Pet Behaviour Science publishes original papers relating to all aspects of the behaviour of pets, including their relationships with humans.
This is an international and multidisciplinary open access journal. As a multidisciplinary journal, Pet Behaviour Science welcomes submissions from the arts and humanities, behavioural and biological sciences, cognitive science, social sciences and the health sciences.
In order to reduce the editing time of each issue, submissions will be published as soon as they are ready by adding them to the "current" volume's Table of Contents. However, submissions could be published collectively as part of an issue with its own Table of Contents if considered appropriate by the editorial team.
The principal subjects are dogs, cats, horses, rabbits and any other animal species when cared for as pets, or animals belonging to these species but which are not used as pets, such as laboratory dogs, when the results could be interesting for their conspecifics as pets.
Topics covered include:
Behavioural genetics
Behavioural psychology
Behavioural physiology
Cognition
Communication
Cooperation
Ethology
Evolution of behaviour
Human animal relationship and/or their mutual consequences
Methodology
Ontogeny
Problem solving
Pet management and welfare
Sensory and perceptual processes
Social behaviour
Social cognition
Sociobiology
Research Papers should report the results of original research. Both quantitative and qualitative reports are encouraged, even if the results are negative. The material should not have been previously published elsewhere, except in a preliminary form. Research papers should be no longer than 5000 words in length. Word counts do not include tables, figures or references.
Review Articles should cover subjects falling within the scope of the journal that are of active current interest, providing new insights into the subject(s) they cover. Because of the nature of review articles, scrupulous attention must be paid to relevant attribution and this should be reflected in the literature cited section and in the acknowledgements. They may be submitted or invited, and should be no longer than 6000 words in length. Word counts do not include tables, figures or references.
Abstracts and short communications should present preliminary results of original research. Like research papers, the material should not have been previously published elsewhere. They should be no longer than 1000 words in length. Word counts do not include tables, figures or references.
How to allows researchers to explain their techniques and approaches. This section will not be peer reviewed, and contributions may be submitted or invited. Submissions should be no longer than 2000 words in length, and should provide photos or video material.
Pet Behaviour Science has instituted a double-blind peer review process, where neither the authors' nor the reviewers' identities are known to each other. Reciprocal anonymity is suggested to provide a more objective and potentially less biased assessment of manuscripts, and help ensure that the process is fair to both junior and well-established scientists. The implementation of double-blind review aims at ensuring our reputation for integrity, fairness, and openness to new ideas.
Pet Behaviour Science is refereed and papers will be accepted only after appropriate double-blind review. The general criteria for acceptance are that the research meet standards for publication in a specialist journal appropriate to its field and that it provides new information, sound hypotheses, or insightful analyses relevant to the content area of Pet Behaviour Science. This is a multidisciplinary journal, and authors should be aware that their own discipline’s jargon may be unfamiliar to readers from other disciplines. Please keep jargon to a minimum and provide a complete methods section. If you are in doubt about this, please err on the side of providing fuller explanations. The Editor can always cut material, but cannot add it.
A signed ethical statement form is required for Research Papers, Abstracts, and Short Communications. Please click here to download the form, which should be uploaded to the editorial system with all other submitted documents.
The work described in your article must have been conducted in accordance with EU Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes:
A statement should appear in the manuscript that the work has been approved and give details, or state that approval was not required. This statement should appear after any acknowledgements and just before the Reference list.
If studies have the potential to compromise animal welfare, precautions should be taken to reduce possible harm to the animals involved. Authors should identify welfare concerns and describe the measures that were taken to mitigate animal pain or distress. Pet Behaviour Science will not accept any manuscripts based on research inflicting suffering or cruelty on animals.
The work described in your article must have been conducted in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans:
http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html
Informed consent should be given by the individuals participating in the studies reported. Any sensitive data should be handled with confidentiality and stored securely. When reporting results, participants should remain anonymous.
Authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. If authors have used the work, data, or words of others or their own earlier publications, please ensure that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Please also declare such overlaps in the cover letter on submission.
Plagiarism takes many forms, from 'passing off' another's work as the author's own, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's work or indeed one's own earlier work (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. All manuscripts are automatically put through a plagiarism check program and flagged results are evaluated individually.
Pet Behaviour Science uses the Open Journal System (OJS). OJS is a journal management and publishing system that has been developed by the Public Knowledge Project through its federally funded efforts to expand and improve access to research. You can find out more about this software at https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/
Pet Behaviour Science is hosted in the OJS platform developed by
University of Cordoba, Spain.
David J. Menor-Campos, Ph.D., University of Cordoba, Spain.
Rocío López-Rodríguez, Ph.D., University of Cordoba, Spain.
