Scope of the journal. Avian Pathology will consider original material relevant to the entire field of infectious and non-infectious diseases of poultry and all other birds, including infections that may be of zoonotic/food-borne importance. Subject areas include pathology; diagnosis; detection and characterisation of pathogens; gene sequences; epidemiology; immune responses; vaccines; genetics in relation to disease; and physiological and biochemical changes that are in response to disease. Manuscripts reporting cases of naturally occurring disease must describe either new diseases or give significant new information about previously known diseases. The information should significantly enhance knowledge and understanding of the disease or pathogen.

Papers on food-borne microorganisms acquired during or after processing are not appropriate. Manuscripts describing the occurrence or morphology of unicellular eukaryotes and multicellular organisms, or which are essentially catalogues of micro-organisms detected, are unlikely to be considered for publication unless they have a clear relationship to disease. First and subsequent reports of occurrence within a country of diseases well-recognized elsewhere will not be accepted unless they also include significant new information about the disease or pathogen. Manuscripts should report novel findings that are of interest to an international readership.

Types of papers. The journal publishes original research papers and occasional reviews (3000 to 7500 words for reviews, excluding references). All manuscripts except reviews will be subject to anonymous peer review, normally by two referees.

Manuscripts should be submitted in English only. There are no page charges.

Submission of manuscripts. Papers for consideration must be uploaded electronically to Avian Pathology's Manuscript Central site to facilitate the reviewing process. New users should first create an account, which can be done at the Manuscript Central site. Once a user is logged onto the site submissions should be made via the Author Centre.

Submission of a manuscript to Avian Pathology implies that (a) it has not previously been published, (b) that it is not being submitted for publication elsewhere, (c) that all authors have seen and approved the manuscript, (d) that all authors have obtained permission from their employer or institution to publish, if they have a contractual or moral obligation to do so, and (e) that relevant permissions, including ethical approval, have been obtained for work involving the use of animals and genetic manipulation. Papers describing experiments that demonstrate a lack of concern for current ethical and welfare standards will not be accepted. The decision of the Editors in this respect is final.

Preparation of manuscripts. All manuscripts should be typed double-spaced throughout, with margins of at least 25 mm. Continual line numbering should be used throughout the manuscript. The instructions given below should be followed carefully. Authors are encouraged to look at a recent issue of the journal to see the layout style. A free online sample copy of the journal is available via the Avian Pathology web site.

1. Title page containing (a) the title of the paper, (b) names of authors (either full given names or initials, according to the authors' preferences), (c) institutions and postal addresses, (d) a short title of not more than 45 characters to be used as a running head and (e) telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the corresponding author. Superscript numbers should be used to link author with institution, and an asterisk (*) to refer to the corresponding author.
   
   
2. Abstract, of not more than 250 words (150 for short communications), on a separate page immediately after the title page.
   
   
3. Introduction, with statements fully supported by references. Although the Introduction should be concise it should be useful not only to those who are very familiar with the topic of the paper but also to non-experts. There should be no statement of the results at the end of the Introduction.
   
   
4. Materials and Methods, with subheadings, in bold, on the same line as the proceeding text. This section should include accession numbers, under a separate subheading at the end of the section, for sequence data that must be submitted to international databases.
   
   
5. Results, with subheadings, in bold, on the same line as the proceeding text.
   
   
6. A Discussion, fully referenced, without unnecessary repetition of the results. The Results and Discussion sections may be combined.
   
   
7. An Acknowledgement section, if required.
   
   
8. A References section. There is no limit to the number of references in full or short communications. These should be listed alphabetically in the style shown below. Journal titles (in full) and volume numbers are italicised. References within the text should appear as "Wan et al. (2004)" or "(Witter, 1997; Brown et al., 1999a,b; Yao & Vakharia, 2001; Wan et al. (2004)" i.e. in chronological order.
   
   Bojesen, A.M., Nielsen, O.L., Christensen, J.P. & Bisgaard, M. (2004). In vivo studies of Gallibacterium anatis infection in chickens. Avian Pathology, 33, 145-152.
   
   Witter, R.L. & Schat, K.A. (2003). Marek's Disease. In Y.M. Saif, H.J. Barnes, J.R. Glisson, A.M. Fadly, L.R. McDougald, & D.E. Swayne. (2003). Diseases of Poultry 11th edn (pp.407-465). Ames: Iowa State Press.
   
   Capua, I. & Mutinelli, F. (2001). A Colour Atlas of and Text on Avian Influenza. Casalecchio di Reno: Papi Editore.
   
   Hafez, M.M., Schulze, D. & Kösters, J. (1997). Surveillance on verotoxin producing E. coli in broiler flocks and processing plants. In A. Székely (Ed.). Proceedings of the XIth International Congress of the World Veterinary Poultry Association (p. 101). Budapest, Hungary.
   
   
9. Figure legends may be submitted on the same page as a figure, if there is sufficient room but should also be provided separately from the illustrations within the main text file, and be grouped i.e. not a separate page for each legend. There is a maximum of three figures/tables in short communications.

Tables should be typed on separate pages, numbered consecutively and have a short descriptive heading. Tables may be included in the same file as the main text, or uploaded as separate files. Tables must be made using the table facility of a word processor, not by using the tab key. Footnotes should be indicated with lowercase superscript a, b, c, etc. (uppercase superscript A, B, C, etc. are only used for indicating statistically significantly different data).

Figures must be uploaded as separate files i.e. figures must not be embedded in the main text file, and each figure must be uploaded separately from other figures. Authors should, where it is reasonable to do so, design figures to fit within a single column (80 mm) when printed in the journal. Lettering must be large enough to allow for a reduction in size. Scale bars must be included on micrographs. Multi-tone figures e.g. illustrating histology, whether in colour or black-and-white, must be of high, publication quality, to enable referees to assess them. Half tone and full colour figures should be submitted in at least 300 and 600 DPI, respectively.

Sequence data should be presented concisely, using a small font size. Use of the single letter amino acid code is preferred. Sequence data must be submitted to a databank, and accession numbers included at the end of the Material and Methods section.

Proofs. Usual practice will be to send PDF proofs to the corresponding author by E-mail. Proofs should be returned within 3 days, preferably by E-mail in the first instance and then by fax. It is a condition of acceptance that the Editor reserves the right to proceed to press without submitting the proofs to the author. While reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that proof reading is accurate, neither the Editors nor the Publisher shall be responsible for any errors.

Free article access
Corresponding authors can receive 50 free reprints, free online access to their article through our website (www.informaworld.com) and a complimentary copy of the issue containing their article. Complimentary reprints are available through Rightslink® and additional reprints can be ordered through Rightslink® when proofs are received. If you have any queries, please contact our reprints department at reprints@tandf.co.uk

Copyright. It is a condition of publication that authors assign copyright or licence the publication rights in their articles, including abstracts, to the Houghton Trust Ltd. This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article, and of course the Journal, to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate. Authors retain many rights under the Taylor & Francis rights policies, which can be found at www.informaworld.com/authors_journals_copyright_position. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.