Instructions for Authors

Step 1: Type, title, abstract
Enter the manuscript type, title, abstract.

Step 2: File upload
Upload manuscript, tables (Microsoft Word), figures (JPEG or TIFF format only), supplementary material, and copyright forms. Copyright forms are available here. Copyright forms may be scanned and uploaded at the time of submission or faxed or emailed to the CVMA office at the time of acceptance. The corresponding author will sign the copyright agreement on behalf of all authors listed on the manuscript.

Step 3: Attributes
Enter your manuscript keywords; they should complement words in the title, to increase the probability of your article being located by a literature search.

Step 4: Authors and Institutions
Enter each author(s) details.

Step 5: Reviewers
Enter the names and email addresses of 3 suggested unbiased and expert reviewers (the Editor retains the right to make a final selection regarding reviewers).

Step 6: Details and comments
A) Include a cover letter that contains author(s) contact information and states that the manuscript is original, unpublished work not under editorial consideration by another journal and has been seen and approved by all authors listed on the manuscript.

B) Complete required questions.

Step 7: Review and submit
Review each section and submit. For additional help on how to submit to ScholarOne, use the Author Support section.

Other documents that can be uploaded for submission include:

• written permission for inclusion of previously published work — either text or figures/tables, if applicable
• a signed letter from any contributor to the study/article who is being acknowledged (see guidelines for acknowledgments) stating that they have read the manuscript and are comfortable with the acknowledgment as written

Non-peer-reviewed articles should be sent via email to the Managing Editor at kgray@cvma-acmv.org. Students interested in submitting a manuscript for publication in this category should consult with the Associate/Assistant Editor at their college. Viewpoints or feature articles on Animal Welfare should be submitted directly to the Animal Welfare Committee (email: mgroleau@cvma-acmv.org).

Supplementary material should be uploaded with submissions, these materials will be placed on the CVMA website under Supplementary Material.

After a manuscript has been accepted the Assistant Managing Editor will contact the corresponding author when it is time to review final proofs. Queries related to status of a manuscript should be sent to vmadaye@cvma-acmv.org. The Canadian Veterinary Journal will be moving to online only as of the July 2024 issue, print issues will no longer be available. Any accepted manuscript published in the July 2024 issue or after will appear in the online only version of the journal. All published manuscripts will be indexed on PubMed Central.

Authors will be charged according to the article category. Authors will be charged $400.00 for non-members or $320.00 for CVMA members for Brief Communications, and $500.00 for non-members or $400.00 for CVMA members for Scientific Articles, Case Reports, and unsolicited Review Articles. Payment information is due at the acceptance stage, the corresponding author will be provided with an invoice at this time. All invoices are in Canadian funds. Publishing of colour figures will be at the discretion of the Co-Editors-in-Chief. Significant changes at the PDF stage will result in additional charges, at the discretion of the Assistant Managing Editor.

The CVJ offers a fast-track option for authors who would like their manuscript published in the next available issue. The cost for this accelerated process is $2000.00 CAD.

The CVJ publishes 2 categories of articles: Peer-reviewed manuscripts and non-peer-reviewed articles.

Peer-reviewed Manuscripts

Criteria for acceptance of articles include both significance to our readers and quality of the research or case report. These articles include:

1. Scientific Articles
2. Case Reports
3. Brief Communications
4. Review Articles

Manuscripts are reviewed for possible publication by at least 2 peer reviewers, with the understanding that they are being submitted to only 1 journal at a time and have not been published, self-archived as a preprint, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. This does not preclude consideration of a manuscript that has been rejected by another journal or of a complete report that follows publication of preliminary findings elsewhere, usually in the form of an abstract and generally not exceeding 300 words.

These include regular columns written by features editors, special reports, student papers, commentaries, and letters to the editor (maximum 500 words). Special reports are articles on any aspect of veterinary medicine, whereas commentaries are opinions on any aspect of the veterinary profession. Unsolicited material will be considered. Consideration for publication as a student paper is limited to brief case reports that were written by veterinary students while they were attending a Canadian veterinary college. Special reports, commentaries, and student papers must not exceed 2000 words.

All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work, from inception to published article.

Authorship credit should be based on:

1. substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. final approval of the version to be published.

Conditions 1, 2, and 3 must all be met. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, by themselves, do not justify authorship. Naming of individual members of a working group, study group, or class as authors will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Include persons who have made substantive contributions to the study but do not qualify for authorship, and persons who have contributed their skills (editorial, linguistic, graphic, photographic) to the preparation of the paper. Do not include recognition of clerical assistance.

1. Scientific Articles

   Original Study — This includes reports on significant new investigations or observations, with appropriate experimental design and statistical analysis, especially those with application to veterinary practice in Canada.

   Retrospective Study — This type of article provides a critical review of case records, with statistical analyses where appropriate, that will contribute substantial new information to the veterinary literature.

   Format for Scientific Articles

   • articles should not include an extensive review of the literature
   • must not exceed 4000 words for the body of article (Introduction to end of Discussion)
   • must not exceed 25 pages double-spaced, including figures, tables, and references
   • authors may be asked to reduce the number of tables and/or figures and the number of references if these are considered excessive
   • title should be 15 words or less.

   Abstract

   • submit your abstract as a structured abstract with the headings: objective; animal; procedure; results; conclusion; and clinical relevance
   • state the purpose(s) of the study or investigation, basic procedures, main findings, and principal conclusions
   • please provide a French or /English translation of the title and abstract, if you are able to do so.

   Introduction

   • clearly state the purpose and rationale for the study
   • do not review the subject extensively
   • do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported
   • generally end this section with an objective and/or hypothesis.

   Materials and Methods

   • describe the materials and methods used, so that the research can be repeated
   • identify equipment and pharmaceuticals with the manufacturer’s or supplier’s name, city, province/state, country
   • common drugs need no explanation; for uncommon drugs, describe the manufacturer, city, province/state, and country (geographical information is needed only on first use).
   • describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results
   • present findings with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals).

   Results

   • present results in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations
   • do not repeat tabulated data in the text.

   Discussion

   • do not repeat your results
   • discuss your findings, their limitations, and your conclusions in relation to the literature.

   Acknowledgements

   • see Guidelines for Acknowledgments.

   References

   • see Reference section
   • limit references to 35
   • if your article is written in French, please use the reference style and format outlined in the French instructions for authors.

   Studies Involving Trials of Drugs and Biologics

   When planning studies and preparing manuscripts that involve drug trials, authors should consider the influence that their publication may have on the use of therapeutic agents in the field, particularly in an off-label context. Information should be included that covers such matters as current approval status of the drug in Canada, withdrawal period, and what procedures were used to detect deleterious effects, such as injection site lesions or systemic reactions. The Editor can be consulted in advance and will make the final decision as to whether sufficient information has been included for the protection of various interests for which the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association is responsible.

   Scientific Articles
2. Case Reports

   Case reports are expected to highlight challenges in diagnosis and/or management. The goal is to present readers with cases from which they can learn. Diagnostics must confirm the diagnosis and the therapy and handling of the affected animals be sanctionable by national animal care codes. These reports deal with one or more cases that concern a new or rare condition, or a unique combination of features that either will contribute substantial new information to the scientific/veterinary literature or will advance a testable hypothesis.

   Format for Case Reports

   • articles should not be combined with a review of the literature
   • abstract should be less than 250 words
   • include a key clinical message after the abstract, provide 1 or 2 sentences that highlight the major point(s) readers are expected to learn from the report.
   • must not exceed 3000 words for the body of article
   • must not exceed 20 pages double-spaced, including figures, tables, and references
   • limit references to 35
   • introduction without a heading
   • include case description, discussion, acknowledgments, references
   • authors must include a statement in their cover letter identifying the new information provided or the hypothesis that will be advanced.
   Case Reports
3. Brief Communications

   These are short research papers that report preliminary or pilot studies or a brief investigation.

   Format for Brief Communications

   • submit your abstract as a structured abstract with the headings: objective; animal; procedure; results; conclusion; and clinical relevance
   • must not exceed 2000 words for the body of article (no headings)
   • include acknowledgments and less than 15 references
   • less than 2 figures, tables, or both
   Brief Communications
4. Review Articles

   Reviews may be invited or submitted following approval of a request by an author. A review article should be comprehensive and critical or analytical, or tutorial, in nature, so that it will provide practitioners with reliable facts and conclusions without their having to search the literature for themselves or inform researchers where a field stands and in which directions research should go. Unpublished data should not be included in a review paper. A review article that simply documents the published literature is of limited value.

