Submissions

Author Guidelines

Instructions for authors  

Last update - May 2023

PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hv7sz7LEPZdccYnScwiuTjIBquHBcavR/view?usp=sharing

General information

The Latin American Archives of Animal Production (ALPA) journal publishes original scientific articles, literature reviews, short communications, and opinion pieces in Spanish, Portuguese, or English.

Manuscripts submitted for consideration by our journal will be peer-reviewed using a double-blind evaluation system. ALPA journal considers scientific contributions from anywhere in the world on issues related to animal production. The main topics considered are animal health and welfare, reproduction, physiology, nutrition, genetics, and genetic selection, management and cultivation of forage resources for animal production, technology and industry of food of animal origin, economy and rural development, and administration and management of animal production systems, as well as other topics that could be of interest to animal production.

The author who submits an article to be considered in ALPA journal is responsible for guaranteeing, through an attached letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, that all its content is original, that the co-authors agree in publishing the article, and that the manuscript is not being considered by another scientific journal. ALPA journal is not responsible for compliance with the internal policies of the institutions where the authors belong for the publication of scientific papers.

Failure to comply with the style and form delays the publication process and may lead to the direct rejection of the manuscript without considering it for review.

Length recommended for different type of articles

The length recommended for the different types of articles described in Table 1 should be considered.

Table 1. Maximum length of text, number of tables, figures, references and supplementary material of different types of articles.

Type of article	Maximum text length	Maximum number of tables and figures	Maximum nunber of references	Supplementary material
Original article	7 500 words	8	35	Tables, figures, formulas, etc
Short communication	3 000 words	3	10	Tables, figures, formulas, etc
Review	10 000 words	8	100	Tables, figures, formulas, etc
Opinicion paper	3 000 words	1	10	-----

 

The manuscript must be submitted through the journal's website (http://ojs.alpa.uy/index.php/ojs_files/about/submissions). Authors must be registered to log in and submit the article for being considered. Authors who have questions about the electronic manuscript submission process or those who cannot submit electronically should contact the Managing Editor for assistance (archivos.alpa@gmail.com). Authors must complete all the corresponding information of the co-authors on the page (first and last name, e-mail, ORCID, and affiliation) in the article database. The article must include the title and abstract in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Reviewing a manuscript of a recently published issue on the journal's website is recommended to serve as a guide in preparing the article before sending it to Arch. Latin. Prod. Anim. It is also recommended to use the template available on the website with the journal's default format.

General format information

The manuscripts prepared for publication must be sent as a single editable MS Word document, which may be written in Spanish, Portuguese, or English. The file must include the whole text, bibliographical references, tables, and figures. Make sure that all characters in the text, tables, figure legends, footnotes, and bibliographic references are in Times New Roman font 12.

All figures must be in high-definition JPG, TIFF, or NPG format, with distinct characters and symbols, and at 500 dpi (dots per inch) in text. The tables and equations must be in an editable version instead of an image. Tables must be in an editable format in Word, rather than inserted as images. Equations must be written using the Equation Editor.

All manuscript sections must be double-spaced, and all pages must be numbered continuously from the title page. Abbreviations should be used only when the full term is long and frequently used. Otherwise, they should be avoided, especially in the abstract. Each abbreviation must be defined and inserted between parentheses the first time it is used in the abstract and again in the main text of the article, as well as in the legends of tables and figures. The units of measurement used must be those of the Metric Decimal System. Standard abbreviations (such as ATP or DNA) do not need to be defined.

The general structure of the article

The main sections that each article should include are:

Full title, Short title, Authors, Author affiliation, including department and zip/postal code, ORCID of each author, Corresponding author, Abstract (Spanish, Portuguese, and English), Keywords in all three languages, Introduction, Materials, and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Conflict of interest, Animal Experimentation Committee Approval, Author Contributions, Acknowledgments, Funding, and Cited Literature. Althought is accepted to combine Results and Discussion in a single section, this option is discouraged.

The Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion sections are not required in review and opinion articles.

Supplementary Material: It is all material that provides complementary and important information for the article, but that cannot be included in the article for reasons of space or medium (for example, files that contain videos or audio recordings). The formats of the supplementary materials must be in Word, JPG, TIFF, High Definition NPG, MP3 or MP4. Reference to the supplementary material should be made in the text of the article.

Title

In the title of the manuscript, only the first letter of the first word and proper names must be capitalized. The title should be short and descriptive and should not contain abbreviations. The title must have a maximum of 26 words.

Short-tittle

Abbreviated form of the title in no more than 8 words.

Author affiliation

Example:

Julia Smith1,*, Pitro Jonesb2, Jorge Garcia3

1Department XXXXXXXXXXXX, Argentina

2Department XXXXXXXXXXXX, Colombia

3Animal Production Laboratory, Brazil

*Corresponding author: E-mail: Juliasmitha@gmail.com

It is important to remember that institutional names are proper names, so they should not be translated.