Would you like joining us as a Referee? Please, send us an email with your CV. We want to hear from you.
Only electronic submission of manuscripts is allowed (please do not send by post). To submit a manuscript, you must be registered and login as an author. The submission file is available in OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Microsoft Word (.doc files only - do not send .docx files), RTF, or WordPerfect document file format and sent as one file only (all text, tables, figures, and appendices in one file). Manuscripts must not contain authors’ names and addresses, and the acknowledgements section must be left blank. Works which are not formatted properly may be returned to the author unread.
Authors whose first language is not English should have their paper checked by a native English speaker prior to submission. Manuscripts in which the English is difficult to understand may be returned to the author for revision before scientific review. Manuscripts that are accepted, but incorrectly prepared or whose English is poor, may also be subject to delay in the press.
Authors who require information about language editing and
copyediting services pre- and post- submission please visit
http://www.petbehaviourscience.org/languague for more
information.
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was conducted. Moreover, be aware that your article may be checked to verify originality.
Once accepted, the work will be published under a creative common license 4.0 and any publication of it must include its citation at Pet Behaviour Science, regardless of the language, or whether it is published in physical (i.e. paper) or electronic (i.e. ebook, web blog) format.
As Pet Behaviour Science is an open access journal which does not charge for paper reading, it requires funds to support the edition process. We are striving to offer a free of charge publishing process. Please, consider donating to support the journal.
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, affiliation and e-mail addresses of four potential referees. As we use double-blind peer review, please make sure that all text that may reveal your identity is excluded from the source files.
Use 12 point Palatino Linotype font and 1.5 line spacing. Text should be aligned full left. Manuscripts should have line numbers and page numbers throughout.
The title page should contain the title of the article – keep this short and to the point. In the following pages, provide an abstract (250 to 300 words), three to five keywords (in alphabetical order below the abstract), and the text, including, as appropriate, an introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, references, tables, and figures. Each table/figure must appear in the text when it is cited.
Additionally, authors should supply between three to five highlights which convey why the article is important, the impact of the findings in their research field and how such findings contribute to the understanding of pet behaviour and/or human pet relationships.
Upon acceptance of the manuscript, authors will be asked to submit a popular science article of 1000-1500 words summarising the paper and its highlights. It should be directed at a general audience to ensure the widest possible dissemination of the research. Therefore, its readability should be high. Please use the Flesch/Flesch–Kincaid Readability Tests available at readability-score.com to guarantee that your summary has a score ranging between 50 and 65 in the Flesch Reading Ease test.1 The popular science article should be accompanied by photos or videos to make it more attractive to the general public. This summarized version of the full manuscript will be used by Pet Behaviour Science to disseminate the research through social media networks and blogs.
This should be brief and informative. The title should not exceed
120 characters.Avoid abbreviations, as well as part numbers
unless the papers are to be published consecutively in the same
issue of the Journal.
Provide a short title of no more than 10 words for the heading of
the article.
Indicate author names and affiliations clearly.Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Affiliations should not include street, box number, postal (zip) code, country (when that is obvious) or city, state, province, etc., when that is redundant with the University name.
Clearly indicate who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Give the full postal address, e-mail address, telephone, and fax numbers (with country and area code) of the corresponding author. E-mail addresses of co-authors may also be given.
The usual main headings for Research papers are: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements and References.
Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply "the text".
Main headings should be type in capitals, in boldface italic letters, on a separate line on the left of the page.
Subheadings should be typed in italics at the left of the page on a separate line, and begin the main words with a capital letter.
Sub-subheadings should be typed in italics on a new line, and aligned full left.
Start the text on a new line after subheadings and
sub-subheadings.
When presenting multiple experiments, authors may use main headings for the titles of each experiment, with the Methods and Results of each experiment listed as subheadings. Try to keep subheadings short enough to fit within a single column.
Abstracts should be concise, informative, explicit and intelligible without reference to the text. Use both common and scientific names of animals at first mention in the Abstract unless they are given in the title.
Describe the purpose of the study.
Outline the major findings.
State the main conclusions.
Avoid using references
Don't exceed to 300 words.
The Introduction should be brief, not normally exceeding two
manuscript pages.
Keep references to a minimum by citing reviews rather than
primary research papers where appropriate.
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate
background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary
of the results.
Details to allow the work to be reproduced should be provided.
Methods already published should be indicated by a reference:
only relevant modifications should be described.
Names and addresses of companies providing trademarked products
should be given.
State sample sizes, and the age, sex, breed/strain and source of
animals.
Include details of housing conditions relevant to the study
(e.g. cage size and type, bedding, group size and composition,
lighting, temperature, ambient noise conditions, maintenance
diets) both during the study and during any period before the
study that might bear on the results, when appropriate.
Full details of testing or observational regimes should be
given.
State the kinds of statistics used
Any ethical implications of the experimental design and
procedures should be identified, and any licences acquired to
carry out the work specified.
Describe procedures that were taken to minimize the welfare
impact on subjects or any steps taken to enhance the welfare of
subjects.
If the study involved keeping wild animals in captivity, state
for how long the animals were captive and whether, where and how
they were returned to the wild at the end of the study.
Results should be clear and concise. This section should include only results that are relevant to the hypotheses outlined in the Introduction and considered in the Discussion. The text should complement material given in Tables or Figures, but should not directly repeat it.
Give full details of statistical analysis either in the text or in Tables or Figure legends. Include the type of test, the precise data to which it was applied, the value of the relevant statistic, the sample size and/or degrees of freedom, and the probability level.
P values for significant outcomes can be quoted as below a
threshold significance value (e.g. P<0.05, 0.01, 0.001),
but wherever possible should be quoted as an exact probability
value.
Do not quote decimals with naked points, for example quote 0.01, not .01, or normally to more than three decimal places (the exception being P values for significance tests, which may be quoted to four decimal places where appropriate, e.g. 0.0001)
Begin the Discussion with a summary of the goals and main results.
Comment on the significance of the results and set them in the
context of previous work.
References should be kept to a minimum by citing review articles
as much as possible.
The Discussion should be concise and not excessively speculative
Present your highlights in a brief and succinct manner.
Acknowledgements should not be included until the manuscript is accepted in order to ensure blind review. Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the manuscript before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g. providing language help, writing assistance or proof-reading the article, etc.)
Acknowledgements should not be included until the manuscript is accepted in order to ensure blind review. Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the manuscript before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g. providing language help, writing assistance or proof-reading the article, etc.).
For all references cited in the text, give full surnames for papers by one or two authors, but only the surname of the first author, followed by “et al.” for works by three or more authors (note that “et al.” is neither underlined nor italicized). Check that all references in the text are in the reference list and vice versa, and that their dates and spelling match. Check foreign language references particularly carefully for accuracy of diacritical marks such as accents and umlauts.
Cite references in the text as, for example, Swabe (1998) or, if in parentheses, as (Daly and Morton 2006). Do not use a comma to separate the author’s name from the year of publication. Where more than one paper has been published by the same author in the same year, the reference should be identified by a, b, c, etc. (e.g. 1971a). If referring to a specific page in a book, please provide the page number in the citation: for example, (Serpell 1999, p. 45). When listing multiple citations, place them in chronological order from oldest to most recent, using a semicolon to separate each reference: for example, (Harrison 1998; Gibbs 1999; Bekoff 2006).
The references list should be arranged alphabetically by authors’ names and chronologically per author. References cited with “et al.” in the text should include all authors’ names in the reference list. Journal titles should be given in full. References to books or monographs should include editors, edition and volume number, publisher, city and state or country where published, and relevant page numbers. A paper in press may be referenced if it has been accepted for publication. References to personal communications and unpublished work should appear in the text only. Please, see the author's guide for more information
All tables must be cited in the text, and must be identified by a short, descriptive title placed at the top. Any necessary further explanations (e.g. the results of statistical tests) may be added as footnotes below the table. Make sure that each abbreviation used in a table is fully explained in a footnote.
Please use Helvetica or Arial font for all tables.
Authors using MS-Word or other word-processing programs must use the programs' table editors to create tables. Do not create tables by typing single lines of text followed by a hard return, with spaces or tabs used to align columns. Such tables will have to be re-keyed, causing a possible delay in publication and an increased probability of error in the re-keyed data.
The entire content of tables, including column heads and subheads, must be contained in a single table. Do not break large tables into smaller ones merely to accommodate page breaks.
Each row of data must be in a separate row of table cells. Do not put hard returns in table cells to increase the spacing between rows or to align data in rows. No table cell should contain a hard return. Allow the word processor to break lines where it will; line breaks to format column headings or complex data in table cells will be added during copy-editing. Tables should not contain vertical rules.
Do not embed tables from other applications into word-processing files unless the tables are converted to the word processor's native format. If the embedded table cannot be edited using the word processor's table editing and formatting commands, it will have to be re-keyed.
Check carefully that tables are consistent with the text with regard to both the style and the information given.
