Zoonoses and Infections in Developing Countries

-       Original research papers
-       Review articles and meta-analysis
-       Short communications
-       Letters to the Editor
-       Case report
-       Commentary
-       Rapid Communications
-       Surveillance articles
-       Outbreak reports

All papers should present the results of original research, must not have been published elsewhere, and must fall within the journal's scope. Systematic reviews should follow the PRISMA guidelines. Commentary and Letters to the Editor that offer comments or useful critiques of material published in the journal are welcome. The journal accepts all types of articles; however, manuscripts should be concise yet comprehensive and adhere to the author guidelines.

The table below outlines the maximum word count and the allowable number of figures, tables, and references for each article type.

Authors planning to submit manuscripts that exceed the specified limits for word count, figures, or references should contact the editorial office prior to submission. This allows the editorial team to assess whether exceptions can be made and to provide guidance on structuring or condensing the manuscript to meet the journal’s requirements. Advance consultation helps avoid delays in the review process and ensures that submissions comply with the journal’s formatting and content standards.

Specific article categories for ZIDC

• Rapid communications are concise, timely reports on significant communicable disease events or findings where expedited publication may impact ongoing public health responses or raise urgent awareness. These articles are typically published within one month of submission and undergo accelerated peer review by at least one independent expert, generally within two weeks. Rapid communications do not adhere to the standard manuscript format. Submissions should begin with a brief description of the current event and the study objective. Background information should be incorporated into the discussion, and findings should be contextualized using national, regional (for example, African), and relevant international data.
  To ensure rapid processing, submissions must not exceed 1,200 words, may include a maximum of 25 references, and are limited to four figures or tables. Abstracts are restricted to 100 words.

• Surveillance articles interpret and analyze epidemiological trends for specific diseases, pathogens, or public health events using data from surveillance systems at national, regional, or international levels. These articles may also evaluate existing surveillance systems or describe new initiatives. Submissions should provide comprehensive data analysis and situate findings within a broader public health context. Surveillance articles must follow the standard manuscript structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.

• Outbreak reports must provide comprehensive accounts of fully investigated national or international outbreaks, with emphasis on novel or unexpected findings and key lessons learned. Reports should include a concise background, outbreak detection, methods, results, control measures, and a discussion that places the findings within a broader context, such as Southeast Asia, North Africa, or another relevant region. Submissions must not exceed 2,000 words, may cite 15 to 30 references, include up to six figures or tables, and feature an abstract of no more than 100 words.

File format
Authors should submit the manuscript as an editable source file for the entire submission, including figures, tables, and text graphics. Please follow the length limit, covering word count, figures, tables, and references. Submit the manuscript as a single-column Word document, using Times New Roman, 12 pt, single-spaced, with at least a 2 cm margin. Ensure all errors are minimized by utilizing spell-check and grammar-check tools.

Article title: Article titles should be concise and informative. Please avoid abbreviations and formulas unless they are established and widely understood, e.g., PCR.

Author names: Provide the first name(s) and family name(s) of each author in full, and the abbreviations for the middle names. Carefully check that all names are spelled accurately.

Affiliations: Provide the authors' affiliations (where the work was done) below the names. Include