Julia Smitha: ORCID XXXXXXXXXX.

Pitro Jonesb: ORCID XXXXXXXXXX.

Jorge Garcia: ORCID XXXXXXXXXX.

Abstract

The abstract must contain a maximum of 300 words in a single paragraph. It must include the objectives of the study, the main aspects of materials and methods, the most relevant results, and a conclusion (but without subtitles). All articles must include an abstract in Spanish (Resumen), Portuguese (Resumo), and English (Abstract), regardless of the language used in the manuscript.

Keywords

Keywords should be provided following the abstracts in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Up to six keywords must be cited, separated by commas, in the corresponding languages, avoiding repeating words in the title or abstract.

Introduction

The introduction should be brief and include exclusively the necessary background information to support and justify the study. At the end of it, the objective(s) of the article must be specified. It is recommended to include the research hypothesis before the objectives.

Material and Methods

It must include a clear and detailed description of all the procedures, animals, and materials used, as well as the location of the study. The experimental design, the statistical model, the classification variables, and the experimental units must be clearly defined. It should also explain how the experimental factors influencing the responses to the applied treatments were considered to test the hypothesis. The information must be sufficient to replicate the study.

Results and Discussion

The results can be presented in a separated section or together with the discussion, although this last option is discouraged. The numbers presented in the results and throughout the article must follow the following rule: when the manuscript is written in Spanish or Portuguese, decimals must be separated by commas and thousands by points, and in articles in English, the opposite should be used.

In the text it is appropriate to explain and deepen the ideas presented in the tables and figures, avoiding to repeat numerical data already included. In the discussion, the results should be interpreted clearly and concisely regarding biological mechanisms, integrating the information published in the scientific literature. Every statement must be supported by the study's results or by the bibliographic citations used to interpret the former. Comparisons of results with other papers should be avoided if this is not used to interpret new information. At the end of the discussion, a short paragraph should be included that describes the main conclusions derived from the study, and may also include recommendations or practical implications. The conclusions must respond directly to the objectives of the work.

Tables and Figures

Tables and Figures must be located close to and after the text in which they are mentioned for the first time and with their respective titles or figure captions. The titles of the tables, as well as the figure captions, must be self-explanatory. Tables must be understood independently of the text.

An example of a suggested table and figure format is shown below.

Table format example:

Table 1. Effect of x on z.

	Heading
	Heading			Heading
Issues	ColH1	ColH2		ColH3	ColH4	ColH5	RMSE	P-value
Row heading (units)
Row sutbheading
Variable	Value	Value		Value	Value	Value	Value	Value
Variable	Value	Value		Value	Value	Value	Value	Value
RSSH	Value	Value		Value	Value	Value	Value	Value
Row sutbheading
Variable	Value	Value		Value	Value	Value	Value	Value
Variable	Valuea	Valueab		Valuebc	Valuec	Value	Value	Value
Variable	Value	Value		Value	Value	Value	Value	Value
Variable	Value	Value		Value	Value	Value	Value	Value
Variable	Value	Value		Value	Value	Value	Value	Value

Abreviation: ColH1 = meaning; ColH2 = meaning; ColH3 = meaning; ColH4 = meaning; ColH5 = meaning; RSSH =meaning.

a,b Los Values of the same row with different letters are significantly different (P<0.05).

Example of a Figure:

Fig. 1.  Estrogen receptors evaluated with immunohistochemistry in the anteroventral (AV) or anterior (ASK) areas of the belly in yearling or adult ewes. Abbreviations: ER: estrogen receptors. **: indicate differences between groups (P<0.01). Bielli et al., 2021: https://doi.org/10.1111/ahe.12738.

Conflict of interest

All authors must make explicit any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that may inappropriately influence (bias) the work. Otherwise, they must mention that the authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Approval of the Animal Experimentation Committee

All manuscripts sent to Arch. Latinoam. Prod. Anim. must certify that the research involving animals has followed the standards established for the humane care and use of animals, specifying which standards/guides were used. Consideration to the 3Rs (Refine, Reduce, and Replace) is expected. Only research papers in which high standards for the care and use of animals for experimentation have been followed will be published. When the study does not require the approval of an institutional committee, the following statement must be included: "Not required". However, the editorial board may request this information.

 Author contributions

Author contributions should be formatted as the author's name followed by the corresponding credit feature(s). Authors must comply with the journal's authorship policy: all co-authors must have contributed substantially to the conception or execution of the work, and/or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data, and/or to the writing or critical review of the manuscript. All authors must approve the final version to be published.

