abbreviations and recognized symbols for chemical elements, drugs, statistics, etc. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.
• Do not use page breaks in your manuscript
• Include line and consecutive page numbers beginning with the title page
• Manuscript should neither be simultaneously submitted to, nor previously published in any other journal. Manuscript submission implies that consents of all authors and permission of the concerned institute (s) have been granted.
• All correspondence will be made with the author whose name appears first unless indicated otherwise.

3.2. File formats

The following word processor file formats are acceptable for the main manuscript document:

• Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX)
• Rich text format (RTF)

Editable files are required for processing in production. If your manuscript contains any non-editable files (such as PDFs), you will be required to resubmit an editable file if your manuscript is accepted.

3.3. Citations and References

Research articles and non-research articles (e.g., review and case reports) must cite appropriate and relevant literature in support of the claims made. Citation manipulation will result in the article being rejected, and may be reported to the authors’ institutions. Author (s) should consider the following guidelines when preparing their manuscript: 

• Any statement in the manuscript that relies on external sources of information (i.e., not the authors' own new ideas or findings or general knowledge) should use a citation.
• Author (s) should avoid citing derivations of original work. For example, they should cite the original work rather than a review article that cites an original work.
• Author (s) should ensure that their citations are accurate (i.e., they should ensure the citation supports the statement made in their manuscript and should not misrepresent another work by citing it if it does not support the point the authors wish to make).
• Author (s) should not cite sources that they have not read.
• Author (s) should not preferentially cite their own or their friends’, peers’, or institution’s publications.
• Author (s) should avoid citing work solely from one country.
• Author (s) should not use an excessive number of citations to support one point.
• Ideally, author (s) should cite sources that have undergone peer review where possible.
• Author (s) should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.

• Only articles, clinical trial registration records, and abstracts that have been published or are in press, or are available through public e-print/preprint servers, may be cited.
• Unpublished abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications should not be included in the reference list, but may be included in the text and referred to as "unpublished observations" or "personal communications," giving the names of the involved researchers. Obtaining permission to quote personal communications and unpublished data from the cited colleagues is the responsibility of the author. Only footnotes are permitted.
• Journal abbreviations follow Index Medicus/MEDLINE. You can also find abbreviations in ISSN International Identifiers for Serials LTWA.
• Any in-press articles cited within the references and necessary for the reviewers' assessment of the manuscript should be made available if requested by the editorial office.
• All references must be in alphabetical order. Please avoid excessive referencing.

3.3.1. In-text citations

In the text, a reference identified by means of an author‘s name should be followed by the date of the reference in parentheses. When there are more than two authors, only the first author‘s name should be mentioned, followed by “et al.,”. In et al., et should not be followed by a period. Only "al" should be followed by a period. In the event that an author cited has had two or more works published during the same year, the reference, both in the text and in the reference list, should be identified by a lowercase letter like ‘a’ and ‘b’ after the date to distinguish the works. In narrative citations, this information is incorporated into the text as part of the sentence. When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (i.e., alphabetically), separated by a semi-colon. If you cite multiple works by the same author in the same parenthetical citation, give the author’s name only once and follow with dates. No date citations go first, then years, then in-press citations. In parenthetical citations, the author's name and publication date (or equivalent information) appear in the parentheses. Parenthetical citations may appear within or at the end of a sentence. When text and a citation appear together in parentheses, use a semicolon to separate the citation from the text; do not use parentheses within parentheses.

Examples:

• Falani (2003)
• Scott et al. (2000) noted the significance of age on disease prevalence.
• The sex of animals significantly affects disease prevalence (Washi et al., 2009).
• (Amadi, 1991, in press)
• (Thompson and Bety, 1992)
• (Moses, 1999; Todor, 1987a,b; Tijani, 1995,1996)
• (e.g., animals husbandry; Chou & Wetzel, 2018).
• Ethiopian name: if the first name is Kebede, it should be written as Kebede (2010) for a single author or Kebede and Moges (2010) for two authors or Kebede et al. (2010) for multiple authors.

