Cick on Instructions to authors to download the PDF file.

Types of articles

 Full-length research article

A full-length research paper provides a comprehensive account of experimental work. The manuscript should detail the research process to facilitate a thorough understanding and provide a coherent explanation of all experimental procedures and results. It must include sufficient information to allow for the independent replication of the research.

Short communication

This format offers a concise account of the final results of experimental work that warrants publication, yet lacks the volume of information typical of a full-length research article. Results presented in a short communication must not be used again, in part or in whole, for a full-length article submission.

Technical note

Technical notes describe evaluations or propositions of methods, procedures, or techniques relevant to the scope of RBZ. Authors should discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method, procedure, or technique and compare it to existing methods. Thorough scientific rigor in the analysis, comparison, and discussion of results is required.

Board-invited review

These articles provide a state-of-the-art analysis or a critical perspective on topics of interest and relevance to the scientific community. Board-invited reviews can only be submitted following an invitation from the RBZ editorial board. Like other submissions, reviews are subject to the peer-review process.

Editorial

Editorials serve to clarify and articulate the guiding principles and technical guidelines for manuscripts submitted to the Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia. These pieces are written by the editorial board or by contributors specifically invited by the board. Editorials provide insight into the journal’s editorial philosophy, offer commentary on current trends or issues within the field of Animal Science, and may outline changes or updates in the journal’s submission and evaluation policies. As such, they play a critical role in shaping the direction and standards of the journal.

Guidelines to prepare the manuscript

Language

Manuscript submitted to RBZ must be in English, either in American or British writing styles. The editorial board reserves the right to require authors to revise the translation or to discontinue the processing of the manuscript if the text contains spelling, punctuation, grammar, terminology, jargon, or semantic errors that may impede understanding or fail to meet the journal’s standards.

While AI tools can be employed to assist with language polishing, their use does not negate the need for thorough review by a professional. It is strongly recommended that the translation and language proofreading be conducted by a professional experienced in scientific writing and familiar with Animal Science, preferably a native English speaker so that the manuscript not only meets the high linguistic standards required for publication but also adheres to the specific terminological precision demanded by the scientific community.

Structure of a full-length research article

The article is organized into distinct sections, each with numbered headings that are bolded and aligned to the left, presented in the following sequence:

1. Introduction
2. Material and methods
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions

Subsequent sections, including Data availability, Author contributions, Conflict of interest, Acknowledgments, Financial support, and References, should remain unnumbered. The Materials and methods, Results, and Discussion sections may contain subsections as determined by the authors. These subsections should enhance readability and provide clarity, accuracy, and conciseness to the text.

In addition to these sections, authors must include a “Declaration of Generative AI in Scientific Writing” if AI tools were used in the preparation of the manuscript. This declaration should follow the “Financial support” section and must clearly outline the nature and extent of AI involvement in the manuscript.

Manuscript format

The manuscript should be typed in Cambria font at a size of 12 points, with double spacing throughout the main text. Exceptions are for the Abstract and Tables, which should be set at 1.5 spacing. Margins should be set at 2.5 cm at the top, bottom, and right sides, and 3.5 cm on the left side. All lines must be numbered. The document must be prepared and edited using Microsoft Word® software.

Title

The title should be precise and informative, with no more than 20 words. It should be typed in bold and centered.

Authors and affiliations

The name and institutions of authors should be presented in the manuscript and in the submission process on ScholarOne.

Consider carefully the list and order of authors and provide the definitive list at the initial submission. Authors must have made substantial contributions in the conception and/or development of the research and/or manuscript writing and necessarily in the revision and approval of the final version.

Spurious and “ghost” authorships constitute unethical behavior. Collaborative inputs, hand labor, and other types of work that do not imply intellectual contribution may be mentioned in the Acknowledgments section.

Upon submission of a manuscript, it is advised that no alterations to authorship be made. This includes changes to the list of authors, the order of authors, and the designation of the corresponding author. Any potential authorship modifications during the evaluation process, such as additions, deletions, reordering of authors, or changes to the corresponding author, can only be implemented with the unanimous agreement of all authors and the approval of the editor-in-chief.

No authorship changes will be considered after manuscript acceptance. Any disputes related to authorship should be resolved by the individuals and their respective institutions before manuscript submission. The journal and its editorial board will not mediate any authorship disputes among contributors.

In the manuscript, the authorship (in the correct order) must contain all authors’ full names with no initials and complete information about their affiliation (of when the study was developed). The authorship must be identical to that presented in the Assurance of Contents form and on ScholarOne submission. Double-check the spelling of every author’s name.

