Manuscript Preparation Guidelines
1. Studies to be published in RIA: classification, structure, style and form
All works to be published must be original, unpublished and are classified as:
The studies must be written entirely in English in all its sections.
The inclusion of a summary in Spanish is accepted but only together with the submission of the abstract in English.
Manuscripts must be prepared and incorporated into the RIA submission system in Word or similar format, on an A4-size page with 2.5 cm margins on all margins, with lines and pages numbered consecutively, and with double-spaced text. Calibri size 11 (or equivalent) must be used.
Tables and figures must be placed at the end of the study in the same font size (not inserted in the text, but the corresponding place of insertion must be indicated).
The RIA evaluation process will take special care in the use of the English language. In all cases, the acceptance of the spelling and grammar quality used in the article will be left to the reviewer, the thematic editor and the General Editor. The studies must respect the forms and avoid the excessive inclusion of words from other languages of infrequent use in the English language.
It is advisable to avoid arguments from cultural, social, economic or political contexts in the writing and analysis.
The content and any discussion in the manuscript must avoid any wording that leads to the presumption of beliefs, opinions or positions of the reader on sex, ethnicity, abilities or culture.
It is advisable to use words (nouns, pronouns, adjectives or adverbs) and the sentences that avoid references to the sexual condition or other personal attributes, except in cases of relevance to the report.
Due to the diversity of topics that are object of publication in RIA, it is not possible to create a previous list with all the terminology outside the writing language of the work that could be accepted automatically. The same comment is valid for the previous agreement on abbreviations.
RIA does not offer a list of abbreviations of terminology of “common use” in studies, except those corresponding to the units of measurement based on the International System of Measurement Units (SI – https://www.bipm.org/en/home), due to the diversity of audiences and possible interpretations of abbreviations without reference in the same writing. Abbreviations must be incorporated in the first appearance of the word or sentence to be abbreviated from the introduction and continue their use along the document. Abbreviations must be included in the abstract -respecting this criterion-if their use is recurrent in it.
Research papers that are peer-reviewed must have the sections listed below and in that order. The titles highlighted in bold from the list -below- must be included highlighted in the same way in the body of the article, centered on the line. Chapters must be separated by an additional space. The length of original articles should not exceed 8000 words including tables, illustrations and bibliography.
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- Title
- Authors and affiliations
- Abstract
- Keywords
- Introduction
- Materials & Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusions
- Acknowledgments
- References
- Tables
- Figures
Title
It must be clear, concise and descriptive. Challenging title writing is encouraged. It should not contain more than 15 words, avoiding abbreviations and formulas. It must be written centered on the line, with the first letter of the beginning of the sentence in capital only, unless some words must be capitalized, regardless of their location (e.g., the name of a country, a brand, person, place, etc.). In all cases, the terms in Latin or in another language (different from the one in which the document is written) must be in italics.
Authors and affiliations
They must be clearly indicated separately from the title. The names and surnames of each author must be written completely without abbreviations. Under the authors, the employment affiliation must be reported with the corresponding address, linked with superscript to each author. Names and surnames must be reported in lowercase, except for the first letter that must be in uppercase.
Corresponding Author: It must be indicated with an asterisk accompanying the name and surname of the author with the following footnote: corresponding author, together with their contact email. It will act/serve as a reference for the paper with RIA, so the validity of the email must be ensured.
Example:
Effects backgrounding-finishing programs of different age/weight at harvest of feedlot steers
James J. Smith a,b,*; Fiona B. Carter a,c; Jennifer C. Hardy b,c; John Entwistle a,c.
a Estación Experimental “Guillermo Covas” de INTA Anguil, CC 11, km 580 ruta nac. 5, La Pampa 6326, Argentina
b Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, 6300 La Pampa, Argentina
c Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, 6300 La Pampa, Argentina
*Corresponding Author: smith.james@inta.gob.ar
Abstract
The abstract must synthesize the objective of the paper, its purpose and the results. A brief introduction of the methodology is recommended. Its length should not exceed 300 words.
Summary in Spanish (optional)
It has the same purpose as the abstract, but written in Spanish. It is advisable to have similar content of the synthesis reported in both. Its length should not exceed 300 words.
Keywords
They must be included after the abstract, preceded by the sentence: keywords, in a maximum of 3 and separated by semicolon (;). It is advisable to avoid abbreviations. Keywords are used for indexing purposes.
