Instructions for Authors
I. Submission Requirements
Submitted manuscripts shall be innovative academic papers and brief research findings related to laboratory animals or animal experiments. Manuscripts must feature clear arguments, concise wording, reliable data and distinct charts. All papers shall be compiled in conformity with the journal’s formatting standards (refer to the paper template). For original articles and technical papers, abstracts shall be structured in four parts: Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusion. Three to eight keywords are required. To ensure paper quality, all images shall be uploaded separately.
In principle, original articles and technical papers shall contain no more than 15 references, while review articles shall have no more than 40 references, among which over 80% should be published within the latest five years. Unofficial publications are not acceptable for citation. Contributors are also required to upload certificates including laboratory animal production license number, usage license number, ethical review approval number and relevant fund supporting documents.
Manuscripts can be directly uploaded via the official website following standard writing formats. The detailed correspondence information of the first author shall be attached at the end of the paper, including full institutional address, postal code, mobile phone number and email address. Brief introductions of the first author and corresponding author (gender, year of birth, professional title, research orientation, etc.) are also required. Institutional names shall be written in full without abbreviations.
II. Writing Formats
1. Title
Titles shall be concise, striking and topic-focused. Chinese titles shall not exceed 20 Chinese characters, and English titles shall be consistent with Chinese ones. All manuscripts except news briefs must be attached with English titles.
2. Authors
Authors shall be those who have made major contributions to the research and take full responsibility for the content. Student authors must fill in supervisors’ information and designate supervisors as corresponding authors. Authors shall be ranked in accordance with their contribution degrees. Other contributors can be acknowledged in the acknowledgement section. No addition of authors or adjustment of author order is allowed after manuscript acceptance.
Author affiliations shall be placed below author names and above the main text, including full institutional name, city name and postal code. Affiliations of authors from different institutions shall be clearly marked. Contributors registering accounts with others’ mailboxes shall make remarks in the note column for contact confirmation.
3. Abstract
Research papers, technical methods and review articles shall all be equipped with Chinese and English titles, author information, affiliations, abstracts and keywords. Abstracts shall avoid introductory content and be written in the third person without first-person pronouns.
4. Keywords
Three to eight keywords selected from titles, headings and main text shall be listed below Chinese and English abstracts respectively to reflect core research themes.
5. Introduction
Introductions shall be straightforward and concise, mainly illustrating research background and objectives without paragraphs, illustrations or mathematical formulas.
6. Main Text
6.1 Headings
First-level headings are arranged left-aligned in sequence: 1 Materials and Methods, 2 Results, 3 Discussion and Conclusions. Second-level and third-level headings such as 1.1 Animal grouping and 1.1.1 Lung anatomy are also left-aligned. Content following first and second-level headings starts on a new line, while content after third-level headings follows immediately after colons.
It is mandatory to specify in Materials and Methods: 1) Laboratory animal production license number and usage license number; 2) Animal welfare and ethical review approval number for in vivo experiments.
6.2 Charts and Figures
Illustrations shall be mentioned in the text before being presented. Sketch frames are used to mark figure positions in the text, with figure captions above and titles below. Original figures are attached collectively at the end of the manuscript. Tables are embedded in the text with serial numbers and titles on the top and notes at the bottom; three-line tables are preferred.
6.3 Measurement Units
All units and symbols shall comply with Quantities and Units (GB3100-3102-93). Time unit symbols: d (day), h (hour), min (minute), s (second), all in lowercase italic English letters Solution concentration: mol/L instead of M or N Rotational speed: r/min instead of rpm Biomolecular weight: kU for protein; bp/kb for nucleic acid Sterilization pressure: kPa instead of pound or kg/cm2Complete units must be retained in numerical expressions, e.g. 30 cm×0.5 cm, 15%~20%.
6.4 Numeral Usage
Arabic numerals are adopted universally for dates, time, counting and measurement. Single-digit non-statistical descriptive numbers can be written in Chinese characters. Numbers with four or more digits shall adopt the three-digit grouping method with proper spaces.
6.5 Statistical Symbols
All statistical symbols are italicized: mean (xˉ ), standard deviation (s), t-test (t), F-test (F), chi-square test (χ 2 ), correlation coefficient (r), sample size (n), probability (p).
6.6 References
Only officially published literatures directly cited in manuscripts are acceptable. Unpublished documents such as personal letters and dissertations shall be noted as footnotes if necessary.
For references with no more than three authors, all names shall be listed; for more than three authors, only the first three shall be listed followed by "et al". Names are written in the order of surname first followed by given name; full surnames and abbreviated given names are applied for foreign scholars with commas separating authors. Foreign journal names shall adopt standard abbreviations in accordance with PubMed norms.
6.7 Footnotes
Fund project information with serial numbers and author profiles shall be placed at the bottom left of the first page separated by a dividing line.
III. Manuscript Acceptance Process and Relevant Fees
All manuscripts are submitted exclusively via the online platform. A strict triple peer review system is implemented: professional editors conduct preliminary review first, followed by expert re-review and final review. Authors can check review progress online in real time. Publication fees will be charged for accepted papers, and corresponding remunerations will be paid in accordance with relevant regulations. Detailed fee standards will be notified separately.
IV. Review Cycle
In accordance with the Copyright Law and journal regulations, preliminary review will be completed within two weeks with receipt notices issued. The final review result will be informed to authors within two months excluding holidays. Revised manuscripts shall be submitted within one month; overdue revisions without valid explanations will be regarded as automatic withdrawal. Manuscripts passing external review will wait in line for final review, and publication arrangements or rejection decisions will be notified afterwards.
V. Editorial Department Statement
Manuscripts are arranged for publication in order of submission time, revision time and academic quality. Authors requiring urgent publication are advised to submit manuscripts in advance. The journal only accepts original manuscripts and rejects plagiarized works and duplicate submissions. All authors shall abide by academic ethics and resist academic misconduct.
No agencies or individuals are authorized to collect manuscripts or charge fees on behalf of the journal. All submissions must be completed via the official system with official institutional introduction letters attached. All fees shall be paid in accordance with official payment notices only.
VI. Author Authorization
Authors retain full copyright of published papers. To facilitate academic communication and digital resource integration, all accepted papers will be included in major academic databases including CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP Database, Chinese Core Journal Database and other relevant literature platforms. Authors who disagree with online inclusion shall state explicitly upon submission. The paid remunerations cover online copyright usage fees without additional payments. Other publication authorization matters are specified in the Copyright Transfer Agreement.
Special Notice
Since August 18, 2019, the journal no longer accepts manuscripts adopting chloral hydrate as anesthetic for laboratory animals.
