Folia Veterinaria - Instructions for Authors
THEMATIC FOCUS OF THE JOURNAL
Folia Veterinaria is a scientific journal published by the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, the Slovak Republic, established in 1956. It is issued quarterly and distributed worldwide. Original research papers on all aspects of veterinary science, clinical case studies and review articles, are welcomed on the understanding that the manuscript, in part or in whole, has not been published before nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere. Each author is responsible for the originality of the work and the correctness of its content. In the case of joint authorship, it will be assumed that all the authors agree to the submission. Authors should submit the manuscripts in electronic format using Word-processing software. Folia Veterinaria publishes articles following a Blind peer review (two reviewers chosen by the Editors) to uphold the standards of its publications with respect to their originality, relevance to veterinary medicine or pharmacy, clear statement of a hypothesis, appropriate experimental design, and completeness of methods, logical and comprehensive discussion and data-supported conclusions.
The journal does not have article processing charges (APCs) nor article submission charges.
MANUSCRIPT
Papers should be written in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). A native English speaker should check the text.
The complete set of the manuscript, including photographs and illustrations, tables or graphs should be sent in the digital form to the following e-mail address: folia.veterinaria@uvlf.sk or milada.vargova@uvlf.sk. Editorial Board maintains the option of returning, before evaluation, manuscripts to authors who do not comply with these recommendations. Manuscripts that lack originality, are poorly structured, too local or do not fit into the journal′s aims and scope may be rejected outright without undergoing peer review.
Please state clearly, which category of paper is being submitted.
The manuscript should be typed in Times New Roman font, 1.5 spacing, with margins of at least 25 mm, paragraphs indented, observing the structure specified below.
Authorship. The responsibility of every person listed as an author is stated in the Editorial policy of Folia Veterinaria. The order of authorship should be a joint decision of the co-authors. Authors should be prepared to explain this order. The authors must certify that their manuscript is their original work.
Conflict of Interest. If a study evaluates a pharmaceutical product, a medical or scientific device, or any other commercial manufacture, the authors must disclose, in a confidential covering letter to the editor, any and every financial interest (e.g. employment, consultancy, share-holding, board membership, etc.) they may have in the company that manufactures the product discussed or in a rival firm and/or commodity.
Ethical considerations.When reporting experiments on animals Observation of the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research, published in July 14, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410), is required. The authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with the guidelines for animal care of their institutions or with national/international guidelines. No article can be published unless the study was approved by an Ethics committee and informed consent obtained from human participants; the manuscript should contain a statement to this effect.
The following statements regarding ethical approval policy are also suggested to be included in the text:
- The study protocol No.... was approved by ethical/IACUC committee at the (add name of the institution).
- The research related to animals complied with all the relevant national regulations and institutional policies for the care and use of animals. All experiments were performed according to the protocol No.... approved by (add name of the institution) IACUC.
If the Editors deem that animals have been subjected to suffering unjustified by the scientific value of the information sought, they will reject the paper on ethical grounds. Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and breach of ethic.
The journal encourages integrity in science. Questionable and fraudulent claims will not be entertained.
Units of Measurement. Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI).
All hematological and clinical chemistry measurements should be recorded in the metric system or in SI units
Abbreviations and Symbols. Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. Abbreviations and acronyms should be used only if they are repeated frequently. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement, e.g. positron emission tomography (PET).
Nomenclature and Terminology. Medicines must be shown by their generic name followed by the proprietary name and manufacturer in parentheses when they are first mentioned, e.g. Apramycin (Apralan 200; Elanco, Austria).Authors should respect the relevant international rules of nomenclature (e.g. International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, International code of Zoological Nomenclature, International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria and International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses).
Anatomical terminology should agree with the nomenclature published in the Terminologia Anatomica: International Anatomical Terminology. Thieme Stuttgart. p. 161. ISBN 3-13-114361-4.
Latin terms and other non-English words should be italicized in the manuscript.
Experimental Hazards. Authors should draw attention to any dangers involved in carrying out their experiments, and should detail the precautions taken to guard against such hazards.
In journal Folia Veterinaria can be published: research articles, review articles and clinical case studies.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Each manuscript should be thematically complete: serialization is discouraged. Good research should be well justified, well planned, appropriately designed, and ethically approved.
Divide your article into the subsections with the following headings: ABSTRACT, INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS (ACKNOWLEDGEMENT), REFERENCES.
Each heading should appear on its own separate line, with one blank line above and below each heading.
The Title Page. The paper should be headed with the full title, (BOLD, UPPER-CASE letters, size 14, centered) which should accurately and concisely describe the topic in no more than two lines. The surname(s) and initials of the author(s) and the name and place(s) of their employment should follow this. (If the work was carried out in an institution other than the place of employment, this should be noted in the body of the text.)
