The Veterinary Journal is an international journal of veterinary research that publishes original papers and reviews on all aspects of veterinary science. Contributions reporting investigative work in the scientific disciplines involving veterinary species are particularly welcome. The Editors will be pleased to consider suggestions for Special Issues on subjects of topical importance. The journal also publishes Book Reviews.

Manuscripts

Manuscripts may describe original work in a Full Paper (Original Article) or a Short Communication or may form a Review of the existing state of knowledge on a particular aspect of veterinary science. Reviews should, in general, be written in support of original investigations. Case Reports are not published.

Where animals have been used in a study, the institutional ethical or animal welfare Authority under which the work was conducted must be stated, along with the specific authorisation reference number. Circumstances relating to animal experimentation must meet the International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals, as issued by the Council for the International Organizations of Medical Sciences. These guidelines are obtainable from: Executive Secretary C.I.O.M.S., c/o WHO, Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, or at the following URL: http://www.cioms.ch/frame_1985_texts_of_guidelines.htm.

The Journal will reject any paper where there is reason to believe that animals have been subjected to unnecessary or avoidable pain or distress. For further guidance, Authors are referred to The Veterinary Journal (2008) 175, 1-2. ('view article')

Submission of manuscripts

Submission of manuscripts to The Veterinary Journal is online via the Elsevier Editorial System - see http://ees.elsevier.com/ytvjl. Authors will be guided step-by-step enabling them to upload files directly from their computer. Options will be given for Authors to select a set of classifications for their papers, as well as a category designation (Original Article, Review, Short Communication etc.), from a given list. Electronic portable document format (pdf) proofs will be automatically generated from uploaded files and these are used for subsequent reviewing. Authors must submit articles in WORD format and not as pdf files. Queries concerning the submission process or journal procedures should be sent by E-mail to: AuthorSupport@elsevier.com.

Submission of an article is understood to imply that the article is original and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Submission also implies that all of the Authors have approved the paper for release and are in agreement with its content. Upon acceptance of the article by The Veterinary Journal the Author(s) will be asked to transfer the copyright of the article to the Publisher. This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information.

All Authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined above should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Authors should disclose whether they had any writing assistance and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.

Conflict of interest
At the end of the text, under a subheading "Conflict of interest statement" all Authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If no conflicts of interest exist, this should be stated as "None of the authors of this paper has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper".

Role of the funding source
All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgement at the end of the text. Authors should declare the role of study sponsors, if any, in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, the Authors should so state.

Format and layout
Authors submitting papers that are suitable for consideration but do not comply fully with this Guide will be asked to amend the text and re-submit.

Articles must be written in the English language. UK or US English is preferred. Authors whose first language is not English are advised to consult a native English speaker familiar with their field prior to submission. The Editors will decide whether the use of English is of a satisfactory standard. If not, the submission will be rejected or returned to the Authors for revision. Please note that there are a number of commercial organisations that will assist non-English speaking Authors in preparing their manuscripts for publication in international peer-reviewed journals. Further advice is available from Elsevier at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/languagepolishing

Original Articles should be no longer than the equivalent of five journal pages, including tables, illustrations and references. A typical page of text contains approximately 520 words. Reviews should be about 4,000 words in length and Short Communications no longer than 1,000 words.

Continuous line numbers are required throughout the text.

Use double-spacing except for the title page, captions and references, which should be in single spacing. Times New Roman, font size 12 pt, is preferred. A smaller font size may be used in Tables if space is limiting.

All contributions are subject to editorial revision. The Editor's decision will be final.

Nucleotide sequences. Submission of a manuscript implies that primary nucleotide sequence data will be deposited with an internationally available depository.

Title page

A separate title page must be included containing the paper's title, names of Author(s), the name(s) and address(es) of the institution(s) where the work was done and other Authors' addresses where these differ. If the article is a Review or Short Communication, this should be clearly indicated centre top on the title page.

Except where all Authors come from the same department, each Author should be identified using a superscript (^a,b,c etc.), and the Corresponding Author designated by an asterisk (*) as follows:

Prevalence of gastric ulcers in endurance horses: A preliminary report.

Jorge E. Nieto ^a,*, Jack R. Snyder ^a, Pablo Beldomenico ^a, Monica Aleman ^b, James W. Kerr ^c, Sharon J. Spier <sup>b

a</sup> Comparative Gastroenterology Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Surgical and Radiological Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA95616, USA
^b Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of California, Davis, CA95616, USA
^c Napa Equine Veterinary Service, Napa, CA94558, USA

The full contact details of the corresponding Author should then be given using the following format:

* Corresponding Author. Tel.: +1 530-752-0290; fax: +1 530-752-6042.
E-mail address: jenieto@ucdavis.edu (J.E. Nieto)

Articles

Original Articles should be arranged as follows: (1) Title page; (2) an Abstract of not more than 150 words (with no sub-headings), which should emphasise objectives, the experimental procedure, results and conclusions; five Keywords should be supplied below the Abstract; (3) main text sub-divided into Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions; (4) Conflict of interest statement; (5) Acknowledgements; (6) References; (7) Tables; (8) Figure legends; (9) Figures. The sections should not be numbered. Results and Discussion sections must be distinct and not combined.

