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South African Journal of Animal Science
Instructions to authors..../ Instructions aux auteurs....
Editorial policy
The South African Society for Animal Science welcomes
the submission of manuscripts from members of the South African
Society for Animal Science and from scientists abroad on all
matters germane to the science of animal production for
publication in the South African Journal of Animal Science.
The scope of the journal includes reports of research dealing
with farm livestock species (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and
poultry), as well as pertinent aspects of research on aquatic and
wildlife species. The main disciplines covered are nutrition,
genetics and physiology. Papers dealing with sociological aspects
of well-defined livestock production systems are also invited,
providing they are scientific by nature and have been carried out
in a systematic way. Papers dealing with routine, repetitive
testing or economic evaluation of specific products, feeds or
cultivars are discouraged unless the results so derived are used
to develop or elaborate scientific concepts. Papers that form
part of a series are discouraged: this includes different aspects
of data derived from one particular experiment, or cases in which
the analytical techniques, animals or experimental procedures are
common to all papers. Where authors have valid reasons for
separation of reports into two manuscripts, these must be
submitted simultaneously; delayed or staggered submissions will
be automatically rejected. In all cases, reports should represent
original contributions to current scientific knowledge
of the principles or the application of
principles governing the functioning of animals and their
relationship to the social or physical environment.
In cases where the first author is not a member of the South
African Society for Animal Science, a fee of R200 (US$ 25) per
article will be levied upon publication.
Types of articles
The data upon which all types of manuscripts are based should
be original (review articles excepted), should not have been
published previously in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and
should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All
submissions will be subject to the peer-review process detailed
hereafter.
Research articles
Contributions should be based on original unpublished
experimental data that has been analysed using statistical
methods. The Journal does not discriminate against reports of
complete experiments that are limited in scope or extent; the
classification `short communication' is therefore not applied.
Authors should note that shorter articles should nonetheless be
of the same scientific standard and relevance as research
articles that merit greater length, and that multi-part
manuscripts derived from a common experiment will not be
considered unless submitted simultaneously.
Symposium or Congress abstracts
Abstracts of posters or short presentations delivered at
congresses of the South African Society for Animal Science or
symposia of regional branches or interest groups of the Society
are published in this section. Abstracts should not exceed 250
words. Organisers of symposia should contact the editor-in-chief
to ensure that peer-review procedures and formatting of abstracts
are compliant with those of the journal.
Reviews
Reviews should have as their main aim the synthesis or
application of new principles, hypotheses or future research
directions from re-interpretation and scrutiny of existing
published scientific data. It is normal practice for authors to
include some of their own new but previously unpublished data in
support of the concept that is synthesised. Syntheses and
applications from technical reports, surveys and other
unpublished but scientifically justifiable sources of information
can also be used in support. Reviews aimed at distilling existing
published information into a form that will contribute to a
clearer understanding of, or more widespread application of
research findings by generalist extension officers and
non-scientists are also welcomed. Reviews are normally solicited
by the editor-in-chief, but suggestions for topics or authors are
welcomed. Reviews are subject to the same peer-review process as
is applied to all other submissions.
Electronic publication
The South African Journal of Animal Science is published
electronically via the Internet, and can be accessed from the
following address: http://www.sasas.co.za/Sajas.html
Journal issues will close at 4-month intervals (e.g. Vol. 31,
issue no. 3 runs from September to December 2001). Articles will,
however, be placed on the Internet as soon as the copy-ready
version has been approved by the submitting author, after which
no further alterations can be made. After closure of a particular
issue, the contents will be printed and bound in the traditional
paper format. The electronic medium of publication does not
affect the citation or status of the Journal as a peer-reviewed
scientific journal of international standing.
