Animal Ethics & Welfare Policy

The International Journal of Agriculture and Animal Production (IJAAP) is committed to the highest standards of animal welfare in all research involving animals. We follow the internationally recognized 3Rs principles—Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement—in evaluating all manuscripts that report animal-based research.

Mandatory Declaration:  Authors submitting manuscripts that involve the use of live animals, or that use animal products, animal-derived materials, or archived biological samples from animals, MUST include the following in their Methods section:  (a) The name of the institutional or national ethics committee that approved the study; (b) The ethics approval number or reference; (c) A statement that all experiments were performed in compliance with relevant laws and guidelines; (d) A statement that the authors confirm humane treatment of animals throughout the study period.

Compliance Standards:  Authors should comply with one or more of the following international standards, as appropriate: • ARRIVE Guidelines 2.0 (for animal research reporting) • National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals • Directive 2010/63/EU (for authors in European Union) • ICAR guidelines on animal experimentation (for research conducted in India) • Any applicable national or institutional animal ethics regulations

Livestock & Farm Animals:  For studies involving farm animals (cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, pigs, fish, etc.), authors must confirm: • Animals were managed under good husbandry practices • Slaughter/sampling procedures followed national legal requirements • No unnecessary pain or distress was caused • Any invasive procedures were conducted by or under the supervision of a qualified veterinarian

Rejection Policy:  Manuscripts reporting animal experiments without a clear ethics statement, or where the described procedures would violate animal welfare standards, will be rejected at the desk review stage without peer review. Authors may be requested to provide the ethics approval certificate as supporting documentation.

Reporting Omissions:  If ethics approval was not required (e.g., observational study, use of commercially purchased animal products, data from publicly available records), authors must explicitly state this in the Methods section and explain why ethical approval was not required.