All illustrative material (drawings, maps, diagrams, graphs and photographs) should be labelled “Figures” and must be cited in the text. For the review process, it is acceptable to supply low-resolution figures, which should be embedded in the word document. After receipt of an accepted manuscript, the author will be required to supply high-resolution files/prints of figures (electronic files are preferred), which must be embedded in the word document submitted for publication. Figures will be reproduced exactly as provided. However, as they will be reduced in size to fit the journal’s page format, they must be of a size which allows a reduction of 50%.
Figures should include any labels or markers that are parts of the figure itself, in addition to the figure number or caption.
Please be consistent with type (both font and size) within a figure. Use Helvetica or Arial font for all figures in your manuscript. Since most figures are reduced, figures employing more than one font size may, after reduction, contain both text that is too small to read and text that is so large as to be awkward. After reduction, all text should be legible, but not excessively large. Of course, some variation in the size of letters may be necessary to emphasize elements in a figure or to fit lettering in a limited space; however, please try to use no more than a 2-point variation in your type sizes.
If the figures in your manuscript contain units of measurement, please label these units consistently. Make sure abbreviations are consistent with those used in the text and the caption.
Avoid placing labels over shaded areas of a figure. Best results are obtained from black lettering on a white background. If the area requiring a label contains shading, it is best to create a white box and place the black label within.
Figures consisting of more than one panel should include lower-case panel designations (a, b, c, etc). We prefer to receive multi-part figures assembled into single-image files whenever possible (i.e. one file containing all panels, with parts labelled, and arranged so that they will fit on a journal page or portion of a page). Whenever possible, include all panels of a figure on the same page.
Each chart or graph should incorporate a key to any symbols or patterns used. Please set the key inside the figure.
Each chart or graph should incorporate a key to any symbols or patterns used. Please set the key inside the figure.
All graphs and plots should include axis lines at the top, bottom, right, and left sides of the data, forming a completely enclosed box. This will allow for easier interpretation by the reader. Figures should not include text along the top axis outside the box, except for axis labels. The y-axis label should be vertical. Any information about the figure should be contained within the figure caption or in the labels that appear inside the box.
Labels should be in bold. There should not be any full stops after labels and there should not be any underlining.
If the artwork you are transmitting has been published elsewhere or is otherwise copyrighted, please obtain the necessary permission to use it. Copyright and source information should be included in the figure caption.
Line graphs
A line graph is best reproduced when it is a crisp black-and-white image and contains no unnecessary gray shading. Avoid using gray in a graph.
Avoid thin lines, particularly in figures requiring considerable reduction. Do not use lines that are thinner than one point, and do not use the “hairline” width option provided by many computer programs.
If your image requires the use of many lines, please choose patterns that are easily distinguishable from each other. Patterns with similar characteristics are hard to differentiate after reduction. Dotted or dashed lines should be thick enough and varied enough to withstand considerable reduction. If possible, avoid using triple-dot-dashed line styles or any variation that uses four or more identifying components.
Optimum resolution for black-and-white line-graph files and combination line graph and gray-scale images is 800 dpi (at four inches width).
Photos must be submitted as files (600 dpi or above, at 4 inches width).
Figure files should be in TIFF or EPS format (make sure the files are suffixed with .tif or .eps, as appropriate). EPS files saved by a commercial-quality graphic program (such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or Kaleidagraph) are generally the most reliable. Authors should avoid using applications that cannot be saved directly in TIFF or EPS format. Each figure must be submitted in a separate file. If you have a multi-part figure, we prefer to receive these as a single file, with panels labelled within the image, rather than as multiple files.
The JPEG file format is not always of high enough quality. If at all possible, please avoid transmitting electronic files in JPEG format. If this cannot be avoided, please be sure to save the JPEG at the highest quality available and at the correct resolution for the type of figure. GIF files are not acceptable.
Some word-processing programs offer authors the ability to check the changes they have made to their manuscript after making revisions. In MS-Word, this is called “Track Changes.” If you do use this or a similar utility, please remember to click “accept all changes” and deselect “Track Changes” before you send a final, electronic copy of any accepted manuscript. If this is not done, previously deleted material will reappear when the file is imported into our desktop publishing program, creating much confusion and an inevitable delay in the publication process.
One set of proofs will be sent to the corresponding author as an e-mail attachment (PDF). Only typographic errors may be corrected at this stage.
On publication, authors will be sent a PDF e-print (with non-printing watermark) of the final, published version of their article for personal use. Contact Dr. David Menor-Campos for any doubts or enquiries.
Pet Behaviour Science is an open access journal and it is distributed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. Once article is accepted, any publication of it must include its citation at Pet Behaviour Science, regardless of the language, or whether it is published in physical (i.e. paper) or electronic (i.e. ebook, web blog) format. Be aware that your article may be checked to verify originality.
When submit your paper or other documents, you agree that they will be publised by a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license