Author Guidelines
Aims and scope
The Bulletin of Animal Health and Production in Africa (BAHPA) of the African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is a scientific journal which publishes articles on research relevant to animal health and production including wildlife and fisheries contributing to the human wellbeing, food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable development in Africa. The bulletin disseminates technical recommendations on animal health and production to stakeholders, including policy makers, researchers and scientists in member states. The Bulletin is the African voice on animal resources issues specific to Africa.
The Bulletin of Animal Health and Production publishes articles on original research on all aspects of animal health and production, biotechnology and socio-economic disciplines that may lead to the improvement animal resources. Readers can expect a range of papers covering well-structured field studies, manipulative experiments, analytical and modeling studies of the animal resources industry in Africa and to better utilization of animal resources.
The BAHPA encourages submission of papers on all major themes of animal health and production, wildlife management and conservation, including:
• Veterinary microbiology, epidemiology
• Marketing, economics
• Infectious and non infectious disease
• Parasitology
• Genetic improvement and biotechnology
• Animal production, nutrition and welfare
• Science and policy in animal health and production
• Beekeeping and honey bees
• Ecology and climate change impacts on animal resources in Africa
• wildlife management
• Fisheries and aquaculture development
• Food safety and food hygiene
• One health
• Emerging and re-emerging issues in animal resources
• Biosecurity
• Animal resources trade and value chain
• Socio economics and economics of animal resources development
Language
The language of submission should be either in U.K. English or Standard French. The abstract is translated to the other three languages of the African Union (Arabic, English, French and Portuguese ), by the editors, after acceptance. Full articles submitted in French will also be published in English.
Manuscripts Submission
Authors are invited to submit electronically their manuscripts via attachment only at bahpa@au-ibar.org in a secured PDF and word format. Manuscript can be sent by post in case of unavailability of internet services (authors should be aware that in this case it will take longer time to be published).
Authors submitting articles to the BAHPA must follow the guidelines in this document. Submissions that deviate from these guidelines will be returned to the corresponding authors for changes and compliance.
To be considered for publication in the BAHPA, any given manuscript must satisfy the following criteria:
• Originality. BAHPA does not accept manuscripts that have already been published elsewhere. However, studies that replicate results that are already in the literature may be considered for publication, as the independent confirmation of results can often be valuable, as can the presentation of a new dataset.
• Audience. Manuscripts submitted must be of broad interest to animal health and production professionals in general, they must capture and hold readers’ attention.
• Usefulness. Manuscripts submitted must help researchers, trainers, educators and policy makers in all regions of Africa improve their effectiveness.
• Rigorous methodology. Manuscripts submitted must be based on valid and reliable information, documentation or sound concepts, empirically, logically and theoretically supported.
• Well written to ensure clear and effective presentation of the work and key findings. The BAHPA editorial staff does not copyedit the text of accepted manuscripts, it is therefore important for the work, as presented, to be intelligible. Perfect, stylish language is not essential but it must be clear and unambiguous. If the language of a paper is not clear, Academic Editors should recommend that authors seek independent editorial help before submission of a revision. Poor presentation and language is a justifiable reason for rejection.
• Experiments, statistics, and other analyses performed are described in sufficient detail. The research must have been performed to a technical standard to allow robust conclusions to be drawn from the data. Methods and reagents must also be described in sufficient detail so that another researcher is able to reproduce the experiments described.
• Conclusions are presented in an appropriate fashion and are supported by the data. The results must be interpreted appropriately, such that all conclusions are justified. However, authors may discuss possible explanations for their results as long as these are clearly identified as speculations or hypotheses, rather than as firm conclusions. Inappropriate interpretation of results is a justifiable reason for rejection.
• The research meets all applicable standards for the ethics of experimentation and research integrity. Research to be published must have been conducted to the highest ethical standards. A brief description of the most common of these is described in our Editorial and Publishing Policies.
• Because the guidelines are updated as appropriate, authors should check them again before they submit their articles. Manuscripts submitted for publication will be considered for acceptance on the understanding that they present original work which has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere and that they are subject to peer review.
Types of contribution
Full papers providing accounts of original work: Research containing significant new findings. The material presented should be original and not have been published elsewhere, except in a preliminary form. Papers will be reviewed by three referees familiar with the subject matter of the paper.
Short Communications: are intended to provide quick publication of highly relevant and interesting information. Manuscripts will be peer reviewed by two reviewers and the Editor.
Review Articles: should cover subjects falling within the scope of the bulletin, which are of active current interest. Papers need not contain original work or ideas. They will be reviewed for completeness, accuracy, style and suitability of content by referees familiar with the subject and the Editor-in-Chief.
Editorial: articles are short articles describing news about the bulletin or the opinion of the editor-in-chief, the publisher or a guest editor of a thematic series.
