Instructions – Tropican Animal Research Services

Instructions for Authors

Tropical Animal & Poultry Science publishes review and original papers on research into all farm animals, specifically targeting research that has been conducted in the tropics or that may find application in the tropics. The journal also accepts short perspectives and mini-reviews (less than 25 pages), commentaries on animal production in general, regardless of their region of application. Authors should adhere to these instructions to hasten the review process towards publication. Original papers should consist of the following sections: Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. Review papers should be sub-sectioned into an Introduction, the body under various subheadings and Conclusion. Authors should endeavour to provide some discussion of the reviewed material rather than simply compile a series of results. Tables and figures should be inserted into the body of the paper, at relevant points, not compiled at the end of the manuscript.

Preparation of manuscript

Submitted full papers should not exceed 25 pages of A4 paper, typed double-spaced (or approximately 6000 words) including tables, figures and other illustrations, and references. Tables can be formatted in single-space. Authors may contact the Editors-in-chief if they wish to submit longer manuscripts. Manuscripts should be presented in Word format, using Times New Roman 12 point font, double-line spacing (Tables can be single-spaced), 2.5 cm margins, justified. Use continuous line numbering along the left margin. Pages should be numbered at bottom right-hand corner.

Manuscripts should be prepared in the following order:

Title: Aptly describing the work or based on the conclusion that was drawn, e.g. Egg production in ostriches improves with increasing level of dietary energy and protein contents.

Names and affiliations of the authors, including the email address of the corresponding author.

Abstract of not more than 300 words, including not more than 6 keywords.

Latin phrases, e.g. in vivo, ad libitum and biological names of animal and plant species should be italicised. The biological name should be full at first mention and then shortened thereafter, e.g. Clostridium perferingens, and subsequently C. perferingens.

References

Authors should cite references that are most relevant to the work being presented. In general, the number of references should be limited to not more than 25 for a full length paper. In text, references should be cited in chronological order. Two authors should be cited as Brown and Green (2011) while more than two authors should be cited as Brown et al. (2011). Cited papers should be arranged alphabetically in the final reference list. All authors should be listed by last name and initials. The accepted format is as follows:

Beski, S.S.M., Swick, R.A. and Iji, P.A. (2016). The effect of the level and feeding duration of spray-dried plasma protein on growth performance, digestive enzyme activities, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal mucosal development of broiler chickens. Animal Production Science 56, 1820-1827.

McDonald, P., Edwards, R.A., Greenhalgh, J.F.D., Morgan, C.A., Sinclair, L.A. and Wilkinson, R.G., 2011. Evaluation of foods (A) Digestibility. Animal Nutrition. 7th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd, pp.237-253.

Abdallh, M.E., Omede, A.A., Bhuiyan, M. and Iji, P.A. (2017). Performance, enzyme activity and nutrient digestibility of broilers fed cottonseed meal with enzymes. 21st European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition, Salou, Spain, p233.

Hugo, M.A. (1996). Productivity of cattle on improved pastures in the tropics. PhD Thesis, University of Havana, Cuba.

Tables, line drawings, figures and photographs

Table titles should be at the top while titles of line drawings, figures and photographs should be below, and be concise but explanatory. Tables should be created in Word (not imported from Excel or similar software). Appropriate footnotes should be used, to explain the results, e.g. Mean values not sharing a superscript in the same row (or column) are significantly different (*P < 0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001). Graphs should preferably be created with Excel and be inserted as JPG. Photographs, including coloured, may be used but they should be inserted as JPG, to minimize size; photographs need not be compressed. Image resolution of about 250 dpi for black/white images and 300 dpi for colour images should be appropriate. Drawings should be inserted as JPG.

The review process

The editorial board will undertake a preliminary check on the manuscript. If it complies with the instructions, it will move to the next stage of processing. Authors will be informed about the changes required, or if the manuscript requires extra editorial work or scientific advice. One of the aims of the Journal is to train upcoming scientists; this advice will be provided in a courteous manner. Authors will be advised if the manuscript may need to be completely re-written or data may need to be re-analysed, with details of what needs to be done.

Submission of papers

Papers should be submitted by email to the Editors-in-chief (trop.sci@gmail.com) or on the journal website.