In case of presenting a summary in Spanish, the same keywords translated into Spanish must be repeated below in the same format as the keywords in English and preceded by the sentence “Palabras Clave”.
Introduction
It must be written clearly, concisely and focused on the central point of the study. The bibliographic support of the introduction has to be adequate to the aim of the work to highlight the relevance of the study. The hypothesis and objectives of the paper must be clear and linked to the results and conclusions. They must accurately convey the experimental challenge with the least possible ambiguity regarding the expected results. It should not have more than 800 words.
Materials & Methods
The materials used and their units have to be adapted to the precision demanded by a scientific study, compatible with the state of the art on the subject and its scope of inference. The methodology employed with the corresponding reference support must be mentioned. If it is original, a detailed description must be issued in order to be replicated.
Statistical Analysis: The studies have to report the experimental model and the statistical analysis used. The tests must have the corresponding statistical evaluation. The models and statistical tests should be reported with the highest degree of clarification possible.
Special emphasis should be placed on the justification of the nature and characteristics of the experimental unit, the ratio of the number of repetitions.
It is advisable to avoid confusion with repetition and sub-sampling. Significance must be defined in the study. The * can be used for the level of significance of p≤ 0,05 and ** for the level of p≤ 0,01. However, it is possible to consider the use of the value of “p” obtained for a determined effect of a variable and when it refers to several, incorporate the highest one, from which the effect or the absence of detection; e.g., p≥ 0,27; p≤ 0,04 is communicated. In the case of effects of very high significance effects, less than 0,01, p≤ 0,01 should be reported. In all cases, the value of P has to be reported with two decimal places.
Results
A clear and concise report of the results must be produced from what is objectively observed in the determinations made and demonstrated in tables and figures. The significance of the results or the coincidences or divergences with other authors should not be developed in this section.
Discussion
It refers to the results and they are discussed in the light of the antecedents, products of the research reported by other authors. The bibliographic references that support the discussion should be identified, clarified and expanded on mechanisms, processes and causes. The discussion must be critical and objective, and focused on the context of the study. If necessary due to the nature of the work, the presentation of a chapter combining the Results and Discussion sections can be accepted.
In-text citations must be included in parentheses with the last name of the first author (followed by et al. if there are more authors) and the year of publication. If there are only two authors, they must be reported with both surnames and the year, for example (Pérez and González, 2018). If there is only one author, the last name and the year (e.g., Pérez, 2018) has to be reported. Only the first letter of the names accompanies the last name if they coincide in the same report and only if it is ambiguous regarding the order of authorship (e.g., Pérez, D. R. and Pérez, D. J., 2019).
In the text, the year must be reported in parentheses when the author is an integral part of the sentence; e.g., … according to Johnson and Herrera (2018). When used to support a sentence or statement, the author or authors must be reported in parentheses and the year of publication separated by a comma. When the support is in reference to more than one author, they are arranged in alphabetical order according to the surnames of the first authors of the publications, and in decreasing chronological order; e.g.: (López and González, 2018; Ronald and Johnson, 2014; Suárez et al., 2013). It is advisable not to include more than 3 bibliographic citations to contribute to a statement or observation.
In the case of activating studies whose reference is coincident, they must be differentiated with letter succession ‘a, b, c’, after the year (e.g., Xu et al., 2021a; 2021b). That same letter must be located in the list of references after the year. The first letter of the names must be used to differentiate authors if there is a coincidence in the surname and year, or they participate in the same report. The bibliographic support should be based on full articles published in peer-reviewed journals. It is advisable to minimize the reference to articles, conference summaries or conferences not published in peer-reviewed journals.
Style and form of results: In the English language, decimals are separated by points. Used units should allow the results to be viewed in the cleanest and clearest way. In both cases, the units of one thousand, million, etc., should not be separated with periods or commas. For number sizes that exceed a thousand scale, it is advisable to change the units or scale to reduce the amount of numbers to be reported in a table, figure or text.
