Paper Preparation Guide

Scope

Iranian journal of Veterinary Science and Technology (IJVST) is a multi-disciplinary journal that supports important research advances in veterinary medicine and subject areas relevant to veterinary medicine including anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, bacteriology, biochemistry, biotechnology, food hygiene, public health, immunology, molecular biology, parasitology, pathology, virology, etc. Contributions related to clinical sciences including large and small animal medicine, poultry disease, diseases of equine species and aquaculture are also welcomed. Articles can comprise research in basic sciences, as well as applied veterinary findings and experimental studies with impacts on diagnosis, treatment and prevention of animal diseases.

General guidelines

Manuscripts submitted to IJVST should neither be published previously nor be under consideration for publication in another journal. The main article types are as follows:

  • Research  Articles should contain Title page, Abstract, Keywords, List of Abbreviations, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials and methods, References, and Figure legends. Tables and figures should be appended as individual files.

  • Review Articles should contain Title page, Abstract, Keywords, List of Abbreviations, Introduction, appropriate sections dependeing to the subject, Conclusions and future directions. Tables and figures should be appended as individual files. The review article should provide an update on recent advances in a particular field. Authors wishing to submit review articles should contact the Editor with an outline of the proposed paper prior to submission.

  • Case Reports should include Title page, Abstract, Keywords, List of Abbreviations, Introduction, Case Presentation, Results and Discussion, and References. Case reports should not exceed 2000 words (excluding the references) and should include no more than two tables or figures. Tables and figures should be appended as individual files.

  • Short Communications should not exceed 2000 words (excluding the references) and include no more than two tables or figures. They should include Title page, Abstract, Keywords, List of Abbreviations, the text summarizing results with no other divisions, and References. Tables and figures should be appended as individual files.

Submission Process

  1. Manuscripts for IJVST should be submitted online at https://ijvst.um.ac.ir/ .

  2. The submitting author, who is generally the corresponding author, is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and peer-review process. The submitting author must ensure that all eligible co-authors have been included in the tittle page and that they have all read and approved the submitted version of the manuscript.

  3. To submit your manuscript, register and log in . All co-authors can see the manuscript details in the submission system, if they register and log in using the e-mail address provided during manuscript submission.

  4. Reviewer Suggestions: During the submission process, please suggest three potential reviewers with the appropriate expertise to review the manuscript. The editors will not necessarily approach these referees. Please provide detailed contact information (address, homepage, phone, e-mail address). The proposed referees should neither be current collaborators of the co-authors nor have published with any of the co-authors of the manuscript within the last three years. Proposed reviewers should be from different institutions to the authors. You may identify appropriate Editorial Board members of the journal as potential reviewers. You may suggest reviewers from among the authors that you frequently cite in your paper. For detailed information regarding the qualifications and responsibilities of the reviewers, please visit https://ijvst.um.ac.ir/page_8.html.

  5. Ethics: Authors must state that the protocol for the research project has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the institution within which the work was undertaken. Authors are responsible for animal welfare and all statements made in their work.

Accepted file format

Authors are encouraged to use the Microsoft Word template  to prepare their manuscript. Using the template file will substantially shorten the time to complete copy-editing and publication of accepted manuscripts. The total amount of data for all files must not exceed 120 MB. If this is a problem, please contact the Editorial Office ijvst@um.ac.ir. Accepted file formats are:

  • Microsoft Word: Manuscripts prepared in Microsoft Word must be written in English, with Abstract in both English and Persian (where applicable), typewritten in MS Word program, double-spaced, in 12-point “Times New Roman” font on A4 paper size. Authors are requested to reserve margins of 2.5 cm all around the pages. Manuscript should also have line numbers. All pages of the manuscripts should also be enumerated.Templates can be downloaded from the following links:
  • Template MS Word file for Title page (Link).
  • Template MS Word file for Original articles (link).
  • Template MS Word file for Short Communication (link).
  • Template MS Word file for Case Report (link).
  • Template MS Word file for Tables (link).
  • Template MS Word file for Persian Abstract (link).
  • Tables: Please submit tables as individual files and editable text and not as images. Place all table notes below the table body. Each table should have a title which is followed by explanation of results shown in the table. Use of vertical rules must be avoided. Tables should be self-explanatory, and clearly arranged. Tables should provide easier understanding and not duplicate information already included in the text or figures. Each table should be typewritten with double spacing on a separate file and numbered in order of citation in the text with Arabic numerals. Each table should have a concise heading that makes it comprehensible without reference to the text of the article. Explain any non-standard abbreviations in a footnote to the table.
  • Figures: Figures must be submitted in individual files (format: TIFF, Dimensions: Width: 789 – 2250 pixels at 300 dpi Height maximum: 2625 pixels at 300 dpi, Resolution: 300 – 600 dpi, file size: less than 10 MB, Text within figures: Arial or Symbol font only in 8-12 point). The text and other labels should be placed in the figure as un-compressed layers. Each figure should have a title which is followed by explanation of results shown in the figure. Figures should be numbered in order of citation in the text with Arabic numerals. If a published figure is used, the publisher’s permission needs to be presented to the office, and the figure should be referenced in its legend.
  • diagrams : For the use of bar diagrams the following publication should be consulted:
    Weissgerber TL, Milic NM, Winham SJ, Garovic VD. Beyond bar and line graphs: time for a new data presentation paradigm. PLoS Biol. 2015 Apr22;13(4):e1002128.                                                                                                                                                                                                           
    The bar diagrams should be provided in color and in a well-designed and professional format. Please do not use different shades of gray. The axes of diagrams should have titles and units. Also, the source file of the image (Excel etc.) should be provided for typesetting.Illustrations should be numbered as cited in the sequential order in the text, with a legend at the end of the manuscript. Color photographs are accepted at no extra charge. The editors and publisher reserve the right to reject illustrations or figures based upon poor quality of submitted materials.

Title Page information

Full Title Page should include title (concise and informative), author(s) (including the complete name, department affiliation, and institution), running  head (condensed title) (≤ 50 characters, including spaces), name and address of the authors to whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed, Acknowledgements, Author contributions, and Conflict of interest.

  • Acknowledgements: Personal acknowledgement, sources of financial support, contributions and helps of other researchers and everything that does not justify authorship should be mentioned in this section, if required.
  •  Author contributions: Authors are required to include a statement to specify the contributions of each author. The statement describes the tasks of individual authors referred to by their initials. Listed below is an example of author contributions statement:

           " Conceived and designed the experiments: HD, SS. Performed the experiments: SS. Analyzed the data: HD, SS, MMM,    ARB.

             Research space and equipment: HD, MMM, ARB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HD. wrote the paper: SS, HD."

  • Conflict of interest:

    All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are no conflicts of interest then please state ‘The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest’. This form can be downloaded from the IJVST website.

  • Abstract: Abstract (in English and Persian) no more than 250 words should contain the purpose of the study, findings and the conclusion made on the basis of the findings. Authors who are not native Persian speakers may submit their manuscript with an abstract in English only. Abbreviations and reference citations may not be used in the abstracts.

  • Keywords: For indexing purposes, each submitted manuscript should include three to seven keywords, following the abstract and preferably chosen from the Medical Subject Headings (MESH). Keywords should express the precise content of the manuscript.

  • Abbreviations: Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a list to be placed on the tittle page. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the tittle page. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
Main Text
  •  Introduction: Introduction should be as concise as possible, and clearly explain the main objective and hypothesis of the investigation.

  • Results: Results indicate the results of an original research in a clear and logical sequence. Do not repeat data that are already covered in tables and illustrations. In manuscripts describing more than one animal, all animals should be assigned a case number.

  • Discussion: Discussion should include the answer to the question proposed in the introduction and emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. It could include the implication, application, or speculation of the findings and their limitations, relate the observations to other relevant studies, and links the conclusions with the goals of the study. Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.
  • Materials and Methods: Materials and methods should be described in sufficient details to allow other researchers to reproduce the results. Specify any statistical computer programs used .The methods of data collection and use of statistical analysis will be checked by the referees and if necessary, a statistician. Drugs and therapeutic agents, reagents, softwares and equipments should be given in the format: name (trade name, manufacturer name, city, country), e.g. Statview 5 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC, USA).

  • Animals: All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript the ethical code of the study.

  • Gene names: The standard gene names, as provided by HGNC should be used. Gene names must be italicized. If the case of mammalian species and if gene names refer to rodent species, they must be upper case; if they refer to non-rodent species they must be written in capitals. If they refer to other species, they must written lower case. Protein names are written in capitals and are not italicized. As an example:

    Mouse beta actin gene: Actb

    Bovine beta actin gene: ACTB

    Chicken beta actin gene: actb

    Beta actin protein: ACTB

  • Quantitative PCR: If the quantitative PCR method has been used, the related section in Materials and Methods and Results must be written following the reference:

    Bustin SA, Benes V, Garson JA, Hellemans J, Huggett J, Kubista M, Mueller R, Nolan T, Pfaffl MW, Shipley GL, Vandesompele J, Wittwer CT. The MIQE guidelines: minimum information for publication of quantitative real-time PCR experiments. Clin Chem. 2009 Apr;55(4):611-22.

