Reviewing the aims of the New Zealand Veterinary Journal

The New Zealand Veterinary Journal (NZVJ) has been publishing articles of relevance to the veterinary profession in New Zealand for more than 60 years. It has developed from being a reference for local practitioners to an internationally recognised high quality peer-reviewed scientific journal, publishing articles on a wide range of topics, and is ranked in the top third of all veterinary journals based on its citation index.

In order to ensure that the NZVJ continues to remain relevant to its readers and meets the standards of evidence-based scientific publishing, the Editorial Board of the NZVJ have reviewed the aims and scope of the journal. It is clear that the NZVJ has two complementary audiences; veterinary practitioners in New Zealand who wish to read articles of relevance to clinical practice, and the scientific community that wants to disseminate and read the findings of research studies both within New Zealand and internationally, that meet the standards of peer-review. For both these audiences it is important that the NZVJ provides robust, evidence-based peer-reviewed articles that support decision making by all those interested in animal health and well-being. With this in mind we determined that the primary objective of the NZVJ is to publish high quality peer-reviewed articles covering all aspects of veterinary science, including clinical practice, animal welfare and animal health. It was important that animal welfare, which regularly features in articles published in the NZVJ, should be specifically included given the increasing focus on this topic both within and outside the veterinary profession (Stafford 2015).

The complete aims of the NZVJ are: to be the flagship publication of the New Zealand Veterinary Association, publishing evidence-based research for veterinary clinicians and animal scientists; to provide a forum for the dissemination of research on animal welfare and the improvement of animal wellbeing; and to be a highly-relevant educational resource for veterinary and animal science professionals in New Zealand and overseas, including publication of special issues and state of the art reviews, and to inform the wider public on related topics.

Given the emphasis on evidence-based research, the NZVJ's instructions for authors have been updated to include reference to reporting guidelines (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/TNZVauth.pdf). These guidelines provide structured advice on what information needs to be included in a research article to allow readers to assess the study methodology, and the relevance and validity of the presented findings. Such guidelines have been implemented by many medical journals, but their adoption by veterinary journals has not been widespread (Grindlay et al. 2014). Nevertheless their importance in ensuring that the research reported meets the highest standards and is free from bias has been highlighted in a number of veterinary journals (e.g. Erb 2010; More 2010).

The NZVJ aims to provide high quality reporting of research studies, but to date, the instructions for authors have not explicitly requested that such guidelines be used by authors in reporting their methods and results. There are more than 200 reporting guidelines listed on the website of the EQUATOR network (http://www.equator-network.org/), which works to promote transparent and accurate reporting of research studies in the medical research literature. Most of these guidelines are specific to specialist disciplines or a particular aspect of research, but some provide generic guidelines on the description of study methods and corresponding advice on reporting study findings. Six of these that are of most relevance to the description of veterinary or animal science studies have been selected for inclusion in the NZVJ instructions for authors. These are:

• CONSORT; consolidated standards for reporting randomised clinical trials (http://www.consort-statement.org/)

• REFLECT; randomised control trials for livestock and food safety (http://www.reflect-statement.org/statement/)

• ARRIVE; animal research: reporting of in vivo experiments (http://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines)

• STARD; evaluation of diagnostic tests (http://www.stard-statement.org/)

• STROBE; standards for the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (http://www.strobe-statement.org/)

• PRISMA; systematic reviews and meta-analyses (http://www.prisma-statement.org/).

The NZVJ strongly supports the transparent, complete and accurate reporting of research and the use of these reporting guidelines. We encourage all authors and reviewers to refer to them to ensure that manuscripts comply with the relevant guidelines. As a result, we anticipate that the NZVJ will continue to publish scientific articles of the highest standard that reliably provide the evidence-base for practitioners, scientists, and other interested parties in New Zealand and other countries where the journal is read.