For ease of reading, the suggestion is to report the decimal level in tables or text that is necessary to convey the relevance of the data and its variance. For example, it may make sense to indicate an animal’s weight to the first decimal (e.g., 433,5 kg), but there has to be a good reason to report additional decimals for that variable. It is advisable to use the same criteria to report standard errors or deviations. If possible, depending on the congestion of the tables, it is useful for the reader to incorporate the deviation of each mean, even in a mean comparison test. This measure is desirable when reporting general media by groups or in the absence of effects; (e.g., No treatment effects (p ≥ 0,35) were detected on the weight gain and feed conversion efficiency (657 ± 2,5 g/day and that of 0,13 ± 0,011, respectively). Note that the standard deviation followed by the ± symbol is incorporated. In the case of weight gain, it is necessary to report in grams avoiding the use of several decimals that would be needed in the case of using the kg. For the standard deviation (s.d.) or the standard error of mean differences (SEM), it is advisable to use one decimal more than that reported for mean.
To show relationships, responses that refer to one unit of measurement in relation to another (kg/day, g/min, etc.), although it is correct and acceptable, it is advisable to avoid the use of the denominator raised to x-1 and use the /, that is, kg/ha instead of kg ha-1. Measurements are expressed according to the international system of units (e.g., energy en Joule, force in Newtons). As regards the terms of the units, the style and form compatible with the UI symbology must be used. For instance, kg, g, m, l, dm, cm, m, ha, N, lb, J, must be used instead of Kg, kilos, kgs, gr, grams, cms, mtr, has, Has, Ha, Newtons, lbs, etc. Except for specific indications in the text due to communicational relevance of the data, the efficiency is reported as the relationship between the amount of product generated per unit of input consumed (e.g., dry matter produced / surface; dry matter produced / unit of fertilizer; increase in weight / day; weight; weight increase / unit of food consumed). The word day must be reported in full. If in view of the document’s own needs, the word must be synthesized, “d” in lowercase must be utilized and that use of the abbreviation must be reported in the document -at the first opportunity-.
The abuse of symbols and chemical nomenclatures in the writing of the text, should be avoided, except in the case of nomenclature of known use that facilitates the writing, which otherwise implies a longer text; for instance P2O5 instead of phosphorus pentoxide, or when the nomenclature describes the argument more properly, e.g. O2 instead of oxygen, or CO2 instead of carbon dioxide. The valence of an element or a formula must be reported in the number and the sense, for instance Ca2+, and not as Ca++. Isotope numbers must precede the element, as in 18O.
Footer: The use is not recommended or its use must be limited. In case of being used, it must be done with numbering from first to last. It should be indicated at the “foot of each page” or eventually at the end. Do not include footer in the References list.
Subsections: In the case of incorporating subsections, its title must be underlined and in the case of a sub-subsection, it must be in italics.
Tables and figures: The tables and figures must be produced in editable text or Excel-based format (.xls or .xlsx). They should be reported separately from the text, at the end, after the References list: first the tables and then the figures. Tables and figures must have correlative numbering of tables and figures. Besides, they must have a full title that complements the description of the content proving self-explanation without referring the reader to the writing to understand the table or figure.
The word Table and Figure and the corresponding number must precede the title, followed by a period. After one space the title must be written, starting with a capital letter only in the first word at the beginning of the sentence, except for exceptions (follow the same recommendations for the title of the study).
The construction of boxes or structures in the tables or figures that are not necessary for the easy reading of the provided information is not recommended. The title of the table must be written above it in Calibri size 10 (or equivalent). The table must begin after the title, without a space. The header of the table must have a horizontal line in its upper part to separate it from the title, a line that separates it from the data structure, and a final line, prior to the explanatory information of the content at the bottom of the table. That explanatory and descriptive information must provide the necessary elements to understand the table, making it self-understandable. The non conventional abbreviations used in the text must be explained, although they are already indicated in the text of the study in size Calibri 10 (or equivalent). The word Figure followed by the corresponding number must precede the title of the figure. It should be written with the greatest self-explanatory capacity, located below the figure and be reported in both languages (English and Spanish) in size Calibri 10 (or equivalent). Images should not be used to replace tables or figures.
Figures must be designed to convey the information that is intended to be communicated to the reader in black and white, without the need to resort to differences in color to notice effects, differences, etc.
Any vertical line or ruler, shading or use of unnecessary symbology in tables and figures should be avoided. They must not exceed 10 cm in height and 12 cm in width. They must be designed in black and white avoiding gray scales. The figures and tables do not have to include the title or other descriptions that accompany the title in the body. This information is provided separately. They should not be in a box or a reference box. They should not have background color or use bold in its written components. Only the Calibri 10 type and size should be used.