Copyright
In submitting the corrected version of the manuscript (final
version corrected according to reviewers comments) for
publication in the South African Journal of Animal Science, the
authors automatically grant and assign all rights protected by
copyright laws in the Republic of South Africa and all foreign
countries, including subsidiary rights, exclusively to the South
African Society for Animal Science. The unauthorised transfer of
PDF files of articles placed on the website of the South African
Journal of Animal Science to any other website, or any alteration
of the original PDF file shall be deemed an infringement of
copyright. Permission to use or republish material contained in
the South African Journal of Animal Science must be obtained from
the South African Society for Animal Science via the
editor-in-chief of the journal.
If figures, tables or parts of other copyright material not
owned by the authors are included in articles submitted for
publication in the journal, it is the sole responsibility of the
authors to obtain permission to republish such items.
The review process
Editorial policy as well as the final decision to accept or
reject manuscripts for publication resides with the
editor-in-chief. The editor-in-chief is assisted by sub-editors
and reviewers. The review process is as follows:
- Submissions should be written in MS WORD (or saved as
.doc files) and submitted as e-mail attachments to the
Editor-in-chief at [email protected]
- The editor-in-chief will screen the submission to
determine whether:
- the subject matter is suitable for placement in the
journal
- general scientific methods have been applied
- the required style, form and typesetting have been
applied. Manuscripts will not be admitted to the peer-review
process until they are fully compliant with the style and format
detailed in the instructions to author.
- The manuscript will be forwarded within one week
of receipt to a sub-editor.
- The sub-editor will, in turn, screen the manuscript within
two weeks of receipt for subject-specific technical aspects
and, if deemed suitable for review, will select at least two
referees to review the manuscript and to submit a report within
six weeks.
- Within one week of receipt of the referee's
reports, the sub-editor will compile a report based on the
referees comments and forward this together with the original
comments received from the referees to the editor-in-chief.
- The editor-in-chief's decision to accept, reject or
request revisions and alterations to the paper is based on the
sub-editors recommendation and his/her own review of the
manuscript. Neither the identity of the sub-editor nor those of
the reviewers are made known to the authors.
- The editor-in-chief will then contact the authors upon
receipt of the sub-editor's report and advise them of the
recommendations.
- The editor-in-chief will advise the authors of the
acceptance of the revised manuscript and publish the
article as soon as possible thereafter. If the
editor-in-chief considers it necessary, the paper may be referred
to the journal's editorial sub-committee for a final decision
regarding acceptance. Authors will be given 48 h to view the
final PDF version of the article before it is placed in the
public-access section of the website.
- Under normal circumstances, this process should take no
longer than four months.
Style and Form
Authors are requested to adhere strictly to the following
directives and consult the most recent editions of the journal
for issues not specifically mentioned here:
- The title must be informative and brief. The
initials and name of the author(s), the address of the
institution where the work was done must follow the title.
Superscripts (1,2,3) should be used in cases where authors are
from different institutions. The superscript # should be appended
to the author to whom correspondence should be addressed, and
indicated as such together with an e-mail address in the line
immediately following the abstract. The present postal address of
authors, if currently different from that of the institution,
should also be superscripted appropriately and inserted in the
lines following the abstract.
- An abstract should be included next. It should
contain the following: purpose of study, experimental treatments,
results, preferably in quantitative data, significance of
findings and the conclusions. This should not exceed 250 words.
Significance levels (e.g. P < 0.05) should not be included in
the abstract.
- The contents must be arranged in an orderly way
with suitable headings for each subsection. The recommended
subdivision of contents is as follows:
- Introduction: This should include (a) a
statement of why the subject under investigation is considered to
be of importance, (b) a concise indication of the status quo of
published research in this field and (c) why this article is
considered to be an original contribution to current
scientific knowledge of the principles or the application
of principles governing the functioning of animals and
their relationship to the social or physical environment. The
last sentence of the introduction should contain a declaration of
the aims of the experiment, i.e. the hypothesis. The introduction
should not exceed one half of a page in length, and would
typically end at the bottom of the first page of the article.
- Materials and Methods: These should be concise
but of sufficient detail to enable the experiment to be
replicated by an outside party.
