Manuscript Preparation

Authors are encouraged to consult the ARRIVE guidelines in preparing their manuscript for review.

Access this template for an example manuscript.

Authorship

According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) four criteria must be met to be designated as an author. These are:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
  • Final approval of the version to be published; and
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Additionally, all authors should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for other portions of the work.  If the contributor is unable to meet all four criteria, they should be recognized (with their permission) in the acknowledgment section.

For additional information regarding the roles of authors and contributors, please visit www.icmje.org.

Title page

Manuscript should be single spaced, with no page or line numbers On the first page of the manuscript, include the:

  • Full Title—a concise informative description of the presented work including the common name of the animals used (add genus and species in parentheses for nonhuman primates and species whose common name may be unfamiliar to readers)
    • The title should succinctly describe the study that was done or, for overviews, the topic that was reviewed. To be consistent with journal style, titles must adhere to the following guidelines:

      1. cannot include a subtitle (that is, a phrase followed by a colon and another phrase)
      2. cannot include abbreviations or define abbreviations
      3. cannot be a question
      4. cannot state the results or conclusions
  • List of authors—the first name, middle initial (or first initial and middle name), and last name of each author
  • Institutional affiliation of each author—the Department (or Program), Institution (or Company), City, State (or province), and Country (if not USA) at which the described work was done
    • Use superscripted Arabic numerals to indicate respective institutions
    • Spell out all locations in full
  • Corresponding author—the person who readers can contact regarding information or reagents
  • Indicate with * in the list of authors and provide that author’s email address
  • Running title—a descriptive phrase of no more than 72 characters (including spaces) to be used as a running head on each printed page
  • Abbreviations and acronyms—a list of all nonstandard acronyms and abbreviations used throughout the manuscript and their definitions 
    • Standard Abbreviations  file need not be included on the title page
    • Do not abbreviate terms used fewer than five times in a manuscript 

Abstract

Provide a single paragraph (no subheadings) of 300 words or fewer that sequentially summarizes the background, rationale, methods, results, and conclusions of the work.

Body

Use coded or nonproprietary language throughout the manuscript. Cite the proprietary, brand, or vendor name associated with an assay, instrument, machine, service, or compound only in Materials and Methods.

Please do not include website links within the body of the manuscript. Online resources should be cited and added to the reference section. For specific details, refer to previous issues of JAALAS or CM for examples of citation formats.

Define all nonstandard abbreviations and acronyms at first use. Limit the number of novel abbreviations used. Refer to the list of Standard Abbreviations for abbreviations that can be used without definition.

The length of and subsections comprising the body of the manuscript will vary depending on the type of article submitted . The manuscript may include some or all of the following sections:

Introduction

Provide the rationale and supporting background for the presented work and its importance and relevance.

Extensive reviews of the existing literature are inappropriate for research reports and case studies/reports.

Materials and Methods

Describe the animals, husbandry, tests, equipment, procedures, reagents, and services used in sufficient detail to permit replication of the work, with citation of published references as consistent with brevity and clarity.

  • Clearly define use of the term ‘specific pathogen-free’ by including specific criteria (for example, tests, organisms surveilled, housing, husbandry conditions) or citing publications providing that information
  • Include statistical methods where relevant and attribute (name of software program used and name and location of vendor) or reference them appropriately. In addition, provide the P value used to define statistical significance

Case studies involve multiple occurrences affecting 1 or more animals, with a follow-up investigation and characterization. The body of a case study contains the following sections: a brief introduction, a description of the case under the heading case report, materials and methods, results, and discussion. Methods and results sections should relate to the follow-up work (that is, the study that was conducted).

Include a statement regarding Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approval (or equivalent) for procedures and protocols involving animals.

Provide assurances regarding humane care and use of animals , citing AALAS Position Statements and national standards as appropriate to the country in which the work was performed.

For research involving human subjects, identify the committee that approved the experiments and include a statement that informed consent was obtained from all subjects, that measures are in place to protect the identity of all subjects, and that no coercion was used to solicit subjects.

Provide the vendor’s name and location for any sole-source item or service.

Insert callouts (in parentheses) for all Figures and Tables, which are numbered in order of their mention in the text.

Follow correct nomenclature  for laboratory animals, genes, genetic markers, alleles, mutations, and microbes.

Wherever possible, use International System of Units base and derived units for numerical data.

Results

Use headings as needed to guide readers.

Accompany statements of differences between groups with appropriate statistics.

Summarize selected data from Figures and Tables in the Results section; do not merely repeat all information presented in graphics.

Save interpretation of data for the Discussion section.

Discussion

Begin the Discussion with a brief summary of the key findings.

Limit discussion of study findings to those that have been presented in the Results.

Address any limitations of the study and directions for potential future research.

Acknowledgments

Recognize (with their permission) people and institutions whose contributions of funding, technical assistance, reagents, data collection and analysis, and other services do not meet the criteria for authorship.

References 

Provide complete and accurate bibliographic information for all cited materials. Only information that is published or is already accepted for publication (that is, “in press”) can be used as references. We will not accept citations of unpublished information or materials (for example, personal communications, unpublished data, manuscripts still undergoing review) in a reference list or parenthetically in the text.

Journals published by AALAS follow a modified version of the citation style found in Scientific Style and Format. Refer to previous issues of JAALAS or CM or the Example References Word file   for specific types of referenced material.

Organize references numerically in strict ("letter-by-letter") alphabetical order. List references by the same author(s) chronologically.

Journal style template files are available for EndNote.

  • EndNote template file: download from the EndNote website  (enter Comparative Medicine in the box titled Publication Name and click on Find Style)

Figure Legends

Provide complete, concise descriptions of all figures in order of their mention in the text. Define additional abbreviations or acronyms.

Indicate the original magnification of images by citing the magnification factor in the legend or by using scale bars within images themselves.

Use of previously published material (in whole or part) must be cited in the legend and accompanied by a signed Permission for Use form .

Appropriate manipulation of digital images  must be made explicit in the accompanying legend.

Supplementary Materials

 All articles published in the AALAS journals must be self-contained and presented in a manner adequate for comprehensive review. Every effort should be made to avoid the use of supplementary material and to incorporate all relevant material into the main text.

Article-relevant material that is valuable to the manuscript but difficult or impossible to include in the typeset manuscript can be made available online as Supplemental Materials.

  • Candidates for inclusion in Supplemental Material are videos or other multimedia objects and large data sets or tables.
  • Supplemental materials may not include text or information that is essential to either completeness of the article or the validity of the conclusions.
  • Supplementary material is subject to the same editorial standards and peer-review procedures as the print publication

Supplemental material must be submitted concurrently with the article itself.

  • The article cover letter should present a justification for the inclusion of supplementary material.
  • All supplementary material must be appropriately called out from the main text (for example, Figure S1).
  • References cited only in supplementary material should be incorporated into the main reference section with the designation “supplementary” at the end of the entry.

Tables 

Tables must be generated by using the Table function of Microsoft Word. Tables generated by using other programs (for example, Microsoft Excel) will be returned to the authors for reformatting, potentially delaying publication of the article. Please see example .

Number tables in order of their mention in the text and provide a brief title describing the information presented. Footnotes to tables are indicated by using superscript lowercase letters.

Tables are used to present numerical data and are not wholly narrative. According to AALAS journal style, narrative information in a tabular format  (for example, descriptions of scoring systems, experimental protocols) is submitted as a figure.