Letters to the Editor: the bulletin welcomes letters to the editor. The purpose of Letters to the Editor is to provide a forum for positive and constructive views on articles and matters published in the bulletin. Letters to the Editor must not exceed 300 words. Letters to the editors include technical reports from countries or projects.
Key notes and special calls: The editor will, from time, invite selected key figures in the field of animal health and production for key notes on specific topics. Book Reviews: are accepted and should provide an overview of the work’s contents and a critique of the work’s value. Book reviews should be limited to 1000 words.
Conference Proceedings: Special Issues of the bulletin may be dedicated to publication of proceedings of key meetings/ conferences.
Obituary articles to honor prominent African scientists that have made significant contribution to animal resources research and development.
News and announcements: BAHPA is pleased to publish information on animal health and production activities/meetings. Please send the following information to the Editor: Date of the event, title, organization offering the event, location and contact information.
Submission Guidelines
Full papers of original research
All manuscripts submitted to BAHPA should include the following features:
1. On cover page of the manuscript, the following should be clearly written/inserted: the corresponding author, name of the institution, , title of the manuscript, names of the authors, the addresses of the authors and the e-mail address of the corresponding author. The corresponding author should ensure that all the other authors consent to their names being included. The consent should be sent directly by co-authors to the editor via email.
2. Each original article should be divided into Abstract and Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, conclusion, Acknowledgments and References. A textbox containing a public brief on the study for the benefit of policy makers should also be provided. This textbox will not be included in the published article but will be compiled and published in a separate edition at the end of the year.
3. Title, which should be concise, preferably not more than 15 words long, followed by the author(s) name(s) and institution(s) to which work should be attributed and address for correspondence, if different.
4. The Abstract should not be longer than 300 words giving a synopsis of the work and should contain the objectives, briefs description of materials and methods, highlights of significant results, conclusions and recommendations. Up to six keywords should be provided.
5. The Introduction should contain the problem statement, the hypothesis and the objective of the work and cite recent important work undertaken by others.
6. Materials and Methods should describe materials, methods, apparatus, experimental procedure and statistical methods (experimental design, data collection and data analysis) in sufficient detail to allow other authors to reproduce the results. This part may have subheadings. The experimental methods and treatments applied shall conform to the most recent guidelines on the animal’s treatment and care. For manuscripts that report complex statistics, the Editor recommends statistical consultation (or at least expertise); a biostatistician may review such manuscripts during the review process. Cite only textbooks and published article references to support your choices of tests. Indicate any statistics software used.
7. Results should be presented clearly and concisely, in a nonrepetitive way. Subheadings may be accepted.
8. Discussion of significance should be focused on in the interpretation of results. Subheadings are not accepted in this section.
9. Acknowledgements. Where necessary acknowledgements of grants and technical assistance should be included under this heading. . Please also include any potential conflict of interests if appropriate. Suppliers of materials should be named and their location (town, state/county, country) included.
10. State the conclusions, and any implications that may be drawn from the study.
Short Communications: Manuscripts should contain original data and be limited to 1500 words. The number of tables and figures are limited to two. A limited number of references should be included. Headings are not allowed in short communications.
Sequence of Preparation
1. The data files must be PC/Windows-compatible. The text should be prepared using standard software (Microsoft Word) format; do not use automated or manual hyphenation. Please do not include footnotes.
2. Use Times New Roman 12 point font for all text except for tables and figures where Times New Roman 10 font should be used.
3. Use 1 inch margins on top, bottom, left and right margins.
4. Every line on the text should be numbered.
5. Use double line spacing for body of text. For Abstract, Figures, Tables and References use single line spacing.
6. Place page numbers in the lower right hand corner of your manuscript.
7. Run “the spell check” and “grammar check” on the entire file before submission using either the UK English or French standard.
8. Avoid using abbreviations for the names of concepts. Use ordinary words for variable names – not code names or other abbreviations. Use the same name for a variable throughout your text, tables, figures and appendices. Names of organizations and research instruments may be abbreviated, but give the full name (with abbreviation in brackets) the first time you mention one of these.
9. References should take the following form: In the text, a reference identified by means of an author‘s name should be followed by the date of the reference in parentheses. When there are more than two authors, only the first author‘s name should be mentioned, followed by ’et al‘. In the event that an author cited has had two or more works published during the same year, the reference, both in the text and in the reference list, should be identified by a lower case letter like ’a‘ and ’b‘ after the date to distinguish the works. Examples: Abayomi (2000), Agindotan et al., (2003), (Kelebeni, 1983), (Usman and Smith, 1992), (Chege, 1998; Chukwura, 1987a,b; Tijani, 1995,1993), (Kumasi et al., 2001)
The use of reference managing software is encouraged
The authors should be cited in a chronological order by year and then by a or b; in the reference list they should be listed alphabetically.
