JACAB accepts essays on any topic in the field of animal training and behavior consulting from basic manners training to sports training to changing complex behavior problems as well as coaching clients on training companion animals, consulting skills, ethics issues, running a professional animal training business and the science of behavior in general. Authors can review a topic in depth, propose a theory, compare and contrast techniques, explain and review equipment, describe class set-ups, critique a method or published book/article or write about any number of other related topics that would be of interest to professional animal trainers and behavior consultants.
It is not easy to get published in a peer reviewed journal. Being published in a peer reviewed journal is considered more prestigious than being published in a magazine or newsletter though. We encourage you to accept the challenge and help contribute to the body of knowledge in dog training and move the profession forward.
Some tips on submitting an acceptable essay for a journal:
Click to join JACABwritersgroup for help with writing your article
Please follow the guidelines found in this document carefully before making a submission for publication. The editorial staff may decline to accept any submissions in significant discord with these guidelines. Editors will modify manuscripts in accordance with house style.
Article Types
Research papers. The Journal of Applied Companion Animal Behavior (JACAB) publishes original papers dealing with companion animal behavior describing research carried out by the author(s). Papers may represent qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods papers based on field (nonlaboratory) studies, laboratory studies, case studies or theoretical works. Research papers should be single-spaced with an abstract of less than 250 words and full list of references cited in APA style.
Review articles. Preference will be given to articles that review research in a topic in such a way that new knowledge is developed or new questions answered as opposed to just presenting a description of literature. Interdisciplinary syntheses are particularly welcomed. This article type includes simple reviews of topics also. We are interested in publishing useful and interesting review articles on topics related to companion animal behavior. Review papers should be single-spaced with full list of references cited in APA style.
Commentaries. These articles are on issues of general importance to the study of companion animal behavior or the profession of animal training and behavior consulting. Specifically it may include but is not limited to topics such as methodologies of research, ethics issues, new training plans, class set-ups, liability issues, sports, business practices, free-range behavior patterns. Articles that are not reviews or research papers should be single-spaced without an abstract. If you have something important to say to animal behavior professionals we want to help get that to them.
Critique articles. Critique articles offer the opportunity to critically evaluate published articles or books. The critique should be constructive and portray the arguments of the critiqued article accurately. The author should provide contact information for the critiqued author so that a rebuttal may be requested to appear with the critique. The Editor will judge whether the critique is fair and solely constructive and will only be accepted if it is so. The author should provide a copy of the critiqued article along with their submission. If a book is being critiqued the editor may request a loan of this book so that the Editor and reviewers assigned to the article can evaluate whether the article is constructive and acceptable. If an author of the critiqued material cannot be contacted the Editor will decide whether the article is to be accepted without opportunity for rebuttal. If they can be contacted then they will receive from the Editor a copy of the article and be given reasonable time to provide a response and that shall appear immediately following the critique paper. Critique articles should be single-spaced without an abstract but with a full list of references cited in APA style.
Short Communications. Short communications are brief essays on some topic in companion animals training. They are generally not as in depth as other articles but should still be written well and sources cited appropriately.
These are general guidelines. If you have an essay idea that does not fit neatly into one of these categories that is not likely a problem. In that case just email us and ask for guidance.
Submissions
Articles must be submitted via email to the Managing Editor. The author should include separately a cover letter and the article as well as any letters of permission required for extensive quotes (500 words or more), borrowed tables, figures or illustrations etc. The cover letter should include the following information:
Title of article
Full name of author with appropriate credential letters after name
Institutional affiliation if any
Phone number with area code
Email address
Mailing address
Abstract (if research article)
The article itself should not contain the author’s identity.
The Editorial and Review Process
Upon submission, the Editor will confirm receipt of the article. The Editor will then review the article for basic acceptability. If it is unacceptable or needs revision, the Editor will inform the author of this and what needs to be modified for acceptability. If the article is found acceptable on the face of it, the Editor will assign the article (without author identity) to two (2) reviewers based on a match between the complimenting expertise of the reviewers and the topic of the article. The reviewers will have two (2) weeks in which to review the article. If the reviewer determines that that article is unacceptable they will write guidelines for making it acceptable or recommend declining. Reasons for declining an article may include but are not limited to unethical research methods, unethical statements, serious flaws of reasoning (including statistical flaws), significant departures from academic writing style or proper grammar, inappropriate topic. This will be delivered to the Editor who will review the comments and article. The Editor takes the reviewer’s comments into consideration and writes a formal response to the author informing them of changes they require for a revision, or of its rejection or acceptance. The author may appeal a rejection to the Editor who will take the counter-argument of the author into consideration, consult the reviewers and others in the editorial staff as needed to make a final determination. The Editor may uphold the rejection, overturn the rejection, and accept the article (with or without further revision requests) or assign it fresh to another reviewer or reviewers. Only one appeal may be made per article and the decision of the Editor is final. Resubmitted articles after a request for changes should be accompanied by a letter explaining how the reviewers’ and Editor’s comments have been addressed in the resubmitted version.
By submitting an article the author guarantees that the work is original, has not been published elsewhere (including on the internet), and is not plagiarized in any way. Exceptions can be made for republishing. Discuss this with the Editor.
Submitted and approved articles become the copyright property of JACAB.
Articles should conform to American Psychological Association Style Guidelines. A copy of the Publications Manual can be purchased at <http://www.apastyle.org/>. See below for details.
File formats
Rich Text Format (.rtf), and Word (.doc or .docx) are appropriate format for submissions (Word preferred). Illustrations, figures, tables and photographs may be submitted in .jpg or .jpeg format and should be 300dpi resolution. Do not submit in .pdf format. Illustrations, figures, tables and photographs should be submitted inserted directly into the text in the appropriate places.
Copyright
Articles are accepted based on the understanding that they are only submitted to JACAB and not to other journals or to magazines, newsletters or other publications. Copyright of the article including the right to reproduce the article in any and all forms and media, shall be assigned exclusively to JACAB. The transfer of copyright is said to take place when the manuscript it accepted for publication. Authors will be emailed a PDF offprint of their article which they may print a maximum of 25 times. Further offprint permissions may be purchased at $4 per offprint. Offprints may be used for distribution to colleagues or potential employers or certifiers but may not be used for publications including but not limited to web sites, or newsletters and may not be sold. For other use of the material, authors require written permission from the Publisher.
Disclaimer
No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher, JACAB, Editors or Reviewers for any injury and or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in JACAB.
Ethical Treatment of Animals in Research
This is the stance of The Journal of Applied Companion Animal Behavior on the use of animals in research
Animals should not be harmed in the study of their behavior. The Journal of Applied Companion Animal Behavior recognizes a higher standard of ethical responsibility to the rights of animals under scientific investigation than is common. Full informed consent should also be secured from guardians of any animal used in any study. With regards to harm, broadly speaking, an animal is harmed if he is caused distress or physical harm. All reasonable precautions are to be taken to prevent the causing of harm to any animals. The Journal of Applied Companion Animal Behavior will not publish essays based on research carried out by the authors or those under their direction that caused harm to the subjects.
General Submission Format Guidelines