- Results and Discussion may be treated separately
or under one heading; do not insert sub-headings.
- Conclusions This should consist of (a) a short
integration of results that refers directly to the stated
aims of the experiment and (b) a statement on the
practical implications of the results. This section
should not exceed one short paragraph. Do not summarise
the discussion here.
- Acknowledgements: Do not include titles of
persons; use only initials and surname.
- Footnotes are not acceptable.
- Sub-headings within the Results and Discussion
section are not acceptable.
Main text: Font size 11 pt. The settings for the
paragraph text should be as follows: format > paragraph >
indentation: special; first line, and the alignment of all
paragraphs is set as `justified' so that there are no ragged
edges on the right-hand side of the page.
Do not introduce sub-headings into the main heading
sections – separate different sections using paragraphs. Do
not leave open lines between paragraphs.
When abbreviations are used, they must be explained in full
when first used, also in tables and figures.
Tables are numbered consecutively in bold Arabic
numerals (e.g. Table 1 note that there is no following
colon or full stop) and should bear a short, yet adequate
descriptive caption (i.e. the caption should enable
interpretation of the data presented if the table and caption
were to be separated from the text). Example: inadequate: “Table
1 Feed intake effects”; correct: “Table 1 Mean
(± s.e.) voluntary intake (g/d) of two diets differing in
crude protein content by early-weaned (21 d) piglets”.(Font
size: 11 pt). Measures of variance (e.g. s.e. or s.d. included in
tables should be clearly defined in the caption as in the
preceding example. Metric units are to be clearly shown,
abbreviated in accordance with international procedure.
Explanatory notes to table elements are designated by
superscripts, and the explanation should appear on the line
directly below the table. Differences between table means should
be designated using superscripts using the following conventional
explanatory note which should appear on the line directly below
the table: “ a,b,c Row means with common
superscripts do not differ (P > 0.05)”. Tables should be
centred on the page. Authors should pay special attention to the
format for tables regarding lines, i.e. no vertical lines and
horizontal lines before and after the heading and the last row of
data only (see recent journal articles for examples). Tables
should be inserted at the appropriate place in the text (do not
append tables at the end of the article). Table contents should
be typed using Times New Roman 10 point font.
Do not import tables from other packages. Write them in MS
WORD! Tables must fit on a single page, according to the Page
set-up instructions. Large tables will not be accepted.
Illustrations and diagrams. These should be
inserted into the text at the appropriate position. Graphs
that have been scanned in are not acceptable. Graphs could
be constructed using MS Excel and inserted into the text* or for
final submission as pdf files. All lettering and numerals that
appear on figures should be set in Times New Roman 11 point font.
Coloured lines should not be used; sequence differences
should be indicated by symbols. Point means should, where
possible, be accompanied by standard error bars. Tic marks on
axes should face towards the inside of the graph. Figures should
be numbered consecutively in bold Arabic numerals (Figure 1).
Avoid the use of “shading” in illustrations.
Place its title underneath the Figure, but not as part of the
inserted section.
*If graphs, diagrams, etc. are imported from e.g. MS Excel,
copy it and then under "Edit", use "Paste
Special" and "Picture" to insert in
document.
Terminology, abbreviations and formulae: Use the
SI metric system for units of measurement and use a decimal
point. Spell out numbers from one to nine; use numerals for
larger numbers, groups of numbers, fractions or units, e.g. four;
8-16; 4 kg/ha; 42 ewes, 67%. Note the spacing in the
following text: P < 0.05; 5 min. When reporting concentrations
of, for instance, the chemical composition of diets, use g/kg and
not %; mg/kg and not ppm; mg Cu /kg and not mg/kg Cu; express on
a dry matter (DM) basis.
Do not use the word `significantly' where the level of
significance is declared: e.g. use `Treatment A differed (P <
0.01) from treatment B' and not `Treatment A
differed highly significantly (P < 0.01) from treatment B'.
Where means do not differ significantly, the appropriate level of
probability should be stated e.g. “..did not differ (P >
0.05)”. Note the following syntax “variables differ
between treatments” not “variables differ
among treatments”. For standard error use the abbreviation
s.e. and for standard deviation, use s.d.
References
References appearing in the text
- Cite references by name and date in parentheses. In the
case of two authors, use an ampersand (&) and not
“and”. The abbreviation “et al.” must
be used in all cases where more than two authors are quoted.
Personal communications and unpublished work should be cited in
the text, giving the initials, name and date; they should not
appear in the list of references. All other references in the
text should be listed alphabetically by author's surnames at the
end of the paper under the heading “References”.
Multiple references within parentheses in the text should be
cited in chronological order. Examples:
- Apart from the work of Chevallerie & Smith (1971),
Veary (1991) and Lewis et al. (1997), little
data........
- and has been shown to increase the pH (Chevallerie &
Smith, 1971; Veary, 1991; Lewis et al., 1997)
- Do not put “Reference (1991, cited by
Lewis et al., 1997)” in
text.
- References appearing under the “References”
heading at the end of the article
- Journal names must be abbreviated according to the World
List of Scientific Periodicals. Authors should pay
special attention to the syntax used in the reference
list and check that references in the text correspond
completely and exactly with those given in the
reference list.
- In all cases, a reference must provide sufficient
information to enable the reader to obtain a copy of it;
references to unpublished congress presentations are NOT
acceptable.
- Reference to internet articles is permissible. Supply
full traceable reference in list.
- Examples of references:
-
AOAC, 1984. Official methods of analysis (14th ed.).
Association of Official Analytical
Chemists, Inc., Arlington, Virginia, USA.
-
Hoffman, L.C. & Ferreria, A.V., 2000. pH decline of the M.
longissimus thoracis of night-
cropped Grey Duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia). S. Afr. J.
Anim. Sci. 30, 16-17.
-
Lawrie, R.A., 1998. Lawrie's Meat Science. 6th ed.
Woodhead Publ. Ltd. Cambridge, England.
336 pp.
-
NRC, 1984. Nutrient requirements of beef cattle (6th ed.).
National Academy Press, Washington
D.C.
-
Read, M.V.P., 1984. Animal performance from natural pastures
and the effects of phosphorus
supplementation. MSc (Agric) thesis, University of
Stellenbosch, South Africa.
-
SAS, 1985. Statistical Analysis Systems user's guide (5th
ed.). SAS Institute Inc., Raleigh, North
Carolina.
-
Sutton, J.D., 1976. Energy supply from the digestive tract of
cattle. In: Principles of cattle production.
Eds. Swan, H. & Broster, W.H., Butterworths, London. pp.
12-22.
Format
Submissions will not be accepted unless
formatted as follows:
Page size: A4
Line numbering OFF
Page numbering ON - position: top right, font: Times New Roman
10 point
Line spacing: single
File > Page Setup> Margins
Top: 2.5 cm
Bottom: 2.5 cm
Left: 2 cm
Right: 2 cm
Gutter: 0 cm
Header: 1 cm
Footer: 1.4 cm
File > Page Setup>Paper size
210 X 297 mm (A4)
Insert > Page numbers
Position: Top of page (header)
Alignment: right
For main text (excluding headings) use the following:
Format > Font >
Font: Times New Roman
Style: Regular
Size: 11 pt
Format > Paragraph
Indentation: Left: 0 cm; Right: 0 cm
Spacing: Before: 0 pt; After: 0 pt
Line Spacing: Single
Format > Paragraph > Tabs
Default tab stops: 1 cm
Symbols: Whenever possible, use “normal text”.
Title: Font size: 14 pt, bold, centred (no full stop)
Authors*: Font size: 12 pt, bold, centred
Affiliations, including country: Font size: 10 pt, centred
Headings (e.g. Abstract, Materials): Font size: 12 pt, bold
Keywords: Font size: 11 pt
#Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Font size: 10
pt
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