Mark the corresponding author with an asterisk and inform their current e-mail address.

Make sure that all authors are already registered in the ScholarOne system. Manuscript Central™ will help the corresponding author to check whether an author already exists in the journal’s database, just by entering the author’s e-mail address and clicking “Search”. Make sure you have the correct e-mail address of the authors. When an author is already registered, their information will appear. All authors must have their ORCID linked to the ScholarOne system account at the time of manuscript submission.

The institutional affiliations must present their hierarchical levels in descending order (example: University, Faculty/College, Department) and their location (city, state/province, country). The names of affiliations should be presented in full and in the original language – or in English when not in Latin writing style. Acronyms and abbreviations of the institutions and their full addresses should not be used.

Author contributions

The Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia is committed to clarity and transparency in acknowledging the contributions of authors. To this end, we include an Author Contributions section in every manuscript published. We follow the Project CRediT taxonomy of contributor roles, details of which can be found at https://credit.niso.org/.

During the manuscript submission process via the ScholarOne system, the corresponding author is required to specify the contributions of each coauthor. It is important to select only the roles that each of them has genuinely fulfilled in the development of the study.

Abstract

The abstract should be written in English as a single, justified paragraph. It must contain no more than 1,800 characters, including spaces. The abstract should concisely summarize the objective of the study, materials and methods, main results, and conclusions. It must provide statistical evidence (P-values) to support the results presented.

Abbreviations used in the abstract must be defined at their first occurrence there and again in the main body of the manuscript. The text of the abstract should be typed at 1.5 line spacing and positioned at the beginning of the manuscript, with the word “ABSTRACT” in all caps.

Extensive abstracts or those with subheadings are not acceptable and will be returned for adequacy to these guidelines. The abstract should not include any introductory text or references.

Keywords

At the end of the abstract, list a minimum of three and no more than six keywords (which must not be in the tittle), set off by commas and presented in alphabetical order. They should be elaborated so that the article is quickly found in bibliographical research.

Introduction

The introduction should be concise, not exceeding 3,000 characters including spaces. It should provide a brief overview of the context of the research topic, clearly state the hypothesis and objectives of the study, and justify the research. The rationale for the experiments should be well-integrated with current literature to ensure relevance and to demonstrate awareness of recent developments in the field. In the final paragraph of the introduction, explicitly articulate the hypothesis and the specific objectives of the research. This clarity will help in setting a clear direction for the subsequent sections of the manuscript.

Avoid discussing or inferring the results and refrain from extensive discussions based on literature that supports specific concepts unrelated to the main objectives.

For non-traditional papers such as reviews, a compelling rationale must be provided, and the structure of the introduction may be adjusted accordingly to better fit these types of submissions.

Material and methods

Ethical standards

Whenever applicable, it is essential to state at the beginning of this section that the work was conducted in accordance with ethical standards and approved by the relevant Ethics and Biosafety Committee. The approval number must be included as follows: “Research on animals was conducted according to the ethics committee on animal use of the (institution name) (case/protocol number).”

Animal description and experimental units

Include a detailed description of the animals used in the study, specifying sex, breed, age, and species. Provide evidence of assay validation, or suitable published references, as well as inter/intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV), as needed. Appropriate statistical methods should be used with the experimental unit defined. State the number of biological and experimental replicates. Also, state the threshold for significance (e.g., P<0.05) and definition of tendency, if used. The experimental unit is the smallest unit that receives the application of treatments uniformly. It can be an individual animal (if there are guarantees that the treatment is applied uniformly and correctly to each animal in the study), a pen, a pasture, or a cage (when the treatment is applied to a group of animals under specific conditions). Please note that the application of nutritional treatments to group-fed animals (within a pen, pasture, box, or cage) often does not guarantee that each individual receives the proposed amount/dose of treatment, which implies that the group should then be considered as the experimental unit. For considerations on the design and analysis of pen studies in animal sciences, please consult St-Pierre (2007).

Statistical and quantitative reporting

All quantitative values presented in the text, graphs, and tables must be reported with three significant digits (e.g., 752, 89.4, 3.59, 0.408, 0.0444, 0.00239). P-values must be presented with two or three significant digits (e.g., P = 0.72, P = 0.034, P<0.001) and should not be rounded off. For instance, if statistical software shows P = 0.1294 and you are presenting it with two digits, it should be reported as P = 0.12.

Description of procedures

Each biological, analytical, and statistical procedure must be clearly described. Modifications to these procedures should be explained in detail.