   • body of article (Introduction to end of Discussion) must be less than 5000 words
   • the entire article should not exceed 30 pages, including figures, tables, and references
   • limit references to 50
   Review Articles

1. General style
   The CVJ style follows accepted biomedical format. When submitting your manuscript, please:
   • save documents in Microsoft Word
   • Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced
   • number pages consecutively, beginning with the title page, in the upper right-hand corner of each page
   • number lines continuously
   • left justify, 2.5-cm (1-in) margins (minimum)
   • for numbers less than 10 in the text, use an Arabic number (except for the start of a sentence)
   • begin each section on a separate page: title page, abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgments, references, tables, figure legend(s), and figures
   • for photographs and photomicrographs, include a scale bar on the figure and indicate the length of the bar either on the figure or in the legend
   • use a font size no smaller than 10-point in tables
   • tables must fit within the page (portrait or landscape orientation)
   • common drugs need no explanation; for uncommon drugs, describe the manufacturer, city, province/state, and country (geographical information is needed only on first use).
   • spell English words according to Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
   • spell medical terms according to Dorland’s Medical Dictionary
2. Title page
   • the title should be concise, informative, easy to read and without abbreviations
   • usual first name, initial(s), and last name of each author
   • name and address of department(s) and institution(s) or practice(s) to which the work should be attributed
   • name of corresponding author (e-mail, mailing address, if different from address above, and any disclaimers
   • the source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, pharmaceuticals, etc.
   • key words should be in descending order of importance and complementary to the title (as both fields are typically used for on-line searches)
3. Nomenclature for Pathogens

   Refer to Virus Taxonomy: The Classification and Nomenclature of Viruses The Online (10th)

   Report of the ICTV; Prokaryotic Nomenclature Up-to-date; Scientific Names for Parasites;

   Parasitic Diseases; and the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature for fungi.

4. Units of measurement, abbreviations, symbols
   • use Système International (SI) measurements throughout the manuscript
   • avoid abbreviations in titles, abstracts, and at the beginning of a sentence
   • when using an abbreviation, spell out the full term the first time it is used, unless it is a standard unit of measurement. Refer to The CVJ Style and Abbreviations Guide.
   • consult the following references for correct abbreviations and symbols:
     • Huth EJ. Medical Style and Format: An International Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ISI Press, 1986
     • Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary. 5th ed. St. Louis, Missouri: Saunders, 2021.
     • International Organization for Standardization. ISO Standards Handbook 3. Statistical Methods. 3rd ed. Geneva, Switzerland: International Standards Organization,1989.
     • Petrie A, Watson P. Statistics for Veterinary and Animal Science. 3rd ed. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, 2013.
     • Council of Science Editors. Scientific Style and Format. The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers. 8th ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

• use a separate page, double-spaced, for each table
• submit tables in Microsoft Word
• number consecutively, using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, …)
• supply a brief title for each (avoid listing most or all of the end points)
• give each column a short or abbreviated heading
• place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading
• explain in footnotes all nonstandard abbreviations that are used in each table
• designate footnote by superscript letters (a,b,c)
• identify statistical measures of variations, such as standard deviation (SD) and standard error of the mean (SEM)
• use only essential horizontal lines and omit internal horizontal and vertical lines
• cite each table in the text in consecutive order.

CVJ Table Example

• All figures MUST be at least 300 dpi and be in JPEG or TIFF format ONLY
• figures should not be downloaded from the Internet, as they do not have sufficient resolution
• figure width must measure 3.5 inches for one column, or 7.5 inches for two columns (do not include any white borders in this measurement)
• keep letters, numbers, and symbols clear and even throughout, and large enough to be legible when reduced for publication
• use different lines or symbols to differentiate groups, but not both
• for graphs, usually only include a left and a bottom axis
• put titles and detailed explanations in the legend, not on the illustration itself
• include an appropriate scale for photomicrographs and electron micrographs in the legend, with an appropriate bar (measure) on the figure
• identify the stain(s) used
• all photomicrograph images must be submitted and published in color
• symbols, arrows, or letters used in the photomicrographs must be in contrast with the background
• cite each figure in the text in consecutive order
• lines used in a line graph or drawing must be thicker than “hair-line,” they must be at least 0.03-cm (0.01-in) wide
• data lines should be thicker than axis lines (to draw attention to the data).

CVJ Figure Example (1 column) CVJ Figure Example (2 column)

Number references in the order of first mention in the text, using Arabic numerals (1,2,3) in parenthesis. (not in superscripts). Abbreviate journal titles according to the style of List of Journals Indexed in Medline (Index Medicus). Avoid using abstracts. Do not use unpublished data or personal communications as references; if they are essential, insert them in parenthesis in the text, including the source’s full name and institution, as well as year of acquisition. Verify that all references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa.