Pathology in Practice
Author Instructions: Pathology in Practice
The digital edition of JAVMA 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.
Pathology in Practice: Serves as a learning exercise for readers, the majority of whom are general practitioners, by providing clinically relevant information germane to veterinary pathology. Authors are invited to submit cases in which clinicopathologic abnormalities or gross pathological lesions were integral to the diagnosis of the disease or condition. Articles should focus on the evaluation and interpretation of clinicopathologic abnormalities or gross pathological lesions and associated histopathologic or cytologic findings. Accompanying figures must be high quality, crisply focused, and complementary of one another. Please note: We are prioritizing those cases that are broadly educational to the veterinary community above the rarer, referral type case.
Limits
Title: ≤ 160 characters
Word count: ≤ 1,400 (excludes acknowledgments and references)
Authors: ≤ 6
References: ≤ 5
Figures or tables: ≤ 3 in total
Formatting (applies to main text, references, and figure legends)
- 8.5 x 11-inch page size
- Sequential line numbering (starting with title)
- Double spaced
- Left justification
- 12-point font
- 1-inch (2.5-cm) margins
- Word document
Organization
Manuscript text file (in order and uploaded as a single document; includes title page, body of the manuscript, acknowledgments, and references, but not tables, video, figures, or figure legends)
- Title page—Includes the following:
- Manuscript title—Includes case context without giving away the diagnosis. For example, “Tail rubbing and absent tail tone in a Morgan–Quarter Horse crossbred gelding,” “Organomegaly, lethargy, and hind limb trembling in a 3-year-old intact male Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus),” “Difficulty walking and trembling in a 10-year-old female Akita Inu,” or “Abnormal behavior, and whole-body tremors in a two-year-old Tennessee Fainting Goat cross wether.”
- Author list—Limited to 6 authors. Include the 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 case management.
- Name and email address of the corresponding author.
- Body of manuscript—includes the following sections:
- History: Provides patient signalment and a short description of the patient's history.
- Clinical and Gross Findings (for cases focused on gross pathological lesions) OR Clinical and Clinicopathologic Findings (for cases focused on clinicopathologic abnormalities): Includes relevant physical examination findings and initial gross pathological or clinicopathologic abnormalities that readers can use to formulate differential diagnoses.
- The statement: Formulate differential diagnoses, then continue reading.
Then, describes the features of interest and provides the answer, including the following:
- Histopathologic Findings or Histopathologic and Cytologic Findings, Histopathologic and Microbiological Findings, Additional Clinicopathologic Findings, Histopathologic Findings, Cytologic Findings, Microbiological Findings, or some combination thereof.
- Morphologic Diagnosis and Case Summary or Interpretation and Case Summary, Diagnosis and Case Summary, or some combination thereof. Describe the features of interest. If the Morphologic Diagnosis or Interpretation is the same as the Case Summary, these 2 statements can be combined into a single statement.
- Comments: Provides a short discussion of the disease in general. If applicable, brief details of treatment and outcome should also be included in this section.
- 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. References are limited to ≤ 5. 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.
Figures and figure legends
- Figures are to be uploaded separately. Please see our detailed instructions on figures.
- Diagnostic imaging (eg, radiographic, MRI, CT, and ultrasonographic images) is not allowed.
- For Figure 1, provide 1 or 2 color photographs that illustrate the gross or microscopic lesions of interest to challenge your readers before the diagnosis is revealed in the manuscript.
- For subsequent figures, provide images to illustrate the histopathologic or cytologic changes of interest.
- Figure legends: Provide sufficient information to allow the figures to stand alone and be understood without reference to the text. When abbreviations from the main text are used in figure legends, they should be redefined in the legends. When using abbreviations unique to the figures, each should be defined in the legend in alphabetical order (eg, ALP = Alkaline phosphatase. CK = Creatine kinase. TP = Total protein.). For photomicrographs, the stains used and scale of the marker are specified (eg, H&E stain; bar = 100 µm). See our detailed instructions on figures.
Tables (optional)
- Tables are to be uploaded separately. They are limited to tabulations of clinicopathologic data and generally included only in articles focused on clinicopathologic abnormalities. Please see our detailed instructions on tables.
Manuscript submission
Manuscripts are submitted electronically at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/avma.
- Enter the manuscript title as indicated in the title page.
- In the Abstract field, provide a brief (≤ 3 sentences) synopsis of the case (eg, patient signalment and presenting complaints, morphologic diagnosis and case summary, or interpretation and case summary).
- 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.