Author Guidelines

Indian Journal of Animal Production and Management

Author Guidelines

Official journal of the Indian Society of Animal Production and Management (ISAPM) Published by ACS Publisher · Print ISSN 0970-1524 · Online ISSN 2350-0182 Quarterly (March, June, September, December) · Scopus indexed Double-blind external peer review

Version 1.0 · Effective from submissions received on or after 1 September 2026

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1. Aims and Scope

IJAPM publishes original research on livestock and poultry production and management systems. The animal must be a production species, and the work must address production, management, or the economics and sustainability of livestock enterprises.

1.1 Subject areas within scope

1. Livestock production systems and farm management
2. Animal nutrition and feeding management of production species
3. Breeding, genetics, and selection for production traits
4. Housing, environment, and welfare in production systems
5. Milk, meat, egg, wool, and fibre production and quality
6. Dairy herd management and productivity
7. Poultry production and flock management
8. Small ruminant, swine, and equine production management
9. Livestock economics, marketing, and value chains
10. Extension, adoption, and farmer knowledge in livestock systems
11. Climate resilience and sustainability of livestock production
12. Herd or flock health as it affects productivity, including disease prevalence surveys in production animals

1.2 Eligible species

Cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig, poultry (chicken, duck, turkey, quail), camel, yak, mithun, equines, and other recognised livestock species.

Rabbits qualify only when studied as a meat or fibre production species under farm conditions.

1.3 Explicitly out of scope

A manuscript is out of scope and will be declined without review if any of the following apply.

By species

• Laboratory rodents (rat, mouse, guinea pig, hamster) as the study subject
• Rabbits used as a laboratory or disease model rather than as a production species
• Companion animals (dog, cat) — except in livestock-guarding or working-livestock contexts
• Wildlife, zoo, aquarium, or exotic species with no production role
• Human subjects
• Fish and aquaculture species (submit to an aquaculture journal)
• Chick or duck embryos studied for embryological or developmental purposes rather than hatchery production outcomes

By subject

• Neuroscience, neuroanatomy, and behavioural neurobiology
• Descriptive anatomy, histology, or embryology without a production outcome
• Reproductive physiology, fertility, semen biology, artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and assisted reproduction — submit to The Indian Journal of Animal Reproduction (IJAR)
• Veterinary surgery, orthopaedics, and surgical technique
• Diagnostic imaging as the primary subject
• Clinical case reports and case series of individual animals
• Pharmacology or toxicology in laboratory-model animals
• Drug or compound testing in rodent disease models
• Human medicine, public health, and clinical trials
• Plant science, agronomy, and crop research without a livestock production component
• Biotechnology or molecular biology with no stated production application

1.4 The production-relevance test

Every manuscript must satisfy all three conditions:

	Condition
A	The study animal is a production species listed in 1.2, studied in a production, farm, commercial, or field context
B	The research question concerns production, management, nutrition, breeding, welfare, product quality, economics, or productivity-affecting health
C	The findings are actionable for livestock producers, managers, extension workers, or policy

Failing any one condition places the manuscript out of scope.

1.5 Related journals

If the manuscript concerns	Submit to
Reproduction, fertility, obstetrics, gynaecology, semen, ART	The Indian Journal of Animal Reproduction (IJAR)
Veterinary surgery, orthopaedics, imaging	A veterinary surgery journal
Neuroscience, neuroanatomy, developmental biology	A neuroscience or developmental biology journal
Aquaculture and fisheries	An aquaculture journal

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2. Article Types

Type	Max words (excl. references)	Max references	Max tables + figures	Abstract
Research Article	6,000	45	8	250 words, structured
Review Article	9,000	100	8	250 words, unstructured
Short Communication	3,000	20	4	150 words, unstructured

Review Articles are accepted by prior agreement only. Submit a 300-word proposal with a provisional reference list to the Editor-in-Chief before submitting a full review.

Clinical case reports are not accepted. IJAPM publishes population-, herd-, or flock-level research, not reports of individual animals.

Author limits: Research Article and Review, maximum 8 authors. Short Communication, maximum 6. More requires a written justification of each author's contribution.

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3. Required Submission Files

Upload as separate files. A submission missing any mandatory item is returned without review.

#	File	Required
1	Blinded manuscript — no author names, affiliations, emails, acknowledgements, or funding statement anywhere	Mandatory
2	Title page — title, all authors, affiliations, ORCID iDs, corresponding author contact, running title	Mandatory
3	Similarity report — Turnitin, iThenticate, or equivalent, generated within 30 days	Mandatory
4	Author declaration form — journal template, signed by every author	Mandatory
5	Ethics approval certificate — for any study involving animals	Mandatory where applicable
6	Suggested reviewers — 3 names with institution and email, none from the authors' institutions or recent co-authors	Mandatory
7	Cover letter — stating scope fit, novelty, and that the work is unpublished	Mandatory
8	Supplementary data files	Optional

Anonymity. In the blinded manuscript, replace self-citations in the text with "[Author, year]" and remove identifying institution names from the Materials and Methods where they would reveal the authors. Remove document metadata via File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document.

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4. Manuscript Format

• Microsoft Word (.docx). PDF-only submissions are not accepted.
• Times New Roman, 12 pt, 1.5 line spacing, justified.
• A4 page, 2.5 cm margins on all sides.
• Continuous line numbers and page numbers throughout.
• SI units. Temperature in °C. Use "kg", "g", "mL", "d" for day, "wk" for week.
• Scientific names in italics, given in full at first mention.
• Abbreviations defined at first use; no abbreviations in the title.
• Tables and figures placed within the text at the point of first citation, each with a caption, numbered consecutively.
• Figures at minimum 300 dpi.

4.1 Required sections — Research Article and Short Communication

1. Title
2. Abstract — structured for Research Articles: Objective, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusion
3. Keywords — 4 to 6, alphabetical, not repeating title words
4. Introduction — ending with a clearly stated objective
5. Materials and Methods — including ethics approval statement, study location and period, animal numbers, experimental design, and statistical methods
6. Results
7. Discussion
8. Conclusion
9. Acknowledgements
10. Funding statement
11. Conflict of interest statement
12. Data availability statement
13. Author contribution statement (CRediT categories)
14. References

Results and Discussion may be combined in a Short Communication only.

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5. Ethics

5.1 Animal ethics — mandatory

Any study involving live animals, animal tissue, or animal products collected for research must state in Materials and Methods:

• the name of the approving Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) or equivalent,
• the approval number, and
• the approval date.

A scanned approval certificate must be uploaded. Manuscripts without an approval number will be declined without review.

Field surveys and questionnaire studies involving farmers require institutional ethics clearance and a statement of informed consent.

Studies must comply with CPCSEA guidelines (India) or the equivalent national framework. Reporting should follow ARRIVE 2.0 where applicable.

5.2 Similarity

Overall similarity must not exceed 15%, with no single source exceeding 5%. References and standard method descriptions may be excluded from the calculation; the Results and Discussion may not.

5.3 Authorship

All authors must meet all four ICMJE criteria. Gift, guest, and ghost authorship are grounds for rejection. Author order and the author list are fixed at submission; changes after submission require written agreement from every author and editorial approval.

5.4 Artificial intelligence

Generative AI may be used for language editing and readability. It may not be used to generate results, data, figures, or substantive scientific content, and may not be listed as an author. Any use must be disclosed in a statement before the references naming the tool and its purpose. Authors are fully responsible for the entire content.

5.5 Misconduct

Duplicate submission, redundant publication, data fabrication or falsification, image manipulation, and plagiarism are handled under COPE flowcharts. Outcomes may include rejection, retraction, and notification of the authors' institutions.

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6. References

Style: APA 7th edition. In-text author–date; reference list alphabetical by first author surname.

At least 60% of references should be from the last 15 years, except in review articles and where citing foundational or methodological work. There is no absolute age limit.

6.1 In-text

Situation	Form
One author	(Sharma, 2021) / Sharma (2021) reported
Two authors	(Sharma & Patil, 2021) / Sharma and Patil (2021)
Three or more	(Sharma et al., 2021) — from the first citation
Two works	(Patil, 2019; Sharma et al., 2021) — alphabetical
Direct quotation	(Sharma, 2021, p. 45)

Never combine "&" with "et al."

6.2 Reference list

Journal article Rathod, D., Waghmare, P., & Patil, V. (2026). A study on qualitative and quantitative morphometry of Khillar breed of cattle. Indian Journal of Animal Production and Management, 42(2), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.48165/ijapm.2026.42.2.1

Book Banerjee, G. C. (2018). A textbook of animal husbandry (9th ed.). Oxford & IBH Publishing.

Chapter in an edited book Ponnusamy, K. (2020). Extension approaches in dairy development. In R. Kumar (Ed.), Livestock extension management (pp. 112–134). Springer.

Thesis Kumar, V. (2022). Effect of dietary supplementation on growth performance in crossbred calves [Doctoral dissertation, National Dairy Research Institute]. NDRI Repository.

Conference paper Chakravarthi, M. K. (2023, October 12–14). Economic sustainability of integrated farming systems [Paper presentation]. National Symposium on Livestock Production, Bengaluru, India.

Organisation report Food and Agriculture Organization. (2024). World livestock production statistics 2024. https://www.fao.org/livestock-2024

Web page Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. (2025, March 4). Basic animal husbandry statistics 2025. Government of India. https://dahd.gov.in/statistics-2025

Dataset Singh, A., & Roy, D. (2024). Dairy herd productivity dataset, Meerut district (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.000000

Include a DOI wherever one exists.

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7. Statistics and Reporting

Every study reporting comparisons must state:

• the experimental unit (animal, pen, herd, farm) and how it was defined,
• number of replicates and animals per treatment,
• how animals were allocated to treatments,
• the statistical model and software with version,
• the significance threshold, and
• a measure of variability (SEM, SD, or 95% CI) with every mean.

Report exact p-values to three decimals; use "p < 0.001" below that. Percentages from samples under 30 must be accompanied by the raw counts. Descriptive-only studies must state that no inferential testing was performed and must not use the words "significant", "increased", or "decreased" in a comparative sense.

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8. Peer Review and Decisions

Double-blind external review by at least two independent reviewers.

Stage	Indicative time
Editorial and scope screening	7 working days
Peer review	6–8 weeks
Author revision	30 days (extension on request)
Final decision after revision	3 weeks

Decisions: Accept · Minor revision · Major revision · Reject · Reject — out of scope (no review).

The Editor-in-Chief's decision is final. Appeals must be sent within 21 days with a point-by-point response and will be considered once.

The journal reserves the right to decline a manuscript at any stage — including after initial screening, after review, and after payment of processing charges — where it is found to be outside the journal's scope, ethically non-compliant, or below the required standard. Payment of processing charges covers editorial handling and does not constitute acceptance for publication or any guarantee of it.

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9. Article Processing Charges

Charges are raised only after acceptance. No payment is required at submission, and payment is not sought at any point before a formal acceptance decision.

Category	Charge
ISAPM member (corresponding author)	INR 500 per accepted article
Non-member	INR 4,500 per accepted article
Foreign author	USD 100 per accepted article

No colour charges, no page charges, no submission fee.

Waivers. Full or partial waivers are available to authors from low-income and lower-middle-income economies and to authors without institutional funding. Apply to the editorial office at acceptance; waiver decisions are made independently of the editorial decision.

Refunds. If a manuscript is withdrawn by the journal after payment for any reason attributable to the journal, the full amount is refunded without deduction.

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10. Copyright and Licensing

On acceptance, the corresponding author signs a copyright agreement on behalf of all authors transferring copyright to the Indian Society of Animal Production and Management.

Authors retain the right to:

• deposit the accepted manuscript in their institutional or funder repository immediately on publication,
• use the work in teaching and in their thesis,
• share the published version for personal and internal institutional use, and
• reuse figures and tables in later work with citation.

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11. Post-Publication

Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions follow COPE guidance. Published articles are permanently archived and any change is issued as a linked, citable notice. DOIs are assigned through Crossref.

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12. Contact

Editorial Office, Indian Journal of Animal Production and Management Department of Livestock Production Management, Veterinary College, Bengaluru, Karnataka Email: support@acspublisher.com · Phone: 08459080899 Submissions: https://www.acspublisher.com/journals/index.php/ijapm

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Appendix A — Pre-Submission Checklist

Tick every line. A submission failing any mandatory item is returned without review.

Scope

• [ ] Study animal is a production species (§1.2)
• [ ] Not a laboratory rodent, companion animal, lab-model rabbit, embryo study, fish, wildlife, or human subject
• [ ] Subject is production, management, nutrition, breeding, welfare, product quality, economics, or productivity-affecting health
• [ ] Not reproduction, surgery, imaging, neuroscience, descriptive anatomy, or a clinical case report
• [ ] Findings are actionable for producers, managers, extension, or policy
• [ ] Conditions A, B and C of §1.4 are all satisfied

Files

• [ ] Blinded manuscript with no identifying information
• [ ] Separate title page with ORCID for every author
• [ ] Similarity report, under 15% overall and under 5% per source
• [ ] Signed author declaration from every author
• [ ] Ethics approval certificate with approval number
• [ ] Three suggested reviewers, unaffiliated
• [ ] Cover letter

Format

• [ ] .docx, Times New Roman 12 pt, 1.5 spacing, justified
• [ ] Line and page numbers throughout
• [ ] Within the word, reference, and table/figure limits for the article type (§2)
• [ ] Author count within limit
• [ ] All required sections present (§4.1)
• [ ] Abstract structured and within limit; 4–6 keywords

Content

• [ ] Ethics committee name, approval number, and date stated in Materials and Methods
• [ ] Experimental unit, replicates, allocation, model, software, and threshold all stated
• [ ] Variability reported with every mean
• [ ] Funding, conflict of interest, data availability, author contribution, and AI-use statements present
• [ ] References in APA 7, DOIs included, no "&" with "et al."

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Appendix B — Editorial Scope Screen

For editorial office use. Applied before any formatting check and before any request for payment.

Step 1 — Species. Is the study animal a production species under §1.2, studied in a production context? No → Reject, out of scope. Stop.

Step 2 — Subject. Does the research question fall under §1.1 and avoid every exclusion in §1.3? No → Reject, out of scope. Name the exclusion and the suggested alternative journal from §1.5. Stop.

Step 3 — Applicability. Can a producer, manager, extension worker, or policymaker act on the findings? No → Reject, out of scope. Stop.

Step 4 — Ethics. Is there an approval number for animal or human-subject work? No → Return to author. Do not send for review.

Step 5 — Similarity. Under 15% overall and 5% per source? No → Return to author or reject under §5.5.

Step 6 — Completeness. All mandatory files present, blinded manuscript genuinely anonymous? No → Return to author.

Only manuscripts passing all six steps proceed to peer review. Processing charges are requested only after a formal acceptance decision.