Ethical oversight

Experimental research on vertebrates or any regulated invertebrates must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and where available should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. A statement detailing compliance with relevant guidelines and/or ethical approval (including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number where appropriate) must be included in the manuscript. If a study has been granted an exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript (including the name of the ethics committee that granted the exemption and the reasons for the exemption). The Editor will take account of animal welfare issues and reserves the right to reject a manuscript, especially if the research involves protocols that are inconsistent with commonly accepted norms of animal research. In rare cases, the Editor may contact the ethics committee for further information.

Does your research involve animals?

Manuscripts describing research involving live vertebrates and higher invertebrates, either domestic or wild, must include appropriate details and approval from the Institutional or National Animal Care and Use Committees. For describing the methods used we recommend following the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting experiments with animals.

Clinical studies involving animals and interventions outside of routine care involving client-owned animals (pets or livestock) also require ethics committee oversight and the owners informed consent.

Studies involving wild animals should follow national and international regulations related to capturing and working in protected areas. If the study is exempt from ethics approval, the authors need to state the reason for the exemption. We recommend that authors comply with the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Does your research involve humans?

Manuscripts describing research involving humans (i.e. questionnaires, interventions, sampling) must be in accordance with the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki. An appropriate institutional ethics committee and informed consent from all human subjects must be presented. In relation to the protection of research participants we remind you that people have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent, please avoid nonessential identifiable details in the manuscript. Informed consent should be made available upon request from the Editor.

Welfare and ethics

All material published in AJVS must adhere to high ethical standards concerning animal welfare. Manuscripts will be considered for publication only if the work described:

• Follows international, national, and institutional guidelines for the humane treatment of animals and complies with relevant legislation.
• For studies using client-owned animals, demonstrates a high standard (best practice) of veterinary care and involves informed client consent.

Before acceptance of a manuscript, to verify compliance with the above policies, the authors must:

• Confirm that legal and ethical requirements have been met with regard to the humane treatment of animals described in the study.
• Specify the ethical review committee approval process and the international, national, and/or institutional guidelines followed.

AJVS retains the right to reject manuscripts on the basis of ethical or animal welfare concerns. Papers may be rejected on ethical grounds if the study involves unnecessary pain, distress, suffering, or lasting harm to animals, or if the severity of the experimental procedure does not appear to be justified by the value of the work presented. For further information, please refer to Editorial Policies.