Submission guidelines

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Please read the guidelines in full before submitting your manuscript.
Manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

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This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

The Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the author responsibilities section on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

We also encourage you to familiarize yourself with our Editorial Policies and our Publication Ethics Policies.

Sage Publishing disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions and peer review from a diverse range of authors and reviewers from across all countries and backgrounds. Read our diversity, equity, and inclusion pledge.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Open access options are available – see below.

Please read the guidelines below then submit your manuscript here.

Access: Subscription
Accepts preprints? Yes
Identity transparency: Single anonymized

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal.

Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. Open Access agreement eligibility is determined by the corresponding author’s affiliation matching an agreement at acceptance. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access.

For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

Your article must be within the scope of the journal and be of sufficient quality. If not, it will not be reviewed. Please read the journal’s Aims and Scope to see if your article is appropriate.

The manuscript must be your original work, you must have the rights to the work, and you must have obtained and be able to supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, including figures, illustrations, tables, lengthy quotations, or other material previously published elsewhere.

Article types

Please note that LAJ prioritizes original research over other types of articles.

Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts.

Original Articles
Articles describing substantial original research that fall within the aims and scope of the journal. These should be up to 5,500 words including the abstract, figure/table captions and references and have no more than six displays (figures and tables). Original Research Articles must comply with the ARRIVE 2.0 Guidelines. Structured headings are required and must include: Title, Abstract, Introduction; Animals, Material and Methods; Results; Discussion; Acknowledgements, References, Data Availability Statement, Conflict of Interest Statement, and Funding. The abstract must be unstructured and consist of a single paragraph with fewer than 250 words. For manuscripts whose word counts exceed 5,500 or more than six displays, the additional information and displays can be submitted as supplementary information. 

Working Group Reports
Articles describing the recommendations or conclusions from working parties or groups mandated by one or more subscribing associations. These should be up to 7,500 words including references (of which there should be no more than 50), abstract, figure/table captions and the abstract. A hyperlink to additional information or the full deliberations of the Working Group will be accommodated and hosted as supplementary information on the journal website. All cited members of working parties will be considered as authors for the purposes of copyright.

Submissions are initially accepted from Subscribing Societies. Group reports from specific theme-based meetings- may be considered if there is a clear broader impact in the laboratory animal community. Reports with a strong and restricted focus /emphasis on a unique country will not be accepted. For any documents proposing new guidance or monitoring protocols, we strongly suggest authors provide evidence-based data to support the impact of their proposed platforms.

Review Articles
LAJ prioritizes Review Articles on novel methodologies or high-impact topics with regards to animal welfare and the 3Rs.

Literature Review Articles of a substantial and topical nature may be considered for publication in LAJ. These must be up to 7,500 words including abstract, figure/table captions and references.

Systematic Reviews
LAJ prioritizes Systematic Reviews on novel methodologies or high-impact topics with regards to animal welfare and the 3Rs. Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis must be written in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Guidelines. We also encourage the authors to check the Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) starting guidelines before submission.

Please note that we only accept systematic reviews which are already preregistered.

Case Reports
The journal also publishes case reports or case series (Sánchez-Morgado et al., 2022). Case reports and case series must report one of the following:

  1. a) A new and/or emerging disease; b) A new association or variation in a disease process; c) An unreported or unusual adverse drug reaction; d) An unexpected or unusual presentation of a common problem or an unexpected event in the course of observing or treating an experimental animal that has not been previously reported; e) Findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect; f) A case which could be used as a teaching exercise in deductive reasoning and clinicopathological correlation and/or a practical lesson for the investigation and/or management of similar cases.

Word count should not exceed 3,000 words, including abstract and references. Word count for the abstract should be 250 words. No more than 4 displays (tables and/or figures). Up to 30 references.

Short Reports
Technical notes and preliminary communications with adequate methodological details and conclusions. These should have fewer than 1,500 words including abstract, figure/table captions and references. The abstract should have fewer than 200 words, and have no more than two figures or tables. 

Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor will be considered for publication but only on issues related to the scientific or ethical content of the journal, and authors will be given the opportunity to publish a reply to any letters.

LAS Perspectives
Perspective or opinion papers as well as news on current laboratory animal science topics. Word count should not exceed 1,500 words, excluding references. No abstract is needed, no subheadings needed. No more than 2 displays (tables and/or figures). Up to 10 references. The LAJ Editorial team may ask suitable experts to write a comment on a LAS perspectives paper.

News Items 
Submissions are only accepted from Subscribing Societies. 

Submissions should be no more than 1,500 words including abstract and references. If two pictures are included the word limit reduces to 1,000 words. Articles can be in the language of the societies and/or in English. Contributions to the News section are not subject to peer review and they reflect the opinion of the subscribing society. If accepted for publication, authors will be required to provide contact details and sign an electronic copyright form. Questions may be sent to the Editorial Office at laeditorial@sagepub.co.uk.

Animal Ethical Considerations

Papers will only be published if the experimental procedures employed conform with the accepted principles of how animals are used in biomedical science. Usually, the principles applied will be those specified in the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes and its appendices, the National Research Council Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

According to the ARRIVE Guidelines 2.0, which Laboratory Animals has endorsed:

The ethical statement must “provide the name of the ethical review committee or equivalent that has approved the use of animals in this study and any relevant license or protocol numbers (if applicable). If ethical approval was not sought or granted, provide a justification.”

Ethical considerations must be included in the methods section under the appropriate headings. At a minimum, authors must provide:

  • A clear ethical justification, describing the ethical and welfare implications of the experimental design or procedures.
  • Details of licenses or approvals from ethical review bodies. If ethical approval was not required, authors must explicitly state this and provide a detailed justification. For example, can the scientific objectives be achieved using techniques that do not require the use of animals? Or was it necessary for animals to be specifically killed to supply the tissue samples?
  • Information on measures taken to minimize potential suffering, including sample size determination, pilot testing, and predefined humane endpoints, should be provided here. This section is intended to offer a concise summary of the strategies implemented to reduce suffering. It is not meant to duplicate the detailed descriptions found later in the Materials and Methods section, but rather to give authors and reviewers a quick overview.
  • A detailed account of the fate of all animals used in the study.
  • A description of steps taken to enhance animal welfare, such as, but not limited to, environmental enrichment.

By enforcing these standards, Laboratory Animals supports the responsible and ethical use of animals in research and fosters a culture of care that prioritizes animal welfare while advancing scientific knowledge.

The methodology for the euthanasia of animals should be consistent with recommendations of the AVMA Guidelines and the Directive 2010/63/EU, specifically Annex IV, which outlines the acceptable methods for euthanizing animals used in scientific research within the EU. Please read the Editorial entitled 'You and your research report: implementing the ARRIVE Guidelines' for further clarification.

Of particular note, the source and full strain nomenclature of any laboratory animal stock must be specified according to international recommendations. Authors should note this information is available from source laboratories and animal vendors. A brief statement describing the legislative controls on animal care and use should be provided. Measures to refine experimental techniques to benefit animal welfare can be described in detail and the disposition and fate of the animals at the end of the experiment should be clear.

Products used (e.g. drugs, equipment, feed, bedding) should be described in the format “generic description (trade name, vendor name, city and country where vendor located)".

The experimental design and the statistical analysis should be detailed, particularly in relation to using only the appropriate numbers of animals (see Festing M et al. The Design of Animal Experiments: Reducing the use of animals in research through better experimental design 2nd Edition, available from Sage). Pre-test power analyses should be presented in justification of sample size or number of animals required whenever possible. Power analyses for many common statistical procedures both parametric and non-parametric are given in Zar J. Biostatistical Analysis, 4th edn. When reporting variability about the mean, variances, and/or discussing significance or non-significance of statistically derived values, the Zar recommendations should be considered, and claims of statistical non-significance should be accompanied by post-test power analyses whenever possible.

Furthermore, in research involving humans, whether through surveys, questionnaires, or sampling, an ethical statement issued by a competent ethics commission must be included. The statement should confirm that informed consent was obtained —or explain why it was deemed unnecessary,— state whether ethical approval was granted (if required), and specify the name of the ethics committee along with the approval number or identification. In case, the ethical commission decides not ethical approval is needed, a waiver statement mentioning the research does not need an ethical approval is enough. Regardless the decision, all statements should confirm that the research was conducted in accordance with relevant ethical standards, such as the Declaration of Helsinki (if appropriate). Moreover,the statement should include a description of how the data has been and will be managed and stored to ensure security, anonymity, and/or confidentiality.

More information on ethics is available through our publisher, Sage.

Clinical trial registration

The journal conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

Reporting guidelines

Your manuscript must follow the relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines, depending on the type of study. The EQUATOR wizard can help identify the appropriate guideline. You will need to upload the appropriate checklist with your submission.

Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

If your research involves animals, you will be asked to confirm that you have carefully read and adhered to the ARRIVE guidelines.

