laura ann boyle
Teagasc Food Research Centre (Ireland)
Carlow, Ireland
Specialty Chief Editor
Animal Behavior and Welfare
Animal Behavior and Welfare aims to publish major insights into the behavior and welfare of domesticated and non-domesticated animals managed or affected (e.g., via anthropogenic impacts on the environment) by humans. The section welcomes manuscripts addressing theoretical, fundamental and applied research on all farm, working and companion, zoo/safari park and laboratory animals, as well as managed wild, feral and so-called ‘pest’ species. Submissions may address any, or all, of the three philosophical approaches to animal welfare; “naturalness”, affective states, and basic health and functioning. The section recognizes the multidisciplinary nature of animal welfare, and welcomes inter-disciplinary studies from across the natural and social sciences.
This section especially aims to contribute to improvements in animal welfare through the identification of potential risks to welfare, and their subsequent reduction or removal, through optimal management and housing practices. These practices will better acknowledge animals’ emotional wellbeing, their cognitive abilities, and the limits of their ability to adapt as shaped by their evolutionary and domestication history. Their development requires contributions from the fields of sociology, psychology, behavioral ecology, neuroscience, physiology, immunology and the emerging science surrounding the microbiota-gut-brain axis. The development and application of novel, and ideally positive, welfare indicators could come from any of these disciplines.
The Animal Behavior and Welfare specialty section will progress the concept and science of animal welfare using robust and relevant methods of assessing animal behavior and welfare. The need to accelerate progress in this area is justified by societal concerns for animal welfare; however, we also acknowledge the importance of improving welfare for the animal in its own right, for the role of animal welfare as ‘preventative medicine’ and for its contribution to the sustainable development goals. We recognize that animal welfare is integral to the welfare of humans and the environment as reflected in the One Welfare concept. Manuscripts accepted in this section will use the term ‘animal welfare’ rather than ‘animal wellbeing’ although ‘mental wellbeing’ is acceptable.
In particular, this section seeks high-quality scientific papers on:
- Conceptual reviews or perspectives comparing and synthesizing ideas, approaches, methods and techniques used in the study of the behavior and welfare of domesticated and non-domesticated species managed or affected by humans.
- Studies of the behavior of animals influenced directly by human or anthropogenic activities including 1) implications for management or welfare; 2) behavioural problems in companion or working animals; 3) implications of wildlife or so-called ‘pest’ management, recreation/hunting or nature conservation and 4) impact of changes in climate or land-use
- Progress in the area of applied animal behaviour science including studies on novel technological, methodological solutions and techniques for measuring or analysing the behavior of animals including insights from the wider natural sciences and how such developments could be used to improve animal management and welfare.
- Progress in the development of animal welfare science; fundamentals of animal welfare research relating to ethical issues around the use of animals in research, novel methodologies, approaches and concepts, technological solutions to measuring animal welfare, development of new, especially positive, indicators of welfare and development of methodologies for welfare assessment in the ‘field’
- Applied studies including those 1) evaluating animal welfare under different single issues (e.g. nutritional regime or veterinary medical intervention) or different management, housing or production systems, 2) implementing welfare assessment protocols in the field and 3) the implications of the findings in reducing risks to animal welfare
- Papers discussing the incorporation of scientific findings relating to the welfare of animals into best practice public policies, the enforcement thereafter of such policies and the associated cultural and societal implications.
Types of papers accepted
Animal Behavior and Welfare welcomes submissions of the following article types: Case Report, Community Case Study, Conceptual Analysis, Correction, Data Report, Editorial, General Commentary, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Original Research, Policy and Practice Reviews, Policy Brief, Protocols, Review, Specialty Grand Challenge and Systematic Review.
- We will redirect submissions describing research on animals or with humans with no relevance to animal behavior or welfare to a different section or journal
- Consider submitting papers at the intersection of animals, veterinary medicine, and society to the Veterinary Humanities and Social Sciences specialty section; papers on veterinary education methods for animal behavior and welfare will be re-directed to this section
- Consider submitting papers relating to the development or evaluation of technological solutions for assessing farm animal welfare to Frontiers in Animal Science – Precision Livestock Farming specialty section
- Consider submitting papers relating to farm animal welfare in terms of public and private policies and associated consequences at the farm, food chain and society levels to Frontiers in Animal Science – Animal Welfare and Policy section.
Frontiers in Veterinary Science is member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
Short name
Front. Vet. Sci.
Abbreviation
fvets
Electronic ISSN
2297-1769
Indexed in
PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), Scopus, Google Scholar, DOAJ, CrossRef, CAB Abstracts, CLOCKSS, Web of Science Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Web of Science Journal Citations
PMCID
All published articles receive a PMCID
Impact
2.6 Impact Factor
4.8 CiteScore
Animal Behavior and Welfare welcomes submissions of the following article types: Brief Research Report, Case Report, Clinical Trial, Correction, Editorial, General Commentary, Hypothesis & Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systematic Review, Technology and Code.
All manuscripts must be submitted directly to the section Animal Behavior and Welfare, where they are peer-reviewed by the Associate and Review Editors of the specialty section.
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