AJVR Case Series
Author Instructions: Case Series
The digital edition of AJVR is the journal of record. Accepted articles may be published in both the print and digital editions or the digital edition alone, as decided by the editorial staff.
Case Series: Presents a series of 3 or more animals with a similar diagnosis or treatment. These articles are descriptive, relevant to general clinical practice, and might provide summary statistics, but do not make statistical comparisons.
Limits
Title: ≤ 160 characters
Structured abstract: ≤ 250 words
Word count for main text: ≤ 5,000 (Includes abstract, introduction, materials & methods, results, discussion, and acknowledgments; excludes references)
References: ≤ 50
Tables and figures: ≤ 4 in total
Formatting (applies to main text, references, and figure legends)
- 8.5 x 11-inch page size
- Double spaced (tables are single spaced)
- Left justification
- Sequential line numbering (starting with title)
- 12-point font
- 1-inch (2.5-cm) margins
Organization
Manuscript text file (in order of inclusion; uploaded as a single document)
- Title page—Includes the following:
- Manuscript title—Includes the species assessed (eg, "Monoclonal antibody treatment of osteoarthritis in cats").
- First name, middle initial (if applicable), and last name of each author, along with each author’s professional degree and highest earned academic degree (eg, MS or PhD, MPVM) and, for authors who are diplomates of veterinary specialty organizations recognized by the AVMA’s American Board of Veterinary Specialties or similar specialty organizations recognized by other countries, diplomate status (eg, DACVS or DACVIM), although specialty (eg Large Animal) should not be included with the diplomate status. List a bachelor’s or associate’s degree only if it is the author’s only degree. Do not list other specialty board designations, certifications, or honorary degrees. Fellowship or membership designations (eg, MRCVS) and honorary degrees should not be listed. Credentials such as CVT, RVT, LVT, and RN may be listed alongside the author’s highest earned academic degree.
- List of professional affiliations of the authors at the time of the study.
- Name and email address of the corresponding author.
- Structured abstract (≤ 250 words)—Includes the following subsubsections:
- Objective: State the purpose for the study.
- Animals: Identify the study population, sampling method, inclusion/exclusion criteria, setting, and study period.
- Clinical Presentation: Describe the presenting complaint, signalment, and physical examination findings for the animals that met the inclusion criteria.
- Results: Include all pertinent diagnostic abnormalities and list the diagnosis and differential diagnoses considered. Provide a description of the clinical management and outcome of the cases.
- Clinical Relevance: In 1 to 2 sentences, state how your study can be applied to clinical medicine.
- Body of manuscript—Includes the following sections:
- Introduction:
- Provides a rationale for the study and a clear statement of the purpose of the study. Focuses on identifying the specific problem and knowledge gap the study is meant to address; often 2 or 3 paragraphs are sufficient.
- Methods:
- Details the case selection criteria. Reports the nature of the facility or facilities from which cases were obtained (eg, tertiary care center, teaching hospital, or primary practice).
- Indicates the period over which subjects were enrolled or were eligible.
- Describes inclusion and exclusion criteria, including species, signalment (ie, age, body weight, reproductive status, sex, and breed), health status, previous treatments and diagnostics, and the rationale for these criteria.
- Reports the method by which the diagnosis was made.
- Provides a statement describing approval by an IACUC or owner consent, or why these were not necessary.
- Describes the method of case finding, such as keywords and databases searched to identify potential cases and the process subsequently used to rule cases in or out.
- Describes any interventions performed in sufficient detail so that another investigator could repeat them.
- States the duration and method of follow-up.
- Describes the standardization and reliability of data collection and measurement.
- Identifies products such as software programs, equipment, and drugs by their nonproprietary names or generic descriptions. If specific equipment or a specific product was essential to the outcome of the study, identifies the proprietary name and manufacturer or supplier name (without their location) in parentheses immediately after the first use of the nonproprietary name. If a specific drug was essential to the outcome of the study, identifies the proprietary name (without the manufacturer or supplier name or their location) in parentheses immediately after the first use of the nonproprietary name. Avoids providing proprietary names for products commonly used and for which any manufacturer's product would be suitable.
- Includes a subsection detailing the statistical methods used to summarize data.
- Results:
- Reports the study data in a clear, simply stated manner without discussion or conclusions.
- Includes the number of animals initially identified and the number that met the inclusion criteria and provides a descriptive summary of their characteristics (eg, counts and percentages for categorical and ordinal variables, median and range for continuous variables).
- Reports the number of animals for which follow-up data were available; provides the number of animals lost to follow-up and reasons for any missing animals.
