Guide for Authors | The Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Medicine

The Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Medicine (Iraqi J. Vet. Med.)

P-ISSN: 1609-5693, E-ISSN: 2410-7409

Thank you for choosing the Iraqi J. Vet. Med. to submit your valuable work. This guideline will guarantee that we have everything required thus your manuscript can move through peer review and publication processes efficiently and timely. Please take the time to read and follow the instructions in this guideline as carefully as possible to ensure that your manuscript matches the journal’s requirements.

Submission

All manuscripts should be submitted, and subsequently reviewed, online through the journal’s website submission system. There is no other form of submission accepted. Before submitting a manuscript, new submitting author(s) must register to create an account. Co-authors can access the manuscript details in the submission system if they register using the email address used during manuscript submission. Author(s) should use the accepted file format, which is Microsoft Word, to prepare their manuscript. The author(s) will be guided stepwise by the submission system through the steps of entering and uploading the manuscript file(s). When submitting a manuscript, author(s) guarantee to the Iraqi J. Vet. Med. that the manuscript:

has not been published simultaneously elsewhere, even in a different language, an exception will be applied if published as an abstract or part of an academic thesis or dissertation (please note that all manuscripts will be subjected to plagiarism detection software Turnitin,
is not under consideration for publication by another journal or publisher,
is read and accepted by all co-authors for submission,
will not be published elsewhere if accepted in whole or part without the written approval of the Iraqi J. Vet. Med.

Manuscript Types and Structure

The journal publishes original research, reviews, and case reports offering significant contributions across all areas of veterinary medicine. For all manuscript types, we encourage authors to directly convey the primary message to contribute to veterinary knowledge. We welcome concise yet comprehensive manuscripts without strict limitations on length or citations to disseminate impactful research, analyses, or findings that advance the field.

In all manuscript types, organize sections in the following order: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion (with conclusion), Authors' Contributions (optional), Acknowledgements, Funding (optional), Conflict of Interest, References.

Original Research Articles

Present novel findings from primary, unpublished studies.
Contribute to the broad spectrum of knowledge in veterinary science, including new research findings and studies that confirm or refute existing concepts.
Authors may choose to merge or separate the Results and Discussion sections as appropriate.
Include figures/tables as necessary to support the research findings.

Review Articles

Synthesize current knowledge on a specific topic, offering a comprehensive analysis of the literature and developments in veterinary medicine.
Cover systematic reviews, meta-analyses, or critical assessments of a field's evolution and current state.
Materials and Methods along with Results and Discussion sections may be adapted to fit the review structure.
Include figures/tables as necessary to summarize and convey current knowledge comprehensively.

Case Reports

Detail significant clinical cases that offer insights into diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of specific veterinary medical conditions.
Contribute valuable knowledge to the field, especially on novel or rare conditions, or provide new perspectives on more common issues.
Include a Case Description section covering relevant details instead of separate Materials and Methods and Results sections.
Case Description includes clinical findings, diagnostics, treatments, outcomes.
Include figures/tables/images as necessary to effectively illustrate the case.

General Considerations and Language Corrections

Language: Manuscripts must be submitted in English. American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these. Authors whose first language is not English are strongly advised to have their manuscripts professionally edited before submission. An Arabic title, author names and affiliation, and abstract (including the Keywords) are required for Arabian authors.

Formatting: Use single-spacing, one-column format, Times New Roman 12-point font, with pages numbered consecutively. The typed area should be 15 cm wide by 24 cm high.

English Proficiency: To ensure effective peer review, manuscripts must be submitted in grammatically correct English. The journal does not offer language editing services. Authors are responsible for any fees associated with language editing.

Editorial Policies

Before you proceed, please read the following journal policies:

Peer-Review-Process

Ethics in Publication

Copyright and licensing

Complaint Policy

Creative Commons Attribution(CCBY)

Open access

Plagiarism

Archive policy

Conflict of interest

Charges and Waiver

Authorship criteria

Care and Use of Animals Policy

Structure of Manuscripts

Title Page

The title must provide a specific, concise, and relevant statement of the manuscript contents. The title of the manuscript must be centered in boldface with 20 words maximum. The first letter of each word should be capitalized, except for prepositions. The title should not have abbreviations even when gene or protein names are included, however, well-known terminologies such as DNA or RNA or IgA can be abbreviated. Please note that there is no period after the title.

Below the title, author's names should be typed as a first name (full name or initial), middle initial, full last name, capitalize only the first letter of each full name. Affiliations should be indicated in front of the appropriate address by superscript numbers, and placed under the author names. Do not provide the title, position, or degree of authors. The corresponding author(s) should be clearly indicated and footnoted with one of the following symbols: *, †, ‡, § (e.g., ^*Corresponding author). Please ensure that the title page includes the name, email, full address, and telephone numbers of the corresponding author(s).