Please ensure that references in the text exactly match those in the manuscript’s reference list. Check each reference in the text to see that you have the complete citation in the reference section of the paper in the desired style. In the references section, references are listed in alphabetical order.
Examples of References
• Journal Articles: Ouyang D, Bartholic J, Selegean J, 2005. Assessing sediment loading from agricultural croplands in the Great Lakes basin. Journal of American Science, 1(2): 14-21.
• Books: Durbin R, Eddy SR, Krogh A, Mitchison G, 1999. Biological Sequence Analysis: Probabilistic Models of Proteins and Nucleic Acids. London, Cambridge University Press.
• Chapter in a Book: Leach J, 1993. Impacts of the Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) on water quality and fish spawning reefs of Western Lake Erie. In Zebra Mussels: Biology, Impacts and Control, Eds., Nalepa T, Schloesser D, Ann Arbor, MI: Lewis Publishers, pp: 381-397.
• Reports: Makarewicz JC, Lewis T, Bertram P, 1995. Epilimnetic phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass and species composition in Lake Michigan, 1983-1992. US EPA Great Lakes National Program, Chicago, IL. EPA 905-R-95-009.
• Conference Proceedings: Stock A, 2004. Signal Transduction in Bacteria. In the Proceedings of the 2004 Markey Scholars Conference, pp: 80-89.
• Thesis: Strunk JL, 1991. The extraction of mercury from sediment and the geochemical partitioning of mercury in sediments from Lake Superior, Unpublished PhD thesis, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
• Web links: Cerón-Muñoz M F, Tonhati H, Costa C N, Rojas-Sarmiento D and Solarte Portilla C 2004 Variance heterogeneity for milk yield in Brazilian and Colombian Holstein herds. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 16, Article #20 Visited June 1, 2005, from http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd16/4/cero16020.htm
Illustrations
Please send the figures as separate files and do not import them into the text file. Put all tables, figures, diagrams and artwork on separate pages. Each figure, table, and bibliographic entry must have a reference in the text. References to tables and figures in the text should be by number and not to “table below” or “figure below”. The Editor will place them in the appropriate place in the text of article during the final edit. Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively. Please submit the data for figures in black and white.
Abbreviations, Symbols and Nomenclature
All specifications must be stated according to the S.I. system. Concentrations of chemical solutions are to be given in mol/l. All other concentrations should be given in % (volume or weight). Any abbreviations of chemical, biological, medical or other terms should only be employed when it is certain that they are internationally known. The full name must be stated in brackets when the abbreviation is first used. Names of micro-organisms and zoological names should be italicized in the manuscript.
Ethical guidelines
BAHPA adheres to the below ethical guidelines for publication and research. Experimentation will only be published if such research has been conducted in full accordance with ethical principles. Manuscripts containing experimentations must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject and according to the above mentioned principles. Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there are doubts as to whether appropriate procedures have been used.
1. When experimental animals are used the methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort.
2. All studies using animal subjects should include an explicit statement in the Material and Methods section identifying the review and ethics committee approval for each study, if applicable. Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there is doubt as to whether appropriate procedures have been used.
Revising your article
When you submit a revised version of your article in response to the referees’ comments, you must accompany it with a detailed list of the changes made (ignoring typographical errors, but mentioning additional paragraphs, changes to figures, etc) suitable for transmission to the referee. Where changes have been made in response to the referees’ remarks it is important to mention this and indicate where they can be found. You may also wish to send in a second copy of your article with the changes marked or underlined.
You should go through the referees’ comments and for each comment mention whether you followed their suggestion or whether you disagree and wish to respond to the comment. If a referee has misunderstood a point, it is not necessarily their fault and may have been caused by ambiguity or lack of clarity in your article which needs to be corrected. Some authors copy out each of the referees’ comments in turn and include their response immediately after. In other cases responses can be made referring back to the reports. Finally, please make sure that you send your revised article to us and not simply the original version again. This is a common mistake, especially when authors send in their work electronically. Electronic revised articles should contain all text and graphics files needed to generate the revised version, and not just those files that have changed.
By observing these guidelines you will be assisting the referees, who give up their time to review manuscripts. If you prepare your article carefully, this can save valuable time during the publication process.
Appeal of Decision
Authors who wish to appeal the decision on their submitted paper may do so by e-mailing the editorial office with a detailed explanation for why they find reasons to appeal the decision within 14 days.
Proofs
One set of proofs will be sent to the author to be checked for printer’s errors and should be returned within three days.
Offprints
25 offprints of each article will be supplied free of charge. Additional offprints may be ordered and paid for at the proof stage. Each extra offprint costs US $5.00.
Subscriptions
The annual subscription fee, including postage (surface mail) and handling is USD 100.00. Air mail charges are available upon request.
Back volumes
Back issues are also obtainable upon request at similar charges.