- Avoids duplicate reporting of results (eg, in both narrative and tabular or graphic format).
- Discussion:
- Focuses on the main findings and their clinical importance, and acknowledges the strengths and limitations of the study; often 4 or 5 paragraphs are sufficient.
- Introduction:
- Acknowledgments, Disclosures, and Funding
- Authors will be required to address these 3 statements during submission. This information does not need to be included in the manuscript document.
- Acknowledgment/s: Identify individuals who made important contributions to the study but who do not meet the criteria for authorship. If none, include the statement “None reported.”
- Disclosure/s:
- Include any conflicts of interest related to the manuscript. Include relevant financial interests (eg, ownership, employment, consultancies, honoraria, paid expert testimony, grants, patent-licensing arrangements, equity interests, and service as an officer or board member), activities, relationships, and affiliations (other than those listed on the title page of the manuscript). If none, include the statement “The authors have nothing to disclose.”
- Include the use of any artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted technology such as ChatGPT or another large language model in the writing of the manuscript or production of images. If none were used, include the statement “No AI-assisted technologies were used in the generation of this manuscript.” If an AI tool was used, the authors must be transparent in disclosing here, in the disclosures section, which AI tool was used, and how. AI tools cannot be listed as an author of a manuscript.
- Funding: Include all funding, other financial support, and material support obtained directly or indirectly from any third party in connection with information included in the manuscript or with the writing or publishing of the manuscript. If none, include the statement “The authors have nothing to disclose.”
- References: The references are formatted using the current American Medical Association Manual of Style. Limit them to those that are necessary. Primary references (eg, original studies) rather than secondary references (eg, textbooks and review articles) are preferred whenever possible. Please note that authors bear primary responsibility for the accuracy of all references.
- Figure legends: Provide sufficient information to allow the figures to be understood without reference to the text, including defining abbreviations used. See our detailed instructions on figures.
- Tables: Tables are limited to those containing data important to understanding and interpreting results of the study. Tables are created with the table tool in Microsoft Word, appear after the list of references and figure legends in the manuscript, and have legends that provide sufficient information to allow the tables to be understood without reference to the text, including defining abbreviations used. See our detailed instructions on tables.
Figures
- Minimum resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi).
- Preferred file formats are .tif, .jpeg, or .png.
- Uploaded separately from manuscript file.
- See our detailed instructions on figures.
Supplementary videos: Videos or animated sequences to support and enhance a manuscript. Video or animation files supplied will be published online only. Examples of content include a clinical examination, ultrasonographic imaging or narrated figures. Narration is not required. For videos with narration, begin the video with a verbal statement of your name and the purpose of the video, disclose any conflicts of interest, and state any acknowledgments. Narration will be transcribed into a text file by the video-hosting platform using artificial intelligence and reviewed by AVMA Editors for accuracy. No action is required by the authors for this conversion.
Limits
- Minimum time length: 10 seconds.
- Maximum time length: 1 minute.
- Maximum file size: 300 MB.
Supplementary materials (uploaded separately from the manuscript file)
- Supplementary materials are used for additional information that is not essential to the understanding of the article but provides an important expansion of the article contents. Examples include appendices (eg, diet or feedstuff composition or nucleotide sequences), extended descriptions of experimental methods or statistical analyses, additional supporting data or results (eg, tables and figures), copies of survey instruments or questionnaires, and videos of procedures. Such materials will not appear in the article but will be posted on the journal's website. Publication of supplementary materials is at the discretion of the scientific editors.
- Supplementary materials are prepared in compliance with the general guidelines for manuscript style.
- Supplementary materials are subject to copyright.
- Clarity and accuracy of content and consistency with the full article are the responsibility of the authors; supplementary materials will be posted as is, without copy editing.
Manuscript submission
Manuscripts are submitted electronically at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/avma.
- We strongly encourage a cover letter containing the following information:
- Why is this study important? (2 or 3 sentences)
- What did you find? (2or 3 sentences)
- Why is this study of wide interest? (2 or 3 sentences)
- Is the manuscript for resident credentialling or promotion?
- Suggested 6-10 reviewers with their names and email addresses.
Keywords
You will be required to provide 5 keywords at submission. Keywords increase discoverability, ranking, and visibility in search engine results, and therefore increase readership and citation of a manuscript. Include 1 or 2 of your 5 keywords in the title, in the first 2 sentences of the abstract, and throughout the article where they can be worked in naturally and in context. Keywords also help us promote your manuscript.