Formatting your manuscript

Accepted file types

Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC, RTF, XLS. You do not need to follow a template, but please ensure your heading levels are clear, and the sections clearly defined.

LaTeX files are also accepted. A LaTeX template is available on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point.

Title

Your manuscript’s title should be concise, descriptive, unambiguous, accurate, and reflect the precise contents of the manuscript. A descriptive title that includes the topic of the manuscript makes an article more findable in the major indexing services.

Abstract

Please include an unstructured abstract of 250 words between the title and main body of your manuscript that concisely states the purpose of the research, major findings, and conclusions. If your research includes clinical trials, the trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract. Submissions that do not meet this requirement will not be considered.

For clinical trials, the trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

This journal includes video abstracts.

Keywords

Please include between 1-5 keywords, listed after the abstract. Keywords should be as specific as possible to the research topic.

Artwork, figures, and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures, and graphs in electronic format, please read Sage’s artwork guidelines.

Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. If you have requested color reproduction in the print version, we will advise you of the costs on receipt of your accepted article.

Please ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures, or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Frequently Asked Questions page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

Acknowledgments

If you are including an Acknowledgements section, this will be published at the end of your article. The Acknowledgments section should include all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship. Per ICMJE recommendations, it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your manuscript.

Writing assistance and third party submissions: if you have received any writing or editing assistance from a third-party, for example a specialist communications company, this must be clearly stated in the Acknowledgements section and in the covering letter. Please see the Sage Author Gateway for what information to include in your Acknowledgements section. If your submission is being made on your behalf by someone who is not listed as an author, for example the third-party who provided writing/editing assistance, you must state this in the Acknowledgements and also in your covering letter. Please note that the journal editor reserves the right to not consider submissions made by a third party rather than by the author/s themselves.

Statements and declarations

Please include a section with the heading ‘Statements and Declarations’ at the end of your submitted article, after the Acknowledgements section [and Author Contributions section if applicable] including each of the sub-headings listed below. If a declaration is not applicable to your submission, you must still include the heading and state ‘Not applicable’ underneath. Please note that you may be asked to justify why a declaration was not applicable to your submission by the Editorial Office.

Ethical considerations

Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. You can find information on what to say in your ethical statements as well as example statements on our Publication ethics and research integrity policies page.

All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved the study, or waived the requirement for approval, providing the full name and institution of the review committee in addition to the approval number. If applicable, please also include this information in the Methods section of your manuscript.

Please include any participant consent information under this heading and state whether informed consent to participate was written or verbal. If the requirement for informed consent to participate has been waived by the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board (i.e. where it has been deemed that consent would be impossible or impracticable to obtain), please state this. If this is not applicable to your manuscript, please state ‘Not applicable’ in this section. More information and example statements can be found on our Publication ethics and research integrity policies page.

Submissions containing any data from an individual person (including individual details, images or videos) must include a statement confirming that informed consent for publication was provided by the participant(s) or a legally authorized representative. Non-essential identifying details should be omitted. Please do not submit the participant’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent to publish but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file in addition to the statement confirming that consent to publish was obtained within the manuscript text. If this is not applicable to your manuscript, please state ‘Not applicable’ in this section.

Declaration of conflicting interest

The journal requires a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors so that a statement can be included in your article. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, see our policy on conflicting interest declarations and the ICMJE recommendations.

If no conflict exists, your statement should read: ‘The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article’.

Funding statement

All articles need to include a funding statement, under a separate heading, even if you did not receive funding. You’ll find guidance and examples on our Funding page.

Data availability

The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

  • Share your research data in a relevant public data repository
  • Include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
  • Cite this data in your research

Reference style and citations

The journal follows the Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms.

Please ensure you strictly adhere to the Vancouver referencing style. In the reference list, note that up to three (3) authors may be listed per reference. If there are more than three (3) authors, then list the first three names and represent the rest using et al. Journal titles need to be listed in italics.

Every in-text citation must have a corresponding citation in the reference list and vice versa. Corresponding citations must have identical spelling and year.

Authors should update any references to preprints when a peer reviewed version is made available, to cite the published research. Citations to preprints are otherwise discouraged.

EndNote

If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver EndNote output file

Supplemental material

This Journal can host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc.) alongside the full text of the article. Your supplemental material must be one of our accepted file types. For that list and more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Author Services. Visit Sage Author Services for further information.

As part of the submission process you will need to confirm that this is your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that this is for first publication in this Journal, that it is not being considered for/has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that the journal may accept submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers.

Preprints

The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers.

Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission.

Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed.

Learn more about our preprint policy.

Submission site

Submit your manuscript online via Sage Track.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in Sage Track before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

Manuscripts should only be submitted with the consent of all contributing authors. The individual responsible for submitting the manuscript should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the manuscript are listed as authors.

Ensure you upload all relevant manuscript files, including any additional supplemental files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

Authorship

Please view our authorship policies, which includes information on criteria for authorship, who should be the corresponding author and more.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

Files

  • Cover letter. To help the Editor in their preliminary evaluation, please indicate why you think the manuscript suitable for publication.
  • Your manuscript, properly formatted according to all stipulations above, and within the scope of the journal.
  • Figures and images.
  • Supplemental material. This journal can host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images, etc) alongside the full-text of the article. Your supplemental material must be one of our accepted file types. For that list and more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

Other information required for submission

  • ORCID ID of the submitting author.
    • It is strongly encouraged that all co-authors ensure their ORCID IDs are linked to their accounts in the submission system prior to article acceptance, as this is the only way to have their ORCID ID present on the published article. ORCID IDs cannot be added to manuscripts after acceptance/publication. Please note that each co-author must log in to the submission system to add their own ORCID ID to their account. To add an ORCID ID, edit your account, click the link when prompted, and sign into your ORCID account to validate your ID. You will then be redirected back to the submission system and your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata.
    • Please create an ORCID ID if you do not already have one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
  • Complete list of authors, with their institutional affiliations.
    • The author information you enter at submission must exactly match what is included on your manuscript and/or title page, including full names, academic affiliations, and corresponding author contact details.
    • The listed affiliation should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a note at the end of the manuscript.
    • All listed authors must meet the criteria for authorship (above).
    • All persons eligible for authorship must be included at the time of submission.
    • All authors must have given consent for the manuscript to be submitted in its current form.
  • Keywords: During submission, you may be asked to select or enter keywords for your manuscript. These keywords are used to match appropriate reviewers to your manuscript.
  • The number of figures, tables, and words in your manuscript.
  • Funder information: Name, grant/award number.
  • You may be required to enter your declaration of conflicting interest as part of the submission process, in addition to listing it on your manuscript and/or title page. Please have it on hand.
  • If you have posted your manuscript to a preprint server, you will be asked to supply the DOI (this does not prohibit submission, but no changes should be made to the preprint version while your manuscript is under evaluation in this journal). Please see our guidelines on prior publication. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy. If your manuscript is accepted, you must include a link in your preprint to the final version of your published article.

The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal:
Identity transparency: Single-anonymized
Reviewer interacts with: Editor
Review information published: None

Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk rejected without peer review at this point if they are out of scope for the journal or otherwise unsuitable.

After passing the initial evaluation, your manuscript will then be peer reviewed. You can log in at any time to check the status of your manuscript. We will notify you when a decision has been reached.

Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors

• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper

• The author has recommended the reviewer

• The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).

To ensure the integrity of the peer review process we assign reviewers and cannot accept author recommendations.

All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor who then makes the final decision on all manuscripts, including those appearing in a special issue or special collection. The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

As a COPE member we engage with multiple forms of post-publication discussion in line with wider guidance from Sage: Commentaries, Critiques and Responses.

You can view our complaints and appeals policy here.

Read Sage's complete peer review policy.

Plagiarism

The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.

Contributor’s Publishing Agreement

Before publication, we require the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive license agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

Preprints

If your manuscript was posted on a preprint server prior to acceptance, you must include a link in your preprint to the final published version of your published article.

Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal, Sage Edit, or by email, and should be returned promptly to avoid delaying publication. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence, and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. This is the final opportunity to make changes to your manuscript. Further corrections will not be possible after publication. Changes to the author list are not permitted at this stage.

Publication

OnlineFirst publication: This enables us to publish final articles online immediately, without waiting for assignment to a future issue of the Journal. This usually significantly reduces publication lead time. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite OnlineFirst articles.

Access to your published article: We provide you with online access to your published article. The online access link is provided to the corresponding author for sharing with their co-authors.

Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process. Between us, we can ensure that your article is found, read, downloaded and cited as widely as possible. Many of the most effective tactics are those you can do quickly and easily to your network of contacts and peers. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway for numerous resources to help you promote your work.

The Sage Journal Author Gateway has some general advice on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance your article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journals Solutions Portal.

You can view our complaints and appeals procedure.

Contact us

You can direct any questions to the journal’s editorial office:

Editorial Office: LAeditorial@sagepub.co.uk