Abstract

A concise abstract as a single paragraph with a total of about 250-300 words maximum is required. Without headings, the abstract must be structured as follows: 1) Background, mention the problem addressed in a broad context and highlight the aim(s) of your study; 2) Methods, briefly describe the main methods and treatments utilized (include species and strains of animals used); 3) Results, summarize the main findings of your work; and 4) Conclusion, indicate the core conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should comprise complete sentences, use of nonstandard abbreviations (i.e., author-derived abbreviations) should be avoided, and if needed, they should be defined in parentheses the first time they are mentioned in the abstract. References and footnotes are not allowed.

Keywords

After the abstract, provide three to five relevant keywords or phrases which can be used for subject indexing. Keywords should contain critical words from the title, but must not include abbreviations, except if they are generally recognized throughout a science field (e.g., DNA, RNA, IgG). Keywords should be written as singular terms rather than plural and should be formatted as follows: Keywords: …., …., …., …….

Introduction

The introduction should briefly provide a background essential for readers to understand the investigation presented in the manuscript. Key publications of the topic described previously should be reviewed and cited properly. The aim(s) or objective(s) of the current work should be clearly stated at the end of this section.

Materials and Methods

This section should provide adequate details of the procedures used, so other researchers can repeat and build on the published outcomes. If original methods are established, they should be described in detail, whereas well-known methods (including modifications, if any) can be briefly described and correctly cited. Sources of chemicals, drugs, equipment, and products applied should be stated in parentheses at first mention. Condition of animals (Breed, strain, age, sex, and body weight) and diets provided (chemical analysis of dietary ingredients, if crucial to the experiment) used in the experiments should be described clearly. Experiments including animals must be performed in accordance with principles and specific guidelines presented in local, national, or international legislation on the care and use of animals in research. International System of Units (SI) should be used for all measurements, and if other measures are used, their equivalent in SI should be given.

Statistical Analysis

Analyzing and subsequently interpreting biological data using incorrect statistical approaches is not acceptable. Therefore, the Iraqi J. Vet. Med. highly recommends that authors consult with a statistician before submitting their manuscripts. The name and version of the statistical software used should be given.

Results

The authors should report a clear description of their experimental results. Data should be presented precisely and concisely in tables or figures, with no literature comparisons (only if needed). Duplication of data in tables and figures must be avoided. All tables and figures must be understandable by themselves by providing appropriate captions and footnotes. Tables and figures must be introduced in the main text near to their first mention. Tables and figures must be numbered in accordance with their appearance in the main text.

Discussion

In this section, the results and their interpretation should be discussed in terms of relevancy with previous findings, and how these interpretations addressed the question introduced in the introduction. This section should be ended with an overall conclusion that describes how your work aided in understanding or resolving a problem. Directions for future research may be included. The Discussion and Results sections can be combined.

Acknowledgments

This section is not mandatory. However, if the authors desire to include the Acknowledgments section, it should follow the Discussion section. Sources of funding, individuals’ critical participation, and institutes that helped to accomplish the work should be mentioned in enough detail.

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest declaration should state, as “The author(s) declare no conflicts of interest”.

References

Please note that since January 2020, the Iraqi J. Vet. Med. will use the Vancouver reference style or also called the author–number system. In the text, references must be identified by Arabic numbers in parenthesis (1) and placed before the punctuation. Successive references should be joined together with a hyphen (1-5). Nonconsecutive references should be separated with commas (2, 4, 7, 8), please note that there is no AND after the last reference. In the reference list, references must be numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text regardless of the alphabetical order. If there are more than 6 authors in a reference, list the first 6, after which 'et al.'‎. To abbreviate journals, authors can use conventional ISO abbreviations found in the journal's database of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Authors must make sure that all references cited in the manuscript text are also present in the section of references and vice versa with avoiding duplication and typo. To avoid such mistakes, the Iraqi J. Vet. Med. highly recommends authors to prepare the references using a reference software package, such as EndNote, Mendeley, etc. All references should be written in English, please convert Arabic or other language references to English. Example references are given below

Articles

Author 1 A, Author 2 B, Author 3 C, Author 4 D. Title of the article. Abbreviated journal title. Date of publication; volume number(issue number): page numbers.

Example:

Choi JH, Lee K, Kim DW, Kil DY, Kim GB, Cha CJ. Influence of dietary avilamycin on ileal and cecal microbiota in broiler chickens. Poult Sci. 2018; 97(3): 970–979.