The statistical model must be presented as a separate sentence and is mandatory for designed experiments, observational studies, or survey studies. Describe all terms, assumptions, and fitting procedures to enable correct identification of the experimental unit and how the model was fitted:

y_ij = μ + α_i + b_j + e_ij,                                                                     (1)

in which y_ij is the response variable measured in the j-th block that received the i-th treatment, μ is the general constant, α_i is the fixed effect of the i-th treatment, b_j is the random effect of the j-th block, and e_ij is the random error term.

We recommend the use of Greek lowercase letters for fixed effects and Latin lowercase letters for variables and random effects for notation standardization. Mathematical formulas and equations must be inserted into the text as an object using Microsoft Equation or a similar tool and must be numbered.

Commercial products

When a commercial product is used as part of an experiment, authors should clearly specify the manufacturer’s name and location (city, state or administrative region, and country) parenthetically at first mention in the text, tables, and figures. However, the use of names of commercial products should be minimized. The generic name should be used subsequently.

Suggestions for enhancing scientific rigor, reproducibility, and transparency

To assist with maintaining high standards, authors are encouraged to refer to various resources for enhancing scientific rigor, reproducibility, and transparency, aligning with broader scientific standards. These include guidelines for forage and grazing terminology, Western blotting, cell line authentication, functional genomics data, biological resource identification, image manipulation, immunoassays, biological and biomedical investigations, proteomics data, genetic nomenclature, and nucleotide and protein sequence data.

• Forage and grazing terminology: Guidelines by Allen et al. (2011).
• Western blotting: Standards for reporting by Fosang and Colbran (2015).
• Cell line authentication: Standards provided by the Endocrine Society and the study by Almeida et al. (2016).
• Functional genomics data: Authors are encouraged to deposit the data in databases such as GEO, Array Express, or SRA.
• Biological resource identification: Use the Research Resource Identification Portal (RRID Portal) for referencing specific research resources.
• Image manipulation: Guidelines from Cell. Any alterations must be minimal and disclosed in the manuscript.
• Immunoassays: Reporting guidelines for assay validation of the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
• Biological and biomedical investigations: FAIRsharing Team’s collection of reporting guidelines.
• Proteomics data: Guidelines developed by the Molecular and Cellular Proteomics.
• Genetic nomenclature: Make sure sequence variant nomenclature complies with current HGVS guidelines.
• Nucleotide and protein sequence data: Submit data to DDBJ, EMBL, or GenBank for nucleotide sequences and PIR or SWISS-PROT for protein sequences.

Results

Authors are required to divide the manuscript into distinct sections for Results and Discussion, unless the study is sequential in nature, such as in model development or equation formulation, in which a combined section may be necessary for coherence and flow.

In the Results section, it is essential to present comprehensive data, including means and a measure of uncertainty (e.g., standard error, confidence interval). Absolute P-values must be included to denote statistical significance. This detailed presentation enables readers to independently interpret the outcomes of the experiment and form their own conclusions.

Please consult the additional RBZ guidelines regarding style and units to ensure the data is accurately represented in tables and figures. This will aid in the clear and effective communication of research findings.

Discussion

In the Discussion section, authors must clearly and succinctly interpret the results, emphasizing the biological mechanisms involved and their significance. It is crucial to integrate these findings with existing literature to provide readers with a comprehensive framework to either support or challenge the hypothesis presented.

Discussions should focus tightly on the relationship between the results and the primary questions of the study. Irrelevant references and tangential discussions that do not directly support the central hypothesis should be omitted. While speculative ideas and propositions regarding the hypothesis under consideration are generally discouraged, a reasoned interpretation consistent with the data may be presented if it enhances understanding of the results.

Furthermore, authors should end the Discussion section with a paragraph detailing the practical implications of their findings on production systems to highlight how the research can be applied in real-world settings, thereby adding value to the field and informing future practices.

Conclusions

In the Conclusions section, it is crucial to underscore the novel aspects of the research and emphasize the strongest and most significant inferences derived from your findings. This section should articulate the broader implications of your results, ensuring they are presented in the present tense and align directly with the objectives of the study. While generally, results should not be detailed in the Conclusions, exceptions can be made when they are essential for supporting generalizations made from the study. This approach ensures that conclusions are not only based on the data collected but also provide a clear understanding of their relevance and impact.

Data availability

All manuscripts resulting from original research must include the “Data availability” section, in which authors will state one of the following situations in which the manuscript fits:

Inform if data sharing does not apply to the manuscript, once all data is already in the manuscript.

