Submission of a manuscript to Animal & AgriFood Research (AAFR) implies that:

• The work is original and has not been published previously except in the form of an abstract, thesis or other form permitted by the journal.
• The manuscript is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
• The manuscript falls within the aims and scope of AAFR.
• All listed authors have made appropriate contributions to the work and have approved the submitted version.
• All authors agree to its submission to AAFR.
• The data, results and other information presented are accurate and have not been fabricated, falsified or inappropriately manipulated.
• Appropriate acknowledgement has been given to the work of others and all sources have been properly cited.
• Necessary ethical approvals, permissions and informed consent have been obtained where applicable.
• Any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest have been disclosed.
• Permission has been obtained for the reproduction of copyrighted material, photographs, figures or other content where required.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, originality, ethical integrity and legality of the material submitted for publication.

AAFR considers the following categories of manuscripts:

Original Research Articles present full reports of original experimental, clinical, field, laboratory, survey-based, socio-economic or interdisciplinary research and are normally up to 6,000 words, excluding references, tables and figure legends.

Review Articles provide a critical and comprehensive evaluation of current knowledge and are normally up to 8,000 words.

Short Communications report scientifically important findings concisely and are normally up to 3,000 words.

Veterinary Case Reports / Case Series describe scientifically or clinically significant cases and are normally up to 3,000 words.

Research Notes / Technical Notes communicate preliminary findings, novel methodologies, diagnostic techniques or scientifically useful observations and are normally up to 2,500 words.

Perspectives / Commentaries provide evidence-based scholarly perspectives on emerging issues, policies, technologies or developments relevant to the scope of AAFR.

Note: Survey-based studies, extension studies, livestock and agricultural marketing studies, consumer studies, agribusiness research, socio-economic analyses and value-chain studies are welcomed and may normally be submitted as Original Research Articles.

Manuscripts should be written in clear British English.

The title should be in sentence case, bold and 14-point font. Standard international units should be used wherever appropriate. Scientific names should be italicised and nomenclature should follow internationally accepted conventions.

AAFR follows a double-anonymised peer-review process. Authors should therefore submit the required files separately.

Title Page should contain the article type, full title of the manuscript, full names of all authors, institutional affiliations, numbered affiliation indicators, corresponding author details, ORCID iDs where available, author contribution statement, funding information, acknowledgements and conflict of interest declaration.

Blinded Manuscript submitted for peer review must not contain author names, affiliations, email addresses, acknowledgements or other information that directly identifies the authors or their institutions.

Original Research Articles should normally contain the following sections:

The abstract should normally not exceed 250 words and should briefly describe the purpose of the study, important methodology, principal findings and major conclusion. Authors should provide 4–6 keywords.

Materials and Methods should provide sufficient information to permit evaluation and reproducibility of the study. Results should be presented clearly and objectively, while the Discussion should interpret the findings in relation to existing scientific knowledge.

Results and Discussion may be presented as separate sections or as a combined section where appropriate to the discipline or study design.

Authors are encouraged to follow internationally recognised reporting guidelines appropriate to the design and methodology of their study.

Research involving experimental animals must comply with applicable institutional, national and international standards for animal welfare. The manuscript should state the name of the approving Institutional Animal Ethics Committee or equivalent body and provide the approval number where applicable.

Veterinary clinical studies and case reports should include appropriate owner or client consent where required, particularly when identifiable clinical information, photographs or diagnostic images are published.

Studies involving farmers, consumers, professionals or other human participants should comply with applicable ethical requirements, including institutional ethics approval or exemption and informed consent where required.

Where relevant, manuscripts should contain declarations relating to:

• Ethical Approval
• Informed Consent
• Conflict of Interest
• Funding
• Data Availability
• Author Contributions
• Acknowledgements

Authors must disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence or AI-assisted technologies when such tools have contributed to the generation or substantive modification of text, images, data analysis or other scholarly content.

AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Human authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, appropriate attribution and validity of all submitted material.

Routine tools used solely for spelling, grammar or basic language correction need not normally be treated as authors.

APA 7th edition citation and reference style must be followed, with inclusion of DOI information wherever available.

References should be arranged alphabetically and formatted using a hanging indent. All references cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and all references in the reference list must be cited in the manuscript.

Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively according to their first citation in the text.

• Table titles should appear above the table.
• Figure captions should appear below the figure.
• Tables should be prepared as editable tables rather than images.
• Tables should contain only essential information.
• Figures should be clear and of publication quality.
• Figures should have sufficient resolution for reproduction.
• Labels, scale bars and units should be clearly identified where applicable.
• Appropriate legends should be included.
• Colour figures and illustrations are accepted.
• Permission must be obtained for reproduced material where required.

Manuscripts must be submitted online through the AAFR manuscript submission system.

The submitting author should ensure that the submission metadata contains complete and accurate information for all authors, including their names, affiliations, email addresses, and ORCID iDs where available.

The following files should normally be uploaded separately:

Note: Only complete submissions will proceed to editorial assessment.