Introduction: The Pakistan Veterinary Journal (PVJ), a peer reviewed journal with Impact Factor: 3.8 in JCR 2023 has been published quarterly by the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, since 1981.

Scope: It publishes original research manuscripts and review articles on health and diseases of animals including its various aspects like pathology, microbiology, pharmacology, parasitology and its treatment.

Manuscripts are accepted for publication on the understanding that they have not been published and are not being considered for publication elsewhere. It is assumed that all named authors agree with the contents and form of the manuscript and are responsible for the validity and originality of data contained therein. It is the author’s responsibility to validate the contents of the manuscript, however, management of the PVJ will not be responsible for the contents of manuscripts published.

Submitted manuscripts are subjected to check for Similarity Index (by applying appropriate software) with the published papers in different journals and various internet sources. If the Similarity Index is more than 19%, manuscript is liable to be rejected.

It is also assumed that the study has been conducted in accordance with the animal welfare laws of the country where the work was undertaken. The PVJ will reject any manuscript where there is enough reason to believe that animals/birds have been subjected to unnecessary or avoidable pain or distress.

The copyright of manuscripts accepted for publication belongs to PVJ. All contributions are subjected to editorial revision. Editorial Board/ Editor's decision regarding manuscript acceptance/ rejection will be final and can’t be challenged anywhere.

Manuscript must be submitted through E-mail: editor@pvj.com.pk; editor.pvj@uaf.edu.pk. Manuscripts should be English (US spellings) typewritten using Times New Roman font size 12 on A4 size paper with 1" margin on each side and double spaced throughout. All pages must be numbered in the upper right corner and line-numbered continuously.

Title/first page of the manuscript should carry full title, the initials and surname(s) of the author(s), the name and address of the institution(s) where the work was carried out and addresses of co-author(s) if different from that of the first author. Statement of novelty about the manuscript be explained in 3-4 sentences at first pages. The statement of novelty must not be a repetition of the abstract. While concocting the novelty statement make sure to address the significance and innovation/originality of the work, with respect to existing literature, and the scientific impact and interests to our readership. Manuscript lacking novelty is liable to be rejected.

The category of the article i.e. original full length article, review article, short communication, or case report should be clearly indicated on top left corner of the first page. Each author should be identified using a superscript number and the corresponding author designated by an asterisk. All the text, tables, and figures should be included in one file, i.e., MS Word or compatible. Tables and figures must be arranged at the end of the text.

Authors contribution: Authors will declare the contribution of each author like JV and MP conceived and designed the review/project/study. DL, MC and IL executed the experiment and analyzed the sera and tissue samples. IJ analyzed the data. All authors interpreted the data, critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual contents and approved the final version. Place author’s contribution before references.

Potential reviewers: At the time of submission, names of three potential reviewers (their designation, institute, official postal address, telephone, fax and official e-mail address) must be provided on a separate sheet/file. Among these, two proposed reviewers must be from technologically advanced countries, viz., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, New Zealand, UK or USA.

Review process: Journal has double blind review policy. The journal’s management will try to get the submitted manuscript reviewed as early as possible. Usually reviewers are requested to complete the review as early as possible; however, delay in the review process will not be on the part of PVJ management. If all processes from complete submission to revision go smoothly, then 10-12 weeks are required to reach to a conclusion (Acceptance/Rejection).

Files required at the time of submission: Following files/documents are required: 1) Manuscript (MS Word or compatible); 2) Check list (available at: http://pvj.com.pk/Check-list-Submission.pdf); if in checklist any point is not answered in yes, then it will be incomplete submission, and 3) List of potential reviewers.

Review article must address subjects related to health and diseases of animals including its various aspects like pathology, microbiology, pharmacology, parasitology and its treatment. These articles must digest at least 60 articles published on the subject matter. References of books be avoided as book is already a review. An abstract not exceeding 250 words be provided. These articles must contain an introduction, text with appropriate headings and a conclusion section. Introduction should elucidate the importance of the subject; the text should be comprehensive and meticulous. Review article must not exceed 6500 words including references and be supported with the original published studies.

Original full length article must not exceed 6000 words including up to approximately 50 references and 12 figures/tables. Abstract must not exceed 250 words, should include a brief account of the objectives of the study, methodology, salient findings and main conclusion. Abstract be followed by 4-6 key words (indexing terms). The main manuscript may be divided into sections like: Introduction, Materials and Methods (not exceeding 600 words, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgment (if any), Author’s contribution and References. Writing Results and Discussion under one heading in Original full length article is discouraged.

Short communication must not exceed about 2000 words including up to 20 references. It must contains an Abstract of about 150 words comprised of a brief account of the objectives of the study, methodology, salient findings and conclusion. Other headings could be “Introduction” “Materials and Methods” and “Results and Discussion”. Tables and Figures must not exceed three in total.