– Inform whether there are data available in a repository and, if so, inform the location of these data.

– For data unavailable in public repositories, state that they will be made available upon request or explain why these data are not publicly available (as in cases of legal and ethical issues).

Examples:

Acknowledgments

In this section, authors can thank any support (other than financial) they had for the development of the research. This section is optional and must be included in the body of the manuscript.

Financial support

When applicable, provide sources of financial support for the study, including names of sponsors, contract/project number (if any), along with explanations of the role of these sources.

Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

This section addresses the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the manuscript preparation process, specifically focusing on the writing component, rather than the use of AI tools for analyzing data or deriving insights as part of the research.

The Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia does not endorse the use of generative AI tools for content creation within scientific manuscripts. However, the journal recognizes the utility of AI-assisted technologies for enhancing language, improving textual fluency, and organizing content, provided they are used as supplementary tools under strict human supervision. It is critical to confirm that such interventions do not introduce inaccuracies, incomplete thoughts, or biases, which AI outputs can sometimes inadvertently produce.

It is categorically stated that AI and AI-assisted technologies are not to be recognized as authors, co-authors, or contributors in any capacity. Authorship and contributions are responsibilities that solely belong to human participants, as they entail accountability that cannot be attributed to AI tools. The journal will actively monitor for compliance with this policy in the authorship listings.

Disclosure of any AI assistance in language editing or content organization must be explicitly made in the cover letter to the editors and must also be included in the “Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing” section of the manuscript, following the “Financial support” section, which will be noted in the published article. Authors must provide a clear statement in their manuscript if any AI tools were utilized in the writing process. The ultimate responsibility for the content of the manuscript rest with the authors.

Citations and references

RBZ adopts the APA references system, with adaptations. References and citations should follow the Name and Year System (author-date).

Citations in the text

Author’s citations in the text are in lowercase, followed by year of publication. In the case of two authors, use ‘and’; in the case of three or more authors, cite only the last name of the first author, followed by the abbreviation et al.

Examples:

Single author: Silva (2009) or (Silva, 2009)

Two authors: Silva and Queiroz (2002) or (Silva and Queiroz, 2002)

Three or more authors: Lima et al. (2001) or (Lima et al., 2001)

The references should be arranged chronologically and then alphabetically within the same year, using a semicolon (;) to separate multiple citations within parentheses, e.g.: (Carvalho, 1985; Britto, 1998; Carvalho et al., 2001).

Two or more publications by the same author or group of authors in the same year shall be differentiated by adding lowercase letters after the date, e.g.: (Silva, 2004a,b).

Personal communication can only be used if strictly necessary for the development or understanding of the study. Therefore, it is not part of the reference list, so it is placed only as a footnote. It will include the author’s last name and first and middle name initials, followed by the phrase “personal communication”, the date of notification, and name, state, and country of the institution to which the author is bound.

References

References should be written in alphabetical order of last name of author(s), and then chronologically.

All authors’ names must appear in the References section.

Each author is indicated by their last name followed by initials. Initials should be followed by period (.) and a space; the authors should be separated by semicolons, except for the last author that is preceded by the word ‘and’.

e.g.: Casaccia, J. L.; Pires, C. C. and Restle, J.

Last names with indications of relatedness (Filho, Jr., Neto, Sobrinho, etc.) should be spelled out after the last name (e.g.: Silva Sobrinho, J.).

As in text citations, multiple citations of same author or group of authors in the same year shall be differentiated by adding lowercase letters after the year.

In the case of homonyms of cities, add the name of the state and country (e.g.: Gainesville, FL, EUA; Gainesville, VA, EUA).

Sample references are given below.

 Articles

The journal name should be written in full. Articles should be cited along with their DOI.

In order to standardize this type of reference, it is not necessary to quote the website, only volume, page range, year, and DOI. Do not use a comma (,) to separate journal title from its volume; separate periodical volume from page numbers with a colon (:).

Miotto, F. R. C.; Restle, J.; Neiva, J. N. M.; Castro, K. J.; Sousa, L. F.; Silva, R. O.; Freitas, B. B. and Leão, J. P. 2013. Replacement of corn by babassu mesocarp bran in diets for feedlot young bulls. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia 42:213-219. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1516-35982013000300009

Article with document number in place of pagination:

Marçal, D. A.; Kiefer, C.; Nascimento, K M. R. S.; Bonin, M. N.; Corassa, A.; Alencar, S. A. S.; Santos, A. P. and Rodrigues, G. P. R. 2018. Dietary net energy plans for barrows from 25 to 100 kg body weight. Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia 47:e20180038. https://doi.org/10.1590/rbz4720180038

Articles accepted for publication should be cited along with their DOI.

Fukushima, R. S. and Kerley, M. S. 2011. Use of lignin extracted from different plant sources as standards in the spectrophotometric acetyl bromide lignin method. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemitry, https://doi.org/10.1021/jf104826n (in press).

Books

If the entity is regarded as the author, the abbreviation should be written first, accompanied by the corporate body name written in full.

In the text, the author must cite the method utilized, followed by only the abbreviation of the institution and year of publication.

e.g.: “…were used to determine the mineral content of the samples (method number 924.05; AOAC, 1990)”.

AOAC – Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 1990. Official methods of analysis. 15th ed. AOAC, Arlington, VA.

Newmann, A. L. and Snapp, R. R. 1997. Beef cattle. 7th ed. John Wiley, New York.

Book chapters

The essential elements are: author(s), year, title, and subtitle (if any), followed by the expression “In”, and the full reference as a whole. Inform the page range after citing the title of the chapter.

Lindhal, I. L. 1974. Nutrición y alimentación de las cabras. p.425-434. In: Fisiologia digestiva y nutrición de los ruminantes. 3rd ed. Church, D. C., ed. Acribia, Zaragoza.

Theses and dissertations

It is recommended not to mention theses and dissertations as reference, but always to look for articles published in peer-reviewed indexed journals. Exceptionally, if necessary to cite a thesis or dissertation, please indicate the following elements: author, year, title, grade, university and location.

Castro, F. B. 1989. Avaliação do processo de digestão do bagaço de cana-de-açúcar auto-hidrolisado em bovinos. Dissertação (M.Sc.). Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba.

Bulletins and reports

The essential elements are: Author(s), year of publication, title, and name of bulletin or report followed by the issue number, then the publisher and the city.

Goering, H. K. and Van Soest, P. J. 1970. Forage fiber analysis (apparatus, reagents, procedures, and some applications). Agriculture Handbook No. 379. ARS-USDA, Washington, D.C., USA.

Conferences, meetings, seminars, etc.

Quote a minimal work published as an abstract, always seeking to reference articles published in journals indexed in full.

Casaccia, J. L.; Pires, C. C. and Restle, J. 1993. Confinamento de bovinos inteiros ou castrados de diferentes grupos genéticos. p.468. In: Anais da 30ª Reunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia. Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia, Rio de Janeiro.

Weiss, W. P. 1999. Energy prediction equations for ruminant feeds. p.176-185. In: Proceedings of the 61th Cornell Nutrition Conference for Feed Manufacturers. Cornell University, Ithaca.

Article and/or materials in electronic media

In the citation of bibliographic material obtained by the Internet, the author should always try to use signed articles, and also it is up to the author to decide which sources actually have credibility and reliability.

In the case of research consulted online, inform the address, which should be presented between the signs < >, preceded by the words “Available at:” and the date of access to the document, preceded by the words “Accessed on:”.

Rebollar, P. G. and Blas, C. 2002. Digestión de la soja integral en rumiantes. Available at: <http://www.ussoymeal.org/ruminant_s.pdf>. Accessed on: Oct. 28, 2002.

Quotes on statistical software

The RBZ does not recommend bibliographic citation of software applied to statistical analysis. The use of programs must be informed in the text in the proper section, “Material and methods”, including the specific procedure, the name of the software, and its version and/or release year.

Example: “… statistical procedures were performed using the MIXED procedure of SAS (Statistical Analysis System, version 9.2.)”

An exception is for software R packages, example:

R Core Team. 2013. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.

 Preprint documents

The essential elements are: Author(s), year, title, and name of Preprint server followed by the manuscript number (if any) and DOI.

Ahmed, B. A.; Laurence, P.; Pierre, G. and Olivier, M. 2019. Lactation curve model with explicit representation of perturbations as a phenotyping tool for dairy livestock precision farming. bioRxiv 661249. https://doi.org/10.1101/661249

Research data

References to data should include: Author(s), year, dataset title [dataset], version (if any) and date, repository name, identifier number (if any), and DOI.