Acknowledgments

The persons, institutions, or companies supporting the publication should be included if applicable.

Funding

The source(s) of funding provided for the study must be indicated. The subsidies provided to the different co-authors (scholarships, internships, etc.) should also be mentioned. When a study has not received specific funding, the following statement should be used: "This study did not receive specific funding."

Cited Literature

Including a minimum number of bibliographic references in the manuscript is recommended, selecting only the most pertinent and recent and respecting the maximum number indicated in Table 1. Including more than 3 citations to support the same concept should be avoided unless the reference includes opposed evidence. In the body of the text, the bibliographic references are cited, indicating only the authors' last names, followed by the year of publication, e.g.: (Pérez, 1999) or (Burgos and Soto, 2020), when there are up to two authors. If the work to be cited has three or more authors, only the first author's last name should be cited, followed by the term et al., and the year; Ex: (Fernández et al., 2021).

The list of "Literature Cited" is built in strict alphabetical order, beginning with the last name of the first author followed by the initial(s) of their name(s). The co-authors must be mentioned in the same format, in the order that they appear in the publication, including the names of all the authors. Articles published in journals that are not considered scientific or do not have an editorial board should not be included as references. Personal communications are not allowed. It is recommended to include the DOI at the end of each reference in the activated https://doi.org/10.XXXX/xxxx form. Quotations must be written in the original language. Each citation should include an active hyperlink (if possible).

Reference format

Original articles

McIntosh, M., González, A.L., Cibils, A., Estell, R., Nyamuryekunge, S., Rodríguez Almeida, F., and Spiegal, S., 2020. A Phenotypic characterization of Rarámuri Criollo cattle introduced into the Southwestern United States. Archivos Latinoamericanos de Producción Animal, 28:111-19. https://ojs.alpa.uy/index.php/ojs_files/article/view/2832

Proceedings

Espitia-Manrique, C. E., Quevedo-Garcia, O., Arias-Vigoya, A. A., Almeida Braga. J., 2018. Materias primas alternativas en dietas prácticas para Escalares (Pterophyllum scalare). Proceedings de la XXVI Reunión ALPA. Acuicultura - Carteles. Archivos Latinoamericanos de Producción Animal, 26:4 https://ojs.alpa.uy/index.php/ojs_files/article/view/2592

Books

Phillips, C.J.C. 1998. Avances de la ciencia de la producción lechera. Editorial Acribia, S. A. España. 430 pp. ISBN 978-84-200-0857-8.  

Chapters

Ramírez Benítez, M.L., Paniagua Alcaraz, P. L., 2015. Competitividad de la carne paraguaya em el mercado internacional. En: Núñez, R., Ramírez, R., Fernández, S., Araujo-Febres, O., García, M., Díaz T.E (Eds.). La Ganadería en América Latina y el Caribe: alternativas para la producción competitiva, sustentable e incluyente de alimentos de origen animal. Colegio de Postgraduados, U.A. Chapingo, ALPA, FAO, IICA. Mexico pp. 485-498. ISBN: 978-607-715-305-4.

Original article and short communications

Original articles and short communications must report the results of original research on topics within the topics of interest to the journal's readers. The material must not have been previously published, except in a preliminary format (for example, an abstract in a congress). In case of doubt and considering that double publication implies relevant ethical and legal questions, it is recommended to ask to the Editor-in-Chief before submitting the article.

Reviews

Literature reviews must follow the same pattern as original articles. They must contain a complete and short title, an abstract, keywords, an introduction (including the objective at the end of it), main content of the review, synthetic view, projections, implications, the contribution of authors, acknowledgments, source of funding, and literature cited. Review articles should cover topics of current interest within the journal's scope. The reviews should share knowledge on emerging issues in animal production and provide a critical view of a given topic. They can be presented spontaneously or by invitation. The invitation does not imply that the article will not be reviewed and therefore does not guarantee publication.

Opinion article

Opinion articles address an emerging, current, or interesting topic for animal production or the development of scientific studies, written from a researcher's or specialist's perspective on the subject. Opinion articles also include reflections, questions, or arguments and may consider the state of the art of some technology or area of knowledge. The opinions provided must be supported by scientific knowledge.

The journal uses the persistent identifiers DOI [https://www.doi.org/] (for articles) and ORCID [https://orcid.org/] (for authors).

Publication fee

Latin American Animal Production Archives publishes scientific articles, in open access and are freely available online to all our readers, without subscription, immediately after publication. Solvent members of the Latin American Animal Production Association (ALPA) may publish their works free of charge.

Authors who are not members of ALPA, and those who are not solvent, may send their works to be considered for publication, and once accepted, they must make a payment of 10.00 USD per page to cover layout, hosting and DOI expenses.

Copyright
The authors retain the copyright. This means that the author has full control over the work.