Case report should contain an Abstract of about 150 words and not exceed about 2000 words including up to 10 references. It may include the following sections: Introduction (explaining why the case is being reported, with references where necessary to previous reports), History, Clinical Examination and Postmortem Findings of the case if applicable, Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis, Treatment adopted, Discussion and References. Tables and Figures must not exceed three in total.

References: In each article whatever the category is, author(s) must ensure to cite at least 30% references of manuscripts published during the last five years (2019-2023). References of 1980’s and beyond are not allowed in the manuscript except in materials and methods section. Only papers closely related to the author’s work should be included. References should be cited in the text as: Haefner (2013) or (Haefner, 2013), Kousar and Javed (2015) or (Kousar and Javed, 2015), Chen et al. (2016) or (Chen et al., 2015), Tan et al. (2016) or (Tan et al., 2016). If the enlisted authors are three, then write surname and initials of all authors, however in text write Wilkes et al. (2016). If the enlisted authors are more than three, then write surname and initials of first three authors, other authors will be replaced by et al., e.g., Chen et al. (2016). The list of references at the end of manuscript must be arranged alphabetically and each reference in the list should appear in the following form:

Chen L, Jiang T, Li X, et al., 2022. Immunomodulatory activity of β-glucan and mannan-oligosaccharides from Saccharomyces cerevisiae on broiler chickens challenged with feed-borne Aspergillus fumigatus. Pak Vet J 42:297-301.

Haefner S, 2013. The Hitchhiker's guide to the blood system. Microbes Infect 43:645-8.

Kousar S and Javed M, 2024. Diagnosis of metals induced DNA damage in fish using comet assay. Pak Vet J 44:168-72.

Tan W, Li M and Xie ZX, 2016. An overview of avian influenza A H10N8 subtype viruses. Pak Vet J 36:251-7.

Authors are expected to avoid citing references to books, monographs, proceedings or thesis due to limited availability everywhere. If necessary to cite, these should include: 1) author(s) or editor(s); 2) year of publication, 3) title, 4) edition, 5) Publisher and place of publication and 6) beginning and final page numbers of the relevant chapter, as shown below:

Ray DE, 2001. yrethroid insecticides: mechanisms of toxicity, systemic poisoning syndromes, paresthesia and therapy. In: Handbook of Pesticide Toxicology: Vol 2: Agents (Krieger R, J Doull and D Ecobichon, eds): Academic Press, San Diego, USA, pp:1289-1303.

Stevens JB, Anderson F, Olson WG, et al.., 1980. Metabolic profile testing. In: Bovine Medicine and Surgery (Amstutz HE, ed). 2nd Ed, American Veterinary Publications, California, USA, pp:597-612.

Reference to proceedings of Symposia/Congresses must include: (1) author(s), (2) title of the article, (3) Symposium/Congress title, (4) city and country where held, (5) day, month and year of the event and (6) page numbers of the article, as shown below:

Hafez MF, 2015. Enteric disorder in poultry: never-ending story. Proc “International  Seminar  on Poultry Diseases”, Faisalabad, Pakistan, 14-15 Dec, 2015, pp:53-61.

Saleemi MK, Altaf Q, Khan MZ, et al., 2024. Immunopathological effects of Ochratoxin A in broiler chicks and its amelioration with baker’s yeast. Proc “2^nd World Veterinary Poultry Association Asian Poultry Health Meeting”, Bangkok, Thailand; 11-12 Sep 2024, pp:85-95.

Soomro AH, Raunaq S, Sheikh SA and Khaskheli M, 2023. Assessment of microbial quality of farm buffalo milk. Proc “8^th Asian Buffalo Congress”, Istanbul, Turkey; 21-25 April, 2023, pp:46.

Figures: Soft copy of all figures (at least 300 dpi)/graphs prepared in Excel program be provided so that quality or size be adjusted. Figures provided as electronic files should be saved in JPEG format. Figures will be adjusted in column while composing, therefore, figure’s width must not exceed 3" and height must be appropriate. The size of lettering and numerals should be of appropriate to that of the figure. The legends for photomicrographs must state the staining method and magnification. Captions should be typed separately from the figures/graphs and Arabic numbered. Figures must not be embedded in the manuscript text but arranged at the end of the text. The journal will publish figures in colors online and in hard copy will print black/white. Color printing of figures in hard copy can be accomplished on payment basis that can be inquired from the Editor.

Tables: These should be as few as possible and should contain only essential data. Each table must be typewritten on separate sheet and Arabic numbered according to its sequence in the text and arranged at the end of text. The text should include references to all tables. Each table should have a brief and self-explanatory title. Duplication of the data in the text and tables or tables and graphs/figures is not allowed.

Symbols and Abbreviations: The policy of the journal with respect to units and symbols is that Systems Internationals Symbols be used. Each scientific abbreviation must be given in full at its first occurrence in the manuscript, however, following abbreviations may be used without any definition: