Scope

Revista Portuguesa de Zootecnia (RPZ)

The Portuguese Journal of Animal Science (RPZ) publishes reviews, short communications , original research articles and technical notes on all fields of Animal Science, including aquaculture, animal welfare, forage, animal genetics and breeding, animal reproduction, ruminant and non-ruminant nutrition, animal production systems, technological transformation of animal-origin products, quality and safety of animal-origin food products and agribusiness.

Open access and peer-review

The Portuguese Journal of Animal Science (RPZ) is sponsored by the Portuguese Society of Animal Science (APEZ), which provides readers or their institutions with free access to peer-reviewed articles published online by RPZ. Users have the right to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles. The Portuguese Journal of Animal Science (RPZ) is included in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise stated, are licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-type BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A peer-review system is applied on manuscripts sent for appreciation to maintain standards of quality, improve performance, and provide credibility. RPZ uses the double-blind style of reviewing by concealing the identity of the authors from the reviewers, and vice versa. Communication with authors should only be through the Editor-in-Chief. Authors are given the chance to nominate potential reviewers of their manuscripts to be considered by the Editor-in-chief. Non-preferred reviewers can be also indicated by the authors to avoid possible conflict of interest. Reviewers are expected to notify the Editor about conflicts of interest that may compromise their ability to provide a fair and an unbiased review.

Assurance of contents and assignment of copyright

When submitting a manuscript for review, authors should make sure that the results of the work are original, and that the total or partial content of the manuscript, regardless of the language, has not been considered for publication in any other scientific journal. Additionally, the authors must assure that any text excerpted from another research study has been appropriately cited, thus warranting absence of plagiarism, which constitutes unethical publishing behaviour.

Papers already published or that have been submitted to any other journal will not be accepted. Fractioned or subdivided studies should be submitted together because they will be assigned to the same reviewers. The content of the articles published by RPZ is of sole responsibility of their authors.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors are requested to authorise the transfer of the rights of total or partial electronic and graphic reproduction of the paper (copyright) to APEZ. This copyright transfer ensures the proper administration of electronic rights and online dissemination of journal articles by APEZ.

After completing the submission of the manuscript by using the Open Journal online system, the corresponding author must complete the form “Assurance of Contents and Copyright”, sign it electronically, and email it to RPZ’s office e-mail address rpz@apez.pt confirming all authors’ participation in the manuscript. A template, prepared by APEZ, is available on the journal website at http://www.rpz.apez.pt/index.php/rpz. The original text of the template must not be altered but only completed with the necessary information. Without this form, the manuscript will not be considered for peer reviewing. The deadline will be set allowing a period of 15 days for delivery of the form, after which the editorial office will act by withdrawing the manuscript.

Language

Submissions will be accepted in Portuguese (Portuguese or Brazilian spelling), Spanish or English language (American or British spelling). The Editorial Board of RPZ reserves the right to request that authors revise the translation, or to cancel the processing of the manuscript if the version submitted contains errors of spelling, punctuation, grammar, terminology, jargon or semantics that can either compromise good understanding or not follow the Journal's desired standards. It is strongly recommended that the translation process be performed by a professional experienced in scientific writing and familiar with Animal Science, preferably a native speaker of Portuguese, Spanish or English, accordingly.

Publication fees

RPZ adopts an Open Access policy; this is, articles are freely published and accessible through the journal’s website at http://www.rpz.apez.pt/index.php/rpz at the time of publication.

Care and use of animals

Revista Portuguesa de Zootecnia is committed to the highest ethical standards of animal care and use. Research presented in manuscripts reporting the use of animals must guarantee to have been conducted in accordance with applicable state and local laws, regulations, and policies governing the care and use of animals. The author should ensure that the manuscript contains a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and, whenever pertinent, that the appropriate ethical committee has approved them before commencement of the study.