Editorial Policy and Publication Ethics

Archives of Veterinary Medicine is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and editorial integrity. The journal follows internationally accepted principles of ethical publishing and takes all reasonable steps to prevent publication malpractice.

This policy applies to authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher and is aligned with the recommendations and best practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Editorial Responsibilities and Independence

The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board are responsible for deciding which submitted manuscripts are suitable for publication. Editorial decisions are based solely on the scientific merit, originality, clarity, relevance, and ethical soundness of the manuscript, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, institutional affiliation, nationality, or political beliefs.

The editorial process is conducted independently and transparently, and all editorial decisions are final.

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to Archives of Veterinary Medicine undergo a peer-review process.

The journal applies a double-blind peer-review, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed.

All submissions are initially assessed by the Editor-in-Chief or a designated Editor to evaluate their relevance to the journal’s scope, scientific quality, and compliance with submission requirements. Submissions that do not meet these criteria may be rejected without external peer review.

Manuscripts considered suitable for peer review are evaluated by independent reviewers selected based on their scientific expertise and absence of conflicts of interest.

Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, and timely evaluations. They must declare any potential conflicts of interest and treat all manuscripts as confidential documents.

Based on reviewers’ comments and the Editor’s independent assessment, authors may be requested to revise their manuscripts. Final editorial decisions include acceptance, request for revision, or rejection of the manuscript.

Further details regarding the peer-review workflow, reviewer timelines, and editorial decision process are available in the Instructions for Authors (Peer Review Process section) .

Responsibilities of Authors

By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that:

the manuscript is original, has not been published previously, and is not under consideration elsewhere;
all listed authors have made a significant scientific contribution to the work;
the manuscript does not contain plagiarized material, fabricated data, or manipulated results;
all sources are properly cited;
any conflict of interest (financial, personal, or institutional) is clearly disclosed;
where applicable, the study complies with ethical standards for animal or human research.

Plagiarism and Misconduct Policy

The journal has zero tolerance for plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, and other unethical research practices.

All submissions may be screened using plagiarism-detection tools.
If ethical misconduct is suspected before or after publication, the journal will follow established COPE procedures to investigate the case.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest that could influence the evaluation, interpretation, or publication of a manuscript.

If a conflict of interest is identified, appropriate measures will be taken to ensure an objective and fair editorial process, including reassignment of editorial responsibility where necessary.

A conflict of interest statement (or a statement declaring none) must appear in all published articles.

Corrections, Retractions, Expressions of Concern

The journal is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scientific record.

Corrections will be issued in cases of minor errors that do not affect the overall conclusions of the article.
Retractions will be published if significant errors, ethical violations, or scientific misconduct are identified.
Expressions of Concern may be issued when an investigation is ongoing but not yet concluded.

All such actions will follow COPE recommendations and will be clearly linked to the original publication.

Complaints and Appeals

Authors may submit appeals or complaints regarding editorial decisions, journal policies, or ethical concerns.

All complaints are handled confidentially and impartially, following COPE guidance. Appeals must be supported by clear arguments and evidence.

Appeals and complaints should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief via the official journal contact email provided on the Contact page of the journal website.

The Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with the Editorial Board if necessary, will review the case and issue a final decision.

Ethical Oversight

In cases of alleged misconduct, the journal may contact authors’ institutions, funding bodies, or relevant authorities, where appropriate, to ensure a thorough and transparent investigation.

Publisher’s Commitment

The publisher of Archives of Veterinary Medicine supports the editorial independence of the journal and is committed to ensuring ethical publishing practices, long-term content preservation, and unrestricted access to published research under the journal’s open-access policy.

Ethical Standards for Animal Research

Manuscripts reporting experimental research involving live animals must comply with applicable ethical standards and legislation.

For studies conducted within the European Union, animal experiments must be performed in accordance with Directive 2010/63/EU and relevant national legislation.

For studies conducted outside the European Union, experimental procedures must comply with local and national legislation, as well as internationally accepted ethical standards.

Where applicable, all studies must be reviewed and approved by an appropriate ethics committee, and details of ethical approval (including the name of the approving body and approval number) must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

Manuscripts involving experimental animal research must be reported in accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines.

Human Research, Informed Consent and Confidentiality

Manuscripts reporting research involving human participants or identifiable personal data must comply with internationally accepted ethical principles, including the Declaration of Helsinki.

Authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained from participants, including consent for publication of any potentially identifiable data (e.g. images, videos, or clinical details). When written consent was not obtained, the reasons must be clearly explained in the manuscript.

All reasonable steps must be taken to protect participant confidentiality and anonymity.

Data Availability and Research Transparency

Archives of Veterinary Medicine supports transparency and reproducibility in scientific research.

Authors are encouraged to make research data, materials, and methodological details available where possible, in accordance with ethical, legal, and confidentiality requirements.

When data cannot be publicly shared, the reasons for restricted access must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Archives of Veterinary Medicine acknowledges the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in scientific publishing and establishes the following principles regarding their ethical and responsible use.

Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, do not meet authorship criteria and may not be listed as authors. Authorship implies full accountability for the integrity and originality of the work, which cannot be assigned to AI systems.

The use of AI tools must be transparently disclosed when they contribute substantively to manuscript preparation. When applicable, AI use should be described in the Materials and Methods section or an appropriate alternative section, including the name, version, and purpose of the tool. The use of AI solely for copy editing, language refinement, or formatting does not require disclosure.

AI tools may be used as writing aids, but must not generate original scientific content, interpretations, or conclusions. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the final manuscript.

The journal does not permit figures or images generated by generative AI models, unless they are an explicit and integral part of the study results and are clearly identified as such. The use of non-generative machine learning tools to modify or enhance existing images must be stated in the relevant figure caption.

Use of AI by reviewers is permitted only for limited, non-generative purposes, such as language improvement or structuring of review comments, provided that no confidential manuscript content is uploaded to external AI systems. AI tools must not be used to generate scientific judgments or recommendations. Reviewers remain fully responsible for the content and integrity of their reviews.

Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain the copyright of their published work.

All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.

A copyright and licensing statement is included in all published articles.

Funding Disclosure

Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research, including funding organizations and grant numbers.

If no specific funding was received for the work, authors must explicitly state this in the manuscript.

A funding statement must appear in all published articles.

Preprint and Online First Policy

Archives of Veterinary Medicine supports the timely dissemination of high-quality scientific research and applies an Online First (Forthcoming) publication model for accepted manuscripts.

Following final acceptance and completion of the editorial and production process, articles may be published online in the Forthcoming / Online First section prior to their assignment to a specific journal issue.

Articles published in the Forthcoming section represent the final, peer-reviewed, and accepted version of the manuscript. Such articles are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) at the time of online publication and may be cited immediately. The assigned DOI remains permanent and unchanged after publication in a regular journal issue.

Once the corresponding journal issue is published, articles are removed from the Forthcoming section and permanently archived within the official volume and issue of the journal. No changes to the scientific content are introduced at this stage, except for pagination and bibliographic details related to issue assignment.

Prior Online Availability and Preprint Disclosure

The journal does not consider for review manuscripts that have already been made publicly available online, including availability through preprint servers or other online platforms, in a form that has not undergone formal peer review. Manuscripts that are publicly disseminated prior to submission in a manner that could reasonably be interpreted as a completed or citable scientific publication are not eligible for consideration.

Authors are required to disclose any prior online availability of the manuscript at the time of submission.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in published articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors, Editorial Board, or the Publisher. Authors bear full responsibility for the content of their work. The Publisher and Editors assume no liability for any claims, damages, or losses arising from the use of the information, methods, or products described in the published material.