Statistical significance must be reported in the tables including the value of P, or its reference to the level of significance represented in *, ** and referenced at the bottom of the table as * P ≤ 0,05; ** P≤ 0,01. The level of significance of interactions or other arguments that justify the architecture of the table must also be reported in the footer. It is advisable to design easy to read tables, with a simple construction in which its size and design do not compromise the location in the article or compromise unnecessary space.
Images and photos: The incorporation of images and photos must be justified in their contribution to the information content. A complement must be provided in a suitable format for publication in definition. Color or grayscale JPEG images must have a minimum of 300 dpi. Maps or images in color and / or black and white, lines or drawings must have a minimum of 500 dpi. Combinations of both must have a minimum of 1000 dpi. Do not incorporate screen optimization format images (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG).
Avoid incorporating images, diagrams or figures with a disproportionate amount of content for the pursued objective. Each illustration must be sent in a separate file, indicating in the name of the file to which figure it corresponds.
Conclusions
The results and observations are synthesized in concise, clear conclusions without referential citations, after the analysis in the context of the bibliography. Implications are reported application of the results in the field/context of the scientific work.
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgements must be included after the conclusions, in a separate section, avoiding its incorporation in the footer or linked to the title or authors. It is advisable to take into account the projects and contributions that were important for the development of the study. However, avoid detailed description of the financing, and refer briefly to the origin of the funds, etc.
References
References will be listed in alphabetical order according to the last name of the first author. All authors will be reported in the list of references. The last name followed by the initials of their names with a comma, separated from the surname with a comma (,). Each author must be separated from the next with a semicolon (;). No connectors (and, &) must be used between the antepenultimate and the last author, use only the semicolon (;). The year should not be reported in parentheses. If a letter has to be included followed by the year, the letter must be incorporated after the year, followed by a period (.) and before the title of the work appears.
The journals will be described without abbreviations; for instance, Revista Argentina de Producción Animal, American Journal of Animal Science, Agronomy Journal, Animals, Livestock Science, Feed Science and Technology, Meat Science. The volume and pages must be reported after a comma (,) separating the title of the journal and with a comma (,) separating the volume of pages: e.g. Meat Science, 43, 126-138. Followed by the pages and after a period -if possible-, the electronic reference DOI (Digital Object Identifier) will be reported on the corresponding site; e.g. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sc.2010.00372.
Next, examples are indicated for the writing of references of other reports such as: books, chapters, conferences, websites, data sets, and conference papers and posters presentations
Examples:
A. Reference to a journal publication:
Explanation: under no circumstances should “et al.” be used. All authors that appear in the reference must be declared.
Van der Geer, J.; Hanraads, J. A. J.; Lupton, R. A. 2010. The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sc.2010.00372.
Neel, J. P. S.; Fontenot, J. P.; Clapham, W. M.; Duckett, S. K.; Felton, E. D.; Scaglia, G.; Bryan, W. B. 2007. Effects of winter stocker growth rate and finishing system on: I animal performance and carcass characteristics. Journal of Animal Science, 85, 2012–2018.
Pordomingo, A. J.; Grigioni, G.; Carduza, F.; Volpi Lagreca, G. 2012. Effect of feeding treatment during the backgrounding phase of beef production from pasture on: I. animal performance and physical characteristics of beef. Meat Science, 90, 939–946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2011.11.036
Pighin, D.; Pazos, A.; Chamorro, V.; Paschetta, F.; Cunzolo, S.; Godoy, F.; Messina, V.; Pordomingo, A. J.; Grigioni, G. 2016. A Contribution of Beef to Human Health: A Review of the Role of the Animal Production Systems. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/8681491
Reference to a journal publication with an article number:
Van der Geer, J.; Hanraads, J. A. J.; Lupton, R. A. 2018. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon, 19, Article e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205
Reference to a book:
Strunk, W. Jr.; White, E. B. 2000. The elements of style (4th ed.). Longman (Cap. 4).
Reference to a book edited chapter
Mettam, G. R.; Adams, L. B. 2009. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). E-Publishing Inc.
Reference to a Website:
Powertech Systems. 2015. Lithium-ion vs lead-acid cost analysis. Available at: http://www.powertechsystems.eu/home/tech-corner/lithium-ion-vs-lead-acid-cost-analysis/. verified: January 05th 2016
Reference to a dataset:
[dataset] Oguro, M.; Imahiro, S.; Saito, S.; Nakashizuka, T. 2015. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions. Mendeley Data, v1. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1
Reference to a conference paper or a poster presentation:
Engle, E. K.; Cash, T. F.; Jarry, J. L. (2009, November). The Body Image Behaviours Inventory-3: Development and validation of the Body Image Compulsive Actions and Body Image Avoidance Scales. Posters section at the Conference of the: Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, New York, NY.
It is advisable to use reference management software.
It is the scope for the report of observational experiences, technical notes, preliminary experiments or partial results that deserve to be communicated before the completion of a research work due to the importance or relevance of the information. The partial report of results whose fragmentation only contributes to several reports is not admitted in this format. The acceptance of this format is for the consideration of the General Editor and/or the Editorial Committee.
It is also the object of these communications to report findings or observations that merit their communication but do not have the structure and scientific rigor of an experimental work: Case studies, observational and simulation exercises, results of audits and monitoring events whose methodology is evaluated objectively and according to the results of the report. These Brief Communications will be accepted after peer evaluation.
Brief Communications are particularly useful to report proposals of methodological adjustments, complements or studies with limited scope, but of specific value. These notes must be evaluated for quality and relevance in the same way as research works, but previously having informed the intention and scope of this type of report to the evaluators. The length of the Brief Communications should not exceed 2500 words for the entire writing including: Tables, Figures and References. Except for the length, the same guidelines for writing given for Original papers -which were described above- should be used.
It is the review of the knowledge on defined topics. It must be an orderly, thematically focused and clear process, with objective analysis of the results on a previously defined central point. Besides, the review must include an exhaustive bibliographic compilation, a critical discussion on the subject, and contribute to the knowledge through synthesis and conclusions.
The author must clearly stress the current and future significance of the topic, the points on which there are different opinions, and the most relevant aspects. The prospective vision and the contributions or suggestions for future lines of research should be valued.
Besides, it must include an abstract and keywords (with optional addition of summary and keywords in Spanish), an introduction followed by the body or development of the review and finally the conclusions and implications. If possible, affirmative aspects of the conclusion should be included in the title. If useful, a subtitle could be included. As regards style and form, the guidelines for writing Original Research Papers must be followed. Tables and figures can be added as long as they contribute to the interpretation of the review made. Its length should not exceed 8000 words.
The Letter to the Editor is a short letter addressed to the General Editor of the journal or the editorial team. It is written in response to a recent post within the journal, but it can also refer to an unrelated topic of interest to the journal’s readers. At RIA, this section aims at encouraging intellectual discussion between readers and authors. The Letter to the Editor accepts one or more of the following reasons:
- Discuss aspects of a recently published article referring to methodological issues, about the making of the study, disagreements with the interpretation or conclusions about it.
- Provide explanations on an aspect of the document.
- Broaden the existing knowledge of a recently published article or hot topic with opinions and/or supported by objective data.
- Share professional points of view
Checklist
The following list may be useful in the last revision of the manuscript prior to its submission to RIA. The author’s guidelines can be consulted for more details.
Verify that you have completed the following tasks:
- Name a corresponding author and include their contact information (email address)
- Prepare all files to be sent.
Manuscript:
- List of keywords.
- All figures and their corresponding titles.
- All tables (with title, description and relevant notes)
- All table and figure references in the text match the tables and figures files to be sent.
- Graphical summary files / key point (if applicable).
- Supplementary files (if applicable).
2. Others:
- Perform a spelling and grammar correction of the manuscript.
- Check that all the citations of the text are in the list of references and vice versa.
- Obtain the necessary permissions for the use of copyrighted material, also from material that comes from the Internet.
- Make declarations of conflict of interests.
- Review the regulations of the journal for authors.
- Check if the approval of Ethics Committees for the use of animals has been detailed.
- Provide suggestions of reviewers of the field or area of competence of the topic addressed, with a brief note that explains the reasons. For which you must provide for each proposed reviewer: name and surname, complete professional affiliation, current email address. The Editorial Committee may consider the proposed reviewers, but submission does not imply the obligation to select them during the review process by reviewers -referees-.