Lambert JD, Yang CS. Mechanisms of cancer prevention by tea constituents. J Nutr. 2003; 133(10): 3262S-3267S.

Non-edited Books (Book Author)

Whole Book

Author(s) of book. Title of the book. Edition (if other than first). Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. Pagination.

Example:

Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 7th ed. Philadelphia (PA): Saunders Elsevier; 2013. 874 p.

Chapter in a non-edited book

Author(s) of book. Title of the book. Edition (if not first). Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. Chapter number, Chapter title; p. (page numbers of the chapter).

Example:

Ansel HC. Pharmaceutical measurement. 13th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2010. Chapter 3, Pharmaceutical measurement; p. 35-47.

Edited books

Whole Book, editor(s) as author(s)

Editor(s) – Last name and initials, editors. Title of book. Edition (if not first). Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. Pagination.

Example:

O'Campo P, Dunn JR, editors. Rethinking social epidemiology: towards a science of change. Dordrecht: Springer; 2012. 348 p.

Chapter in an edited book

Author(s) of the chapter - Last name and initials. Title of chapter. In: Editor(s) of the book - Family name and initials, editors. Title of the book. edition (if not first). Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. p. [page numbers of chapter].

Example:

MacDougall C, Chambers HF. Aminoglycosides. In: Brunton LL, Chabner BA, Knollman BJ, editors. Goodman & Gilman’s the pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 12th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2011. p. 1505-20.

Thesis

Author-Last name and initials. Thesis title [type of thesis; dissertation for a Ph.D. and master's thesis for a master's degree]. Place of publication: Publisher; Year.

Example:

Kay JG. Intracellular cytokine trafficking and phagocytosis in macrophages [dissertation]. St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland; 2007.

Kashifalkitaa HF. Effect of bromocriptine and dexamethasone administration on semen characteristics and certain hormones in local male goats [dissertation]. Baghdad, Iraq: University of Baghdad; 2008.

Webpage

Author/organization’s name. Title of the page [Internet]. Place of publication: Publisher; Date or year of publication [updated YYYY Mon DD; cited YYYY Mon DD]. Available from: URL.

Example:

Diabetes Australia. Diabetes globally [Internet]. Canberra ACT: Diabetes Australia; 2012 [updated 2012 Jun 15; cited 2012 Nov 5]. Available from: http://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/en/Understanding-Diabetes/Diabetes-Globally/.

Tables

Microsoft Word table function must be used to prepare tables, no other form such as a photograph is accepted. Tabs and spaces must not be used to separate table cells. Horizontal or vertical rules must not be used to set the tables. Tables should be inserted in the body of the manuscript close to their first mention. All tables should be numbered in accordance with their appearance in the main text. In the main text, they should be written as a full word (Table, not Tab.). Similarly, the word 'Table' should be written as full above the table with a period after its number (Table 1.). Each table should be titled and footnoted (using the “insert caption” function) briefly and clearly which makes the table self-explanatory without referring to the main text. The first letter of the first word of the title should be only capitalized with no period at the end of the title. All components of the table, such as a unit of measure, abbreviations, and statistical analysis should be identified with superscript footnotes under the table. For a unit of measure, it can be appeared with the title or inside the table. All abbreviations used in the table must be defined and matched those used in the main text. For statistical analysis, the footnote can be provided as “Means within a row/column lacking a common superscript differ significantly (P≤0.05)”, and other significant P values can be specified. Mean comparisons within columns and rows must be indicated (e.g., lowercase (or small letters) a, b in rows indicate….., Uppercase (or capital letters) A, B in the column indicate….). Values of probability can be indicated as follows: *P≤0.05, **P≤0.01, ***P≤0.001.

Figures/Illustrations

Figures and illustrations must be submitted with high quality (300 dpi). One of Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), PDF, and JPEG formats can be used to create figures and illustrations. Backgrounds such as grid lines in graphs or unnecessary objects in photographs should be removed. Color figures or illustrations for in print or online will NOT be additionally charged. Figures should be inserted within the main text. When a figure is cited in the main text, it should be written in full (Figure, not Fig.). All figures and illustrations must be titled (captioned). The title should be concise, located under the figure or graph. The title should be started as “Figure 1.”(please note that there is a period after the number, not colon). The first letter in the first word of the title should be only capitalized with no period at the end of the title. Figures and illustrations must be self-explanatory, i.e., all symbols and descriptions must be identified in the title without referring to the main text.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should not be used in the title, keywords, or at the beginning of a sentence without previous definition, except when they are well-known in scientific communities (e.g., IgG, DNA, RNA). Author-derived abbreviations should be defined in capital letters at first use in the abstract and again in the body of the manuscript. The reviewers and editors will evaluate the suitability of abbreviations during the review process. Terms need to be abbreviated, should be spelled out in full with the abbreviation following in parentheses the first time they are mentioned in the main body of the text. Abbreviations must be utilized constantly thereafter, rather than the full term. Abbreviations in tables, figures should be defined in the footnotes. The following abbreviations may be used without definition in Iraqi J. Vet. Med.:

°C degree Celsius

ANOVA analysis of variance

ATP adenosine triphosphate

AOAC Association of Official Analytical Chemists

BSA bovine serum albumin

BW body weight

B cell bursal-derived, bursal-equivalent derived cell

bp base pairs

cal calorie

CFU colony-forming unit

CoA coenzyme A

CP crude protein (N × 6.25)

cDNA complementary DNA

CI c Confidence interval

CV Coefficient of Variation

d day(s)

DM dry matter

DNA deoxyribonucleic acid

EDTA ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

ELISA Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

F F-distribution (variance ratio)

g gram

GE gross energy

GH growth hormone

h hour(s)

ha hectare

hCG human chorionic gonadotropin

HPLC High-performance (pressure) liquid chromatography

Hz hertz

IU international unit

J joule

L liter

LD₅₀ Lethal dose 50%

LSD Least significant difference

m meter

μ micro

ME metabolizable energy

min minute(s)

mo month(s)

n sample size (used parenthetically or in footnotes)

NDF neutral detergent fiber

No. number (use only in tables, not in the text)

NRC National Research Council

P probability

RNA ribonucleic acid

rpm revolutions per minute

Submission Checklist

Please conduct a final check of your manuscript by reviewing this checklist before you submit it to the journal for review. Please make sure that you have read the Guide for Authors in detail before you begin the preparation of your manuscript. Submit your manuscript electronically to Iraqi J. Vet. Med. through the journal’s website submission system.

Please send the Copyright Transfer Agreement form and the Animal Welfare Statement form with your manuscript.

Please ensure that the following items are followed:

General

File format: Microsoft Word
Pages: numbered consecutively
Lines: single-spaced, one column
Page size: A4 (210 x 297 mm)
Typed area: 15 cm width x 24 cm height
Font: Times New Roman, 12 point
Sections are in the order listed below
Figures and tables are embedded within the main text
Further considerations

The manuscript has been spell-checked and grammar checked
All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
Permissions were obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
Editorial policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed

Structure of Manuscript

Title page
- Title (include Arabic title, only for Arabian authors)
  - centered bold, 14 pt Times and Roman
  - the first letter of each word should be capitalized, except for prepositions
  - no abbreviations (unless needed), no period after the title
- List of authors (include authors’ name in Arabic, only for Arabian authors)
  - first name (full or initial), middle initial, full last name
  - capitalize only the first letter of each full name
  - no title, position, or degree of authors
  - centered bold, 12 pt Times New Roman
- Affiliation
  - use numbered superscripts to refer to each address provided
  - no title, position, or degree of authors
  - centered italic, 12 pt Times New Roman
- Corresponding author
  - phone, and email address
  - use the following superscripts symbols: *, †, ‡, § to refer to the corresponding author
  - align left, 12 pt Times New Roman
Abstract

250 to 300 words limit
include Arabic abstract (only for Arabian authors)
structure as Background and aim(s) of the study, Methods, Results, and Conclusion
avoid abbreviations (only if needed)

Keywords

3 to 5 words or short phrases (include keywords in Arabic, only for Arabian authors)
no abbreviations

Introduction

Background with key references cited
the gap or the research question
aim(s) of the study the last sentence

Materials and Methods
- The name and version of the statistical package,
- the type of analysis used
- and the P-value accepted as significant must all be included.

Experiments including animals must be performed in accordance with principles and specific guidelines presented in local, national, or international legislation on the care and use of animals in research.
this section contains the approval statement
Obtain the animal welfare statement and sign it.
Statistical analysis

Results
- All Tables are mentioned, numbered with an Arabic numeral, and cited in numeric sequence in the text (as Table 1. Not Tab. 1:)
- Tables are accompanied by an explanatory caption (above the table) and footnotes
- They should not depend on explanatory materials from the text but should be stand-alone
- All Figures are mentioned, numbered with an Arabic numeral, and cited in numeric sequence in the text (as Figure 1. Not Fig. 1:)
- Figures are accompanied by an explanatory caption (under the Figure)
- They should not depend on explanatory materials from the text but should be stand-alone

Tables embedded
Figures embedded

Discussion and Conclusions

All discussion is about the research question in the introduction, therefore discuss the results with others (must be relative) and how they are (the results) address the research question