Short Communications should follow the requirements for full manuscripts but the text must not exceed 1000 words and the paper should not be divided into conventional sections. A Conflict of interest statement is required before any Acknowledgements. There should be no more than 10 references in a Short Communication. An Abstract is required and up to five Keywords should be supplied below it.

Review Articles may be commissioned or proposed. Authors wishing to submit a review article are advised to contact the Editor at tvj@aht.org.uk. In general, reviews are about 4000 words in length and are written in support of original research. They may cover any relevant aspect of veterinary science or comparative medicine. Reviews should follow the layout for Original Articles but with the main text sub-divided as appropriate to the subject matter starting with an Abstract and Introduction. Sections should not be numbered.

Units. Metric units must be used. If other units need to be given, they must be placed in brackets after the metric equivalent. Units, symbols and abbreviations of units should conform to the International System of Units as defined in Baron, D.N. and McKenzie-Clarke, H., 2008, Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Authors and Editors in Medicine and Related Sciences, 6th Ed., The Royal Society of Medicine, London. All other abbreviations should be unambiguous and should be clearly explained where they are first mentioned in the Abstract and text. Note that litre is abbreviated to 'L', millilitre 'mL', (also μL, mmol/L etc.); probability is given as P (upper case italics), as in P<0.05; also note 'Student's t test' and Mann-Whitney U test; correlation coefficient r as in r = 0.92, coefficient of determination, r² as in r² = 0.72; hour, minute and second are abbreviated to h, min and s; day, week and year are given in full. For drug dose frequency use e.g. 'three times daily' or '8-hourly' rather than Latin terms such as 't.i.d. or q 8 h. Where centrifugation occurs, use g values not rpm.

Anatomical terminology should comply with the WAVA Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria (2005) and the terms should be given in English where possible and the English use is generally recognised (see: http://www.wava-amav.org/Downloads/nav_2005.pdf).

A footnote should be inserted at first use if a currency is given in the text, as in 'UK£ 500¹' and conversion rates provided using the following three currencies US$, UK£ and Euros (€). The footnote should read as appropriate, for example: '£1 = approx. US$1.54, €1.21 at 29 November 2008.' Rates can be updated by the Author at proof stage if necessary.

Manufacturers. Manufacturers and suppliers should be provided within the text after the name of the product. For example: 'diazepam (Valium, Roche)' or 'using an infusion pump (Medfusion 2010, Medex)'. Addresses/locations of manufacturers should not be given and the use of ® or ™ should be avoided. Where a website is appropriate, a footnote should be inserted as: ^ı See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/.

References. Only essential references should be included. Text citations can be in either of two ways: (a) with date in parentheses, e.g. as demonstrated by Mills (2006); or (b) with names and dates in parentheses, e.g. according to recent findings (Mills, 2006). If a citation has more than two Authors the first Author should be given followed by et al., e.g. Jones et al. (2003) or (Jones et al., 2003). Where lists of references are cited in the text they should be placed first chronologically and then alphabetically, e.g. (Philbey, 2003; Cassidy and Mills, 2005; Higgins, 2005). If two or more references by the same Author(s) published in the same year are cited they should be distinguished from each other by placing a, b, etc. after the year, e.g., (Scott, 2001a, b; Scott and Smith, 2000a, b). Personal communications should be designated as '(E.A. Blomme, personal communication)'.

Papers that are in press may be cited using the year of acceptance. In the reference list, quote the digital object identifier, or doi number, if possible, where details of the journal volume and issue are yet not known. Submitted papers should not be cited but referred to in the text as, for example, 'J.P. Cassidy et al., unpublished data'. This can be updated at proof stage where appropriate. Where a paper in press is cited in the manuscript, the Authors may be asked to make a copy of the proofs available to the editors and reviewers.

The reference list at the end of the paper should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. Insert a line break between each reference. All Authors should be included and Journal titles must be given in full. References should be set out as follows:

Journal reference: Mischke, R., Busse, L., Bartels, D. Glaser, S., Kreienbrock, L., 2002. Quantification of thrombopoietic activity in bone marrow aspirates of dogs. The Veterinary Journal 164, 269-274.

Book reference. Hotzel, H., Frey, J., Bashiruddin, J., Sachse, K., 2002. Detection and differentiation of ruminant mycoplasmas. In: Sachse, K., Frey, J. (Eds.), Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 216: PCR Detection of Microbial Pathogens. Humana Press, Totowa NJ, USA, pp. 231-246.

Proceedings. Higgins, A.J., 1996. Is racing ethically justified? Health, welfare and racing: An ethical challenge. In: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of Racing Analysts and Veterinarians, Queensland, Australia, pp. 310-315.

Web Addresses. These should be given in the following format with the access date provided: Cleaveland, S., Kusiluka, L., ole Kuwai, J., Bell, C., Kazwala, R., 2001. Assessing the impact of malignant catarrhal fever in Ngorongoro district, Tanzania. Nairobi: Community-based Animal Health and Participatory Epidemiology Unit (CAPE), Organization for African Unity, http://www.eldis.org/fulltext/cape_new/MCF_Maasai_Tanzania.pdf. Accessed 29 November 2008.

Tables. Each Table should be typed on a separate page, numbered (1, 2 etc) and a brief title given directly above each table. Tables should be in portrait format. Footnotes to tables should be indicated by ^{a, b} etc. and typed at the bottom of the relevant table. Information in tables must not be duplicated in figures and vice versa. The tables should be placed at the end of the main text after the References.

Figures. The quality of all figures submitted must be high. The Editors will reject figures of an unacceptable standard or ask the Authors to replace them. Figures should be referred to sequentially in the text as Fig. 1, Fig. 2 etc. A Legend must be provided for each Figure and placed after any Tables in the main manuscript file. Scale bars must be provided on all photomicrographs and electron micrographs and the original magnification (100x, 400x, 1,000x etc.) given in the legend. In preparing figures, Authors should note the following:

• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in figures as ''graphics'' or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your figures: Times New Roman, Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Symbol.
• Number the figures according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide all figures as separate files.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Ensure all units and wording in the figures confirm to TVJ style (see Units above).

Authors are encouraged to read the detailed guide on electronic artwork which is available on our website: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions

Artwork Formats

Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please 'save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (Note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below.):

EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'.

TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.

TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.

TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required. DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply 'as is'.

Please do not:

• Supply embedded graphics in your word processor (spreadsheet, presentation)document;
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT,WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

All Figures will be published in colour on-line but colour will only be used in the hard copy of the Journal where considered essential to the presentation of the paper (colour reproduction charges may apply).

In preparing a manuscript for submission, Authors should note the following guidelines:

• Ensure that any files are not saved as 'read-only'.
• Use two carriage returns to end headings and paragraphs.
• Type text without end of line hyphenation, except for compound words.
• Do not use lower case l (lower case el) for one or O (upper case oh) for 0 (zero), as they have different typesetting values.
• Be consistent with punctuation and only insert a single space between words and after punctuation.

Preparation of supplementary data


Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the Author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data are provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file.

Proofs

The corresponding Author will be advised by the Editor when the paper has been accepted for publication and it may then be cited as 'In press'.

One set of page proofs in pdf format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding Author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post). Elsevier now sends pdf proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate pdf files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win. If you do not wish to use the pdf annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or send by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proof reading is solely your responsibility.

Once the final corrections have been made, Elsevier aim to publish the paper electronically within 6-8 weeks. The paper will then be allocated a digital object identifier, or doi number, and once on line, the paper may be cited as published using its unique doi number. The Corresponding Author will be notified by the publisher when the paper is available on-line and can check its status and doi number using The Journal's website http://www.elsevier.com/locate/tvjl (click on Volume/Issues and then Articles in Press). The hard copy version of The Veterinary Journal containing the paper will follow later, normally within 12 months of acceptance.

Copyright

If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the Author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by Authors in these cases: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Oxford, UK: phone (+1) 215 239 3804 or +44(0)1865 843830, fax +44(0)1865 853333, e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

Material in unpublished letters and manuscripts is also protected and must not be published unless permission has been obtained.

Authors' Rights

As an Author you (or your employer or institution) may do the following:
• Make copies (print or electronic) of the article for your own personal use, including for your own classroom teaching use
• Make copies and distribute such copies (including through e-mail) of the article to research colleagues, for the personal use by such colleagues (but not commercially or systematically, e.g., via an e-mail list or list server)
• Post a pre-print version of the article on Internet websites including electronic pre-print servers, and to retain indefinitely such version on such servers or sites
• Post a revised personal version of the final text of the article (to reflect changes made in the peer review and editing process) on your personal or institutional website or server, with a link to the journal homepage (on elsevier.com)
• Present the article at a meeting or conference and to distribute copies of the article to the delegates attending such a meeting
• For your employer, if the article is a 'work for hire', made within the scope of your employment, your employer may use all or part of the information in the article for other intra-company use (e.g., training)
• Retain patent and trademark rights and rights to any processes or procedure described in the article
• Include the article in full or in part in a thesis or dissertation (provided that this is not to be published commercially)
• Use the article or any part thereof in a printed compilation of your works, such as collected writings or lecture notes (subsequent to publication of your article in the journal)
• Prepare other derivative works, to extend the article into book-length form, or otherwise to re-use portions or excerpts in other works, with full acknowledgement of its original publication in the journal

Funding body agreements and policies

Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow Authors who publish in Elsevier journals to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies).

Book Reviews

Publishers or Authors wishing to have a book considered for review in TVJL should first contact the Books Editor at tvj@aht.org.uk.

Author Enquiries

For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit the journal's homepage at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/tvjl. This also provides the facility to track accepted articles and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed.

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.

Offprints

The corresponding Author will, at no cost, be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.

The Veterinary Journal has no page charges.