Andrade, M. 2018. Estudo de genes em ratos albinos na América Latina [dataset]. 23 jan. 2018. Open Science Framework. NR_109833.1. https://doi.org/10.1590/0123-45620187214

Digital assets – Tables and figures

 Tables

1. Submission: Submit tables in a separate, editable file, named “Tables”. They must not be included in the manuscript body.
2. Construction: Tables must be created using the “Insert Table” function in Microsoft Word®, ensuring they are in distinct cells. Tables created by pressing the ENTER key or pasted as figures will not be accepted.
3. Formatting: Each table should be placed on a separate page within the same file and fit within an A4 size format, either in landscape or portrait orientation.
4. Numbering: Tables must be numbered sequentially in Arabic numerals.
5. Title: Titles should be short and informative. Detailed descriptions of variables within the table body should be avoided.
6. Column headings: Make sure every column has a All values, symbols, and words in a column should be centered under the heading.
7. Units: Units (e.g., kg) should be informed within parentheses.
8. Footnotes: Each footnote should begin on a new line immediately below the table. Use numerals to reference footnotes. Lowercase letters indicate significant differences in the values.

Figures

1. Submission: Submit figures as separate files, named as “Figures” followed by the respective number. Example: “Figure 1”, “Figure 2”, etc. They must not be included in the manuscript body.
2. File format: Whenever possible, submit graphics in editable format. Figures such as photographs, pictures, and maps should be uploaded as PNG or TIF files.
3. Resolution: Figures should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
4. Title and legend: Each figure must have a title and a legend. The legend should be informative, providing a comprehensive description of the results, graphical schemes, diagrams, or flowcharts depicted in the figure to enable readers to fully interpret the presented information without the need to refer back to the main text.
5. Axes and units: Designations of variables on the X and Y axes should start with capital letters, and units should be informed in parentheses.
6. Font and size: Standardize the font (Cambria) and units to no smaller than 8 points after figure reduction.
7. Creation: Preferentially, figures (graphics) should be created in Microsoft Excel® to allow corrections during copy-editing.
8. Markers: Use contrasting markers (e.g., circles, crosses, squares, triangles, diamonds, filled or unfilled) to represent points on curves clearly.
9. Clarity: Avoid excessive information that could compromise the understanding of the graphs.
10. Non-original figures: For figures published elsewhere, obtain express written consent from the copyright owner for publication in RBZ. Include the source citation immediately after the figure title.

Additional guidelines for style, abbreviations, and units

The use of defined abbreviations and acronyms by the authors, especially for treatments, should be avoided. Example: “The dry matter intake in T3 was higher than in T4”. This type of writing is appropriate for the author, but of complex understanding for the readers and characterizes a verbose and imprecise writing.

When necessary, the abbreviation should be defined the first time it is used in the abstract and again in the body of the manuscript.

There is no need to define symbols for chemical elements or simple compounds. Units of weights and measures should conform to international standards; therefore, it is incorrect to create new abbreviations for them.

Units of measure are not abbreviated when they follow a number in full at the beginning of a sentence.

Wrong: Two L of water were added to the contents for analysis (…)

Suggestion: Two liters of water were added (…)

Abbreviations in the titles of tables and figures should be avoided.

Example: “Average contents of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), ether extract (EE), mineral matter (MM), organic matter (OM), total carbohydrates (TC), non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC), and total digestible nutrients (TDN) of the ingredients of the experimental diets.”

Suggestion: “Chemical composition of the experimental diets”

Do not start a sentence with an abbreviation, acronym, or symbol.

Wrong: “TC is a parameter that influences the final quality of the silage.”

Suggestion: Total carbohydrate composition influences the final quality of the silage.

The use of abbreviations and acronyms in the abstract and in the manuscript should be limited. Too many abbreviations in the text makes it aesthetically cluttered and impairs the comprehension.

All abbreviations are written as singular, without “s”, although they can be plural in the context (VFA instead of VFAs for volatile fatty acid”).

Standard three-letter abbreviations for aminoacids (e.g., Ala) and internationally recognized symbols for chemical elements (e.g., P for phosphorus, S for sulfur) are acceptable. Symbols are reserved for their elemental meanings (e.g., C is for carbon, not control). Be cautious when using the symbol N, which can mean “nitrogen” or “Newton”.

List of frequently used abbreviations.

The Editorial Board recommends authors to follow the International System of Units – SI.

Structure of short communication and technical note articles

The presentation of the title should be preceded by the indication of the type of manuscript whether it is a short communication or a technical note, which must be centered and bold.

The structures of short communications and technical notes will follow guidelines set up for full-length papers, limited, however, to 14 pages as the maximum tolerated for the manuscript.

The publication fees of these two types of articles are the same as those of full-length papers.