  • Protocol for DNA/RNA extraction, including quantification and determination of purity.

  • Reverse transcription (if used): amount of RNA, concentration of all reagents: primers concentration (either random primers or oligonucleotides), reverse transcriptase and master mix components.

  • qPCR: sequence of forward and reverse primers, probes, amplicon size, accession number of Genebank;

    thermocycler parameters (i.e. denaturation, annealing and extension steps, number of cycles, melting curves);

    validation of PCR products; non-template controls for reverse transcription and qPCR should be included in all reactions; and

  • Data analysis: details for the quantitative or relative analysis.

  • Use of antibodies: Authors must show that the antibodies are validated and their specificity sis confirmed.

  • References: Must be up-to-dated and limited to those that are necessary. Lists of references should be given in numerical order in the text, and in the reference list. Please use Vancouver style. To download the Vancouver Style follow the link in the IJVST website which could be used in the Endnote software.


Example piece of text and reference list :
An unhealthy diet, obesity and physical inactivity play a role in the onset of type 2 diabetes, but it has been shown that increased physical activity substantially reduces the risk [1], and participation in regular physical activity is one of the major recommendation of the evidence based guidelines for the primary prevention of diseases [2]. According to the 2004-05 National Health Survey, more than half a million Australians (3.5% of the population) have diabetes mellitus which had been medically diagnosed and most of these people have the Type 2 condition [3]. Gestational diabetes is also on the increase, rising steadily between 2000-01 and 2005-06 [4]. Approximately two thirds of those with diabetes have been prescribed medication [3], but it is of concern that a recent review of the literature found that many people do not take their medication as prescribed [5]. Many patients also self monitor the disease by measuring their blood glucose levels with a glucose meter but Song and Lipman [6] have concerns about how well this is managed.

References for the above example:
1. Hull J, Forton J, Thompson A. Paediatric respiratory medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015.
2. Eckerman AK, Dowd T, Chong E, Nixon L, Gray R, Johnson S. Binan goonj: bridging cultures in Aboriginal health. 3rd ed. Chatswood, NSW: Elsevier Australia; 2010.
3. Johnson C, Anderson SR, Dallimore J, Winser S, Warrell D, Imray C, et al. Oxford handbook of expedition and wilderness medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015.
4. McLatchie GR, Borley NR, Chikwe J, editors. Oxford handbook of clinical surgery. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2013.
5. Petitti DB, Crooks VC, Buckwalter JG, Chiu V. Blood pressure levels before dementia. Arch Neurol. 2005 Jan;62(1):112-6. Doi: 10.1001/archneur.62.1.112 .
6. Liaw S, Hasan I, Wade, V, Canalese R, Kelaher M, Lau P, et al. Improving cultural respect to improve Aboriginal health in general practice: a multi-perspective pragmatic study. Aust Fam Physician. 2015;44(6):387-92.

Use of Italics

Gene symbols, Latin terms (i.e. in vivo, in vitro, ex vivo, in utero, in situ, and etc.) and species scientific names (using the binomial nomenclature), should be typed in italics, while the first letter of the genus name must be capitalized (i.e. Homo sapiens).

Copyright

Accepted manuscripts in IJVST will be Open-Access articles distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The copyright is retained by the author(s). The publisher will insert the following note at the end of the published text:

©2024 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.

Online proof correction, AFTER ACCEPTANCE

To ensure a speedy publication process, we request the corresponding author to provide us with proof corrections within two days. Sending the proof file of the article to the user account will be notified by email. All parts of the paper should be checked carefully and all corrections should be marked on the proof file and finally sent it back via the user account.

You can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to the corresponding author.

We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness, and correctness of the text, tables, and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. Please check carefully before replying, as the inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Privacy Statement

This journal will not use your personal information for any reason that is not related to your business with the journal, nor will we sell, rent, or give it to any other person or organization.

For further information, please contact the Editorial Office

Iranian Journal of Veterinary Science and Technology
Email: ijvst@um.ac.ir; Tel: +98 51 3880-3742