Focus and Scope
HAF is an international peer-reviewed journal publishing original scientific papers, reviews and short communications on animal science, animal production and food safety. Supplements contain proceedings of symposia or special meetings. The Journal scope is focalized on animal-related aspects of the life sciences at the molecular, cellular, organ, whole animal and production system levels.
Papers will be considered in the areas of Breeding and Genetics, Nutrition, Physiology, Behaviour, Health and Welfare, Livestock Farming Systems, Product Quality and Safety. Papers regarding environmental impact and sustainability of the production are particularly welcome. The Journal solicit contributions from animal science and production specialists in academia, industry, veterinary and environmental health, as well as from specialists in economics, agriculture engineering, fisheries and wildlife, livestock farming systems and other disciplines.
Peer Review Process
HAF is a peer-reviewed journal. Authors are invited to nominate a list of four potential expert reviewers in their cover letter. These reviewers must not have a conflict of interest with the authors or the paper content, and the Editorial Board may decline to contact any of the reviewers suggested by the authors.
Upon submission, the manuscript will be cursorily inspected in the editorial office for compliance with the author instructions (please refer to our Author Guidelines). Manuscripts that do not achieve the prerequisites for publication will be immediately rejected. Remaining manuscripts will be assigned to the corresponding Editor-in-Chief, which may reject (please refer to our Focus and Scope) or allocate them to one of the Section Editors, depending on the topic. Section Editors identify relevant referees for a blind review process.
Two referees will be invited to comment on each submission. When the opinions of the referees will differ significantly, the manuscript will be sent to a third referee. When a decision will be reached, it will be communicated to the author.
After the author will be submitted the final version and this will be accepted for publication, the manuscript will undergo a copyediting process. This process will generate a new query, which will be sent to the author, in order to build a paper that follows the HAF editorial format and style. Furthermore, authors will be responsible for the final check of the paper about content, including the spelling of personal and place names. HAF reserves the right to refuse publication of articles that, upon repeated resubmission, will not meet these requirements. After copyediting is completed, the article will be published on-line and inserted in the current volume.
Publication Frequency
The publication of the different issues is six-monthly in accordance to the following schedule: one in January and one in July.
After each paper is accepted and the copyediting process ended, the final version of the paper appears online briefly by adding its to the "current" issue's "Table of Contents".
Open Access Policy
HAF provides immediate open access to its content, also to users not registered in its platform, on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Furthermore, HAF allows and encourages authors to deposit their accepted manuscripts, in the post-print format, in their Open-Access institutional archives or repositories. The primary benefit of post-print self-archiving is reaching a larger audience which enhances the visibility and impact of your research.
Archiving
The University of Milan has an archival arrangement with the National Central Libraries of Florence and Rome within the national project Magazzini Digitali.
The journal has enabled the PKP PN (Preservation Network) plugin, in order to preserve digital contents through LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) project
Plagiarism
Editors have a duty to act promptly in case of errors and misconducts, both proven and alleged. This duty extends to both published and unpublished papers. In case such as errors in articles or in the publication process, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, appropriate steps will be taken, following the recommendations, guidelines and flowcharts from di COPE. Corrections will happen with due prominence, including the publication of an erratum (errors from the publication process), corrigendum (errors from the Author(s)) or, in the most severe cases, the retraction of the affected work. Retracted papers will be retained online, and they will be prominently marked as a retraction in all online versions, including the PDF, for the benefit of future readers.
Ethical treatment of animals
For studies involving animals, all work must have been conducted according to applicable national and international guidelines. Prior approval must have been obtained for all protocols from the relevant author's institutional or other appropriate ethics committee, and the institution name and permit numbers should be provided at submission in the cover letter (see example below). For research involving non-human primates, all studies must be performed in accordance with the recommendations of the Weatherall (2006) report, The use of non-human primates in research. Where unregulated animals are used or ethics approval is not required by a specific committee, the article should include a clear statement of this fact and the reasons why ethical approval is not required.
We also strongly encourage all authors to comply with the 'Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo experiments' (ARRIVE) guidelines, developed by NC3Rs to improve standards of reporting to ensure that the data from animal experiments can be fully scrutinized and utilized. Relevant information should be included in the appropriate section of the article (e.g. title, abstract, or method), as outlined in the ARRIVE guidelines. The ARRIVE guidelines can be applied to any area of bioscience research using laboratory animals. Where research could be confused as pertaining to human clinical research, the animal model should also be noted in the article title.
Example of statement of ethical approval. This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. The protocol was approved by the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments of the University of Minnesota (Permit Number: 27-2956). All surgery was performed under sodium pentobarbital anesthesia, and every effort was made to minimize suffering.
Pubblication fees
No publication processing fees (APCs) are requested.