3.3.2. In reference list

• Book

Alexie, S. (1992). The Business of Fancy dancing: Stories and Poems. Brooklyn, NY: Hang Loose Press. (One Author)

Moir, A. & Jessel, D. (1991). Brain Sex: The Real Difference between Men and Women. London: Mandarin. (Two to six Authors)

Johnson, L., Lewis, K., Peters, M., Harris, Y., Moreton, G., Morgan, B. et al. (2005). How Far Is Far? London: McMillan. (Seven or more)

The CCH Macquarie Dictionary of Business. (1993). North Ryde, NSW: CCH Australia. (No author)

Queensland Health. (2002). Best Practice Guidelines for the Management of Type 1 Diabetes in Children and Adolescents. Brisbane, Qld.: Queensland Health. (Institutions as authors)

DeHart, G. B., Alan Sroufe, L., & Cooper, R. G. (1995). Child Development: Its Nature and Course (4^th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. (Different editions)

Friedman, S. L. & Wachs, T. D. (Eds.). (1999). Measuring Environment Across the Life Span: Emerging Methods and Concepts. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. (Edited books)

Booth-LaForce, C. & Kerns, K. A. (2009). Child-parent attachment relationships, peer relationships, and peer-group functioning. In K. H. Rubin, W. M. Bukowski, & B. Laursen (Eds.), Handbook of Peer Interactions, Relationships, and Groups (pp. 490-507). New York, NY: Guilford Press. (Chapter in an edited book)

• Journal article

Schafer, J.L. & Kang, J. (2008). Average Causal Effects from Nonrandomized Studies: A Practical Guide and Simulated Example. Psychological Methods. 13, 279-313. (One author)

Keller, T. E., Cusick, G. R. & Courtney, M. E. (2007). Approaching the Transition to Adulthood: Distinctive Profiles of Adolescents Aging out of the Child Welfare System. Social Services Review, 81, 453-484. (Two or more authors)

Keller, T. E., Cusick, G. R., & Courtney, M. E. (2007). Approaching the Transition to Adulthood: Distinctive Profiles of Adolescents Aging out of the Child Welfare System. Social Services Review, in press. (In press article)

Herres-Pawlis, S., Haase, R. & Bienemann, O. (2011). Dissecting the role of guanidine copper complexes in atom transfer radical polymerization by density functional theory [abstract]. Social Services Review, 3 (1): 28. (Published abstract).

• Conference papers

Bohrer, S., Zielke, T. & Freiburg, V. (1995). Integrated Obstacle Detection Framework for Intelligent Cruise Control on Motorways. Paper presented at IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium. Detroit, MI: Piscataway. (Published conference paper)

Bowden, F.J. & Fairley, C.K. (1996, June). Endemic STDs in the Northern Territory: Estimations of Effective Rates of Partner Change. Paper presented at the scientific meeting of the Royal Australian College of Physicians, Darwin. (Unpublished conference paper)

Schurath, U. & Wipprecht, V. (1980). Reactions of peroxiacyl radicals. In: Proceedings of the 1st European Symposium on the Physico-Chemical Behavior of Atmospheric Pollutants, Ispra, October 1979. Commission of the European Communities, pp 157-166. (Article within conference proceedings)

• Periodic and government reports

Mathews, J., Berrett, D. & Brillman, D. (2005, May 16). Other Winning Equations. Newsweek, 145(20), 58-59. (Article from newspapers or magazines)

Queensland Health (2005). Health Systems Review Final Report. Brisbane: Queensland Government. (Government Report)

United States. Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (1989) Ford's Theatre and the House Where Lincoln Died. Washington: GPO. (Pamphlet)

• Thesis

Akmel Mohammed (2010) The Validity of Local Institutions of Conflict Resolutions among the Afar: the Case of Samu Robi Gala’lo woredas, MSc Thesis, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. (MSc Thesis)

Axford, J.C. (2007). What Constitutes Success in Pacific Island Community Conserved Areas?, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Queensland, Australia. Retrieved from http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:158747 (PhD Thesis)

•  Articles/materials retrieved from an Online Database

Senior, B., & Swailes, S. (2007). Inside Management Teams: Developing a Team Work Survey Instrument. British Journal of Management, 18, 138-153. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2006.00507.x (with doi no.)

Koo, D. J., Chitwoode, D. D., & Sanchez, J. (2008). Violent Victimization and the Routine Activities/Lifestyle of Active Drug Users. Journal of Drug Issues, 38, 1105-1137. Retrieved from http://www2.criminology.fsu.edu/~jdi/ (if doi is not available)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2003). Managing Asthma: A Guide for Schools (NIH Publication No. 02-2650). Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/lung/asthma/asth_sch.pdf (Online Government Publication)

Pichon, A. (2010). Debating cyclobutadiene. http://www2.criminology.fsu.edu/~jdi/. Accessed 22 Feb 2023. (Link / URL with author)

Ebisa Tesissa, Metekia Tamiru, Dawit Adisu Tadese, Solomon Demek, Sebsib Ababor, Azmeraw Asres, et al. (2023). Evaluation of fenugreek (Trigonella foenumgraecum) seed powder and Moringa oleifera leaf meal on production performance and egg quality of laying hens. https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202305.1289/v1. (Pre-prints with URL or Doi no.)

• Ethiopian Names

For Ethiopian authors, use their names as close to the original as possible in all publications. Ethiopian name (Eg Mesfin Tolosa) should be treated as non-Ethiopian in the text section (e.g. Mesfin, 2010) but treated according to their national usage of Ethiopian names in the Reference list (e.g. Mesfin Tolosa)

Do not look for a “family” or “surname” in Ethiopian names, as there are none.

E.g. Tewolde-Berhan Gebre-Egziabher, or Ayele Negash,

 3.4. Tables and Figures

3.4.1. Tables

Tables should be numbered and cited in the order they are first mentioned in the text. Tables should be kept to a minimum and be designed to be as simple as possible. Tables are to be typed double-spaced throughout, including headings and footnotes. Each table should be on a separate page, numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals and supplied with a heading and a legend. Tables should be self-explanatory without reference to the text. The details of the methods used in the experiments should preferably be described in the legend instead of in the text. The same data should not be presented in both table and graph form or repeated in the text.

• Please cite or indicate where the table should appear at the relevant location in the text file so that the table can be added in the correct place during production.

Tables should not be embedded as figures or spreadsheet files, but should be formatted using ‘Table object’ function in your word processing program.

• Color and shading may not be used. Parts of the table can be highlighted using superscript, numbering, lettering, symbols, or bold text, the meaning of which should be explained in a table legend.
• Table titles (max 15 words) should be included above the table, and legends (max 300 words) should be included underneath the table.

3.4.2. Figures

Figures should be typed in numerical order on a separate sheet. Graphics should be prepared using applications capable of generating high-resolution GIF, TIFF, JPEG, or PowerPoint before pasting into the Microsoft Word manuscript file. Use Arabic numerals to designate figures and upper case letters for their parts (Figure 1). Begin each legend with a title and include sufficient description so that the figure is understandable without reading the text of the manuscript. Information given in legends should not be repeated in the text. In addition, please note that:

• Figure titles and legends should be provided in the main manuscript.
• Figure keys should be incorporated into the graphic, not into the legend of the figure.
• Each figure should be closely cropped to minimize the amount of white space surrounding the illustration.
• It is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures (or tables) that have previously been published elsewhere. For all figures to be open access, authors must have permission from the rights holder if they wish to include images that have been published elsewhere in non-open-access journals. Permission should be indicated in the figure legend, and the source included in the reference list.

 4. Research Articles

Original articles should be no longer than 3000 words (excluding title page, abstract, acknowledgements, and references).

4.1. Consent Letter

A letter signed by all authors declaring that it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere should accompany the manuscript. The cover letter should also indicate the name and address of the corresponding author and a statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest.

4.2. Title page

• A full title of the manuscript (short but informative)
• The name (s) of the author (s) and affiliation (s). Numerical superscripts should be used against affiliations if the authors are more than one.
• Short (running) title; not more than 6 words

4.3. Text pages

Manuscripts submitted to East Africa Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences should be divided into the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgment, and References.

4.3.1. Abstract

Abstracts should not exceed 250 words and should clearly show the aim of the study, how the study was performed, key findings with statistical significance, conclusions, and potential implications.

4.3.2. Introduction

This is a brief background of the subject. It is not necessary to include all of the background literature, but a brief reference to the most pertinent ones generally is enough to inform readers of the findings of others in the field. The specific questions to be addressed in the study should also be described. It should not contain both authors’ results and conclusions.

4.3.3. Materials and Methods

Describe general materials and methods once. The materials used, the procedures followed and the design applied should be described clearly and in enough detail for another researcher to duplicate the experiment. Be clear and explicit about relevant details.

4.3.4. Results

This part should include a concise textual description of the data presented in tables and figures. Repetition of the same data in different forms should be avoided. The results should not include materials appropriate to the discussion.

4.3.5. Discussion

This section describes the interpretation and implications of the results obtained. It also includes a comparison of results with the results of other related studies. Repetition of the same data in different forms should be avoided. The discussion should not include materials appropriate to the result.

Note: The result and discussion parts can be presented together or separately. The material and methods, results, and discussion sections could include subheadings.

4.3.6. Conclusions

Describe briefly the contributions of the present work and state future research needs, if any.

4.3.7. Acknowledgments

All persons who have made a genuine contribution and who endorse the data and conclusions may be included. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to use any copyrighted text and/or illustration.

4.3.8. Declaration

While submitting your manuscript to EAJVAS, submit the signed statement declaring that they understand and adhere to the journal's plagiarism policy and that their work is original.

4.3.9. References

All materials (literature) referred to must be cited. References must be cited and listed in the following forms. For more information, please take a look at recent publications.

5. Review Articles

Submissions of reviews and perspectives covering topics of current interest are welcomed and encouraged. Reviews should be concise and no longer than 4 to 6 printed pages (about 12 to 18 manuscript pages). Reviews are also peer-reviewed. Reviews are summaries of recent insights in specific research areas within the scope of EAJVAS. Key aims of Reviews are to provide systematic and substantial coverage of mature subjects and evaluations of progress in specified areas. The journal strongly encourages that all datasets on which the conclusions of the paper rely should be available to readers. We encourage authors to ensure that their datasets are either deposited in publicly available repositories (where available and appropriate) or presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files whenever possible. Writing instructions is the same as for a research paper.

 6. Short Communications

A Short Communication is suitable for recording the results of small investigations or giving details of new models or hypotheses, innovative methods, techniques, or apparatus. The style of the main sections needs to conform to that of full-length papers. Short communications are 2 to 4 printed pages (about 6 to 12 manuscript pages-double spaced) in length. Their preparation should follow the format of a full-length manuscript.

7. Case Reports

Case reports should contain an Introduction, Case history, and Results and Discussion sections. The introduction should indicate the interest of the case for practitioners, the case history should describe the case and the procedures in detail, and the results and discussion section should outline the results with a pertinent discussion and envisaged differential diagnosis. Results and discussion should not be divided into two separate headings. Photographs are desirable. Case reports should be no longer than 5 pages, should have an abstract of 100 words at most, and are limited to 15 references

8. Submission of Manuscript

Electronic submission of manuscripts is strongly encouraged, provided that the text, tables, and figures are included in a single Microsoft Word file (preferably in Times New Roman font). Submit manuscripts as an email attachment to the Editorial Office at: hueajvas@gmail.com. A manuscript number will be mailed to the corresponding author same day or within 48 hours.

9. Publication fee: There is no publication fee.

10. Proofs

Electronic proofs will be sent (e-mail attachment) to the corresponding author as a PDF (Portable Document Format) file. Page proofs are considered to be the final version of the manuscript. Except for typographical or minor clerical errors, no changes will be made in the manuscript at the proof stage. Acrobat Reader will be required to read the PDF. This software can be downloaded from the following website:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen, and printed out in order for any corrections to be added.

11. Copyright and Permissions

Under the Conditions for Website Use and the General Conditions for Authors, authors of articles published in EAJVAS retain copyright on their articles, except for any third-party images and other materials added by EAJVAS, which are subject to the copyright of their respective owners. Authors are therefore free to disseminate and re-publish their articles, subject to any requirements of third-party copyright owners and subject to the original publication being fully cited. Visitors may also download and forward articles, subject to the citation requirements. The ability to copy, download, forward, or otherwise distribute any materials is always subject to any copyright notices displayed. Copyright notices must be displayed prominently and may not be obliterated, deleted, or hidden, totally or partially. Articles are published under the CC BY-NC license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). By submitting a manuscript to the editor or publisher, you are deemed to have granted permission to publish the manuscript.

12. Access

Because EAJVAS will be published freely online to attract a wide audience, authors will have free electronic access to the full text (in PDF) of the article. Authors can freely download the PDF file from which they can print unlimited copies of their articles.

13. Abbreviating the Journal EAJVAS

The Journal “East African Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences” should be abbreviated as “East Afr J Vet Ani Sci” whenever necessary.