ABSTRACT
(Bold, lower-case letters) The second page should carry an abstract, which should be self-contained and not exceed 250 words. It should briefly incorporate the purpose and relevance to veterinary science of the study, basic procedures, the main findings, and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations.
Key words: Key words should be listed below the abstract, from which they are separated by a one-line space. They should consist of three to ten words in alphabetical order, written in lower-case, bold, and separated by semi-colons.
INTRODUCTION
State the objective of the study and provide adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey. Give only strictly pertinent references and do not include data or conclusions from the study being reported.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Describe' your selection of observational or experimental subjects (including controls) clearly. Identify the age, sex, state of health, and other important characteristics of the subjects.
Identify the methods, apparatus (with the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail for other workers to reproduce the experiment. Quote established methods, provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods in full; give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Precisely identify all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name, dose, and route of administration.
Include information concerning the ethical issues.
Statistics. Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the results reported. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty. Discuss the eligibility of experimental subjects. Give details about randomization.
RESULTS
These should be as succinct as possible and presented in a logical sequence in the text, with figures and tables. Emphasize or summarize only the important observa¬tions in the text. Do not duplicate in the text all the data in the figures and tables. Results of statistical analysis (level of significance) should be provided in the tables where appropriate.
DISCUSSION
Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results sections. Include in the Discussion section the implications of the findings and the limitations, together with their significance for future research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies.
CONCLUSIONS
Link the conclusions with the aims of the study, but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the data. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
(In italics) Those who have given technical assistance, or moral or financial support, or supplied equipment or materials, or engaged in translation, language editing, general supervision, etc., should be recognized in the Acknowledgements.
REFERENCES (research article, review, case study)
Only the work used should be mentioned. In the reference list, the references should appear in alphabetical order by the first author's surname, preceded by an Arabic numeral. All entries in the reference list must correspond to the references in the text and vice versa. Authors should avoid citing derivations of original work. They should ensure that their citations are accurate (i.e. the citation supports the statement made in their manuscript) and should not cite sources that they have not read. Authors should not use an excessive number of citations to support one point. Ideally, authors should cite sources that have undergone peer review where possible. List all authors if six or less, otherwise list first six followed by “et al.”.
In the text, the number of respective reference is used instead of names and dates for citations, e.g. "All space-flight embryos... showed normal embryogenesis [3, 6] and post-hatch development [5]." Only if the writer's name is a necessary part of the sentence should it be used, e.g. "Jones et al. [7] discovered that...". If the date is essential, it too should form part of the text, e.g. "Then in 1997 Jones et al. [7] made a breakthrough…."
Citation of a reference as “in press” implies that the item has been accepted for publication
The style and punctuation of the references should follow the format described and illustrated below:
Journals:
Surname(s) and initial(s) of the author(s), year of publication (in bold), full title of the paper, title of the journal (in italics), volume, issue number and relevant pages. Abbreviated name of the journal should be used (Standard journal abbreviations –ISO4) DOI numbers should be included, where available...
Ahlborg, B., Ekelund, L. C, Nilsson, C. G., 1968: Effect of potassium-magnesium aspartate on the capacity of prolonged exercise in man. Acta Physiol. Scand., 74, 238—245. DOI:
Book without editor:
Surname(s) and initial(s) of the author(s), year of publication, full title of the book (In italics), edition (if not the first), publisher and place of publication, total number of pages or cited pages.
Fayer, R., Xiao, L., 2008: Cryptosporidium and Cryptosporidiosis. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 560 pp.
Book with editor(s):
Surname(s) and initial(s) of the author(s) and of the editor(s), year of publication, full title of the book (In italics),and edition (if not the first), publisher and place of publication, total number of pages or cited pages.
Brown, L. W., Johnson, E. M., 1989: Enzymatic evidence of alkaline phosphatase. In Caster, A. R.: Enzymology. Plenum Press, New York, 99─101.
Conference/Congress proceedings:
Surname(s) and initial(s) of the author(s), year of publication, Proceedings title and conference/congress (In italics), its place and date, total number of pages or cited pages.
Canganella, F., Balsamo, R., 2008: Isolation and selection of probiotic microorganisms with antagonistic activity against Paenicibacillus larvae and Paenicibacillus alvei. In Proceedings of the International Probiotic Conference: Probiotics for the 3rd Millenium, High Tatras, Slovakia, June 4–7, 28–29.
Online journals with volume and page information:
Simon, J. A., Hudes, E. S., 1999: Relationship of ascorbic acid to blood lead levels. JAMA, 281, 2289–-2293. http://url. Accessed July 11, 2009.
Online website:
King, M. W.: The Medical Biochemistry Page.
http://themedicalbiochemistrypage.org. Updated July 14, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009.
TABLES should contain essential data not given in the text. Statistics must be enclosed. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place titles above the tables and footnotes below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters where appropriate. Within each table, lines should separate only the headings from the body of the table, and the body of the table from any totals, averages, etc. No vertical lines should be used.
PHOTOGRAPHS, ILLUSTRATIONS AND FIGURES. As this part is electronically subject to change and mishaps, figures and tables demand extra care and safety. We recommend sending illustrations also in separate files. Black-and-white photographs should be clear and sharp. Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to “gray scale” please submit your figures and illustrations in version suitable for black and white print. In the journal, figures and illustrations will have an overall width of no more than 8.5 cm and be drawn on pages 17.5 cm wide. The size of the letters in legends should suit these dimensions. Ensure that figures and illustrations are numbered consecutively and each figure or illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not on the photo itself. Each caption should comprise a brief title and description and should be placed below the figure or illustration/photograph. Photomicrographs must state the magnification and stain technique. The main objects, changes, and findings should be shown by an arrow or some other symbol explained in the legend. Permission should be obtained for use of copyright material from other sources (including the Web).
REVIEW ARTICLES
These should provide a substantial survey, with an appropriate historical perspective, of the literature on some aspect of veterinary medicine. Alternatively, such articles may review a topic of veterinary interest, which may not come within the normal purview of many veterinarians. The following structure is recommended:
Title – keep the title concise and informative.
Abstract – inform about the objectives and results of the review article.
Introduction – provide information about the context, indicate the motivation for the review, define the focus, the research question and explain the text structure.
Material and methods – describe/summarise the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data.
Main part of the review article – use relevant headings.
Conclusion – answer the research questions set in the introduction
References – acknowledges the work of other scientists. Compulsory to avoid charges of plagiarism. A range between 50-100 references is in most cases appropriate.
CLINICAL CASE STUDIES.
The recommendations for structure are as follows:
Title – the title should contain the phrase “case study,” “case report”. We do not expect many authors – usually one or two.
Abstract – should be a short version of the whole paper
Introduction – a few paragraphs. The objective is to have the reader understand clearly, but in a general sense, why it is useful for them to be reading about this case.
Case presentation
Management and outcames - In this section, the plan for care should be clearly described, as well as the care, which was actually provided, and the outcome.
(Discussion, acknowledgements)
References
Tables, figures, photographs.
Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice
Editors evaluate the submitted manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic merit (importance, originality, study’s validity, clarity) and its relevance to the journal’s scope without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin citizenship or political philosophy of the authors. The Editor-in-Chief has full authority over the entire editorial content of the journal and the timing of publication of that content.
The editors ensure that all submitted manuscripts being considered for publication undergo peer-review by at least two reviewers who are expert in the field. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published, based on the validation of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, the reviewers’ comments, and such legal requirements as are currently in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. Reviews should be conducted objectively and observations formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them for improving the manuscript.
Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and the results, followed by an objective discussion of the significance of the work. The manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Review articles should be accurate, objective and comprehensive. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.
Authors should ensure that they have written and submit only entirely original works, and if they have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited. Plagiarism in all its forms, such as passing off another's paper as the author's own, copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution), or claiming results from research conducted by others, constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable. In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least 10 years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject-based data repository or other data centre), provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.
Submission of a manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unethical publishing behaviour and unacceptable.
Only persons who made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study and drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content have seen and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication should be listed as authors in the manuscript as they must be able to take public responsibility for the content. inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list and verify that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.
At the time of submission of the paper, the authors should disclose any conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. Potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include financial as well as non-financial ones.
If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the authors must clearly identify these in the manuscript.
When reporting experiments on animals Observation of the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research, published in July 14, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410), is required. The authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with the guidelines for animal care of their institutions or with national/international guidelines. No article can be published unless the study was approved by an Ethics committee and informed consent obtained from human participants; the manuscript should contain a statement to this effect. Authors should also include a statement in the manuscript that a consent of animal owners was obtained for examination or experimentation with the animal patients.
Authors are obliged to participate in the peer review process and cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ requests for raw data, clarifications, and proof of ethics approval. In the case of necessary revisions, authors should respond to the reviewers’ comments systematically and in a timely manner, revising and re-submitting their manuscript to the journal by the deadline given.
When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify the journal’s editors and cooperate with them to either correct the paper in the form of an erratum or to retract the paper.
No fees or charges are required from authors for manuscript processing. Authors pay neither submission nor publication fee.
The journal is freely available online. Authors are required to agree with this open access policy which enables unrestricted access and reuse of all published articles. The articles are published under the Creative Commons copyright license policy CC-BY ND 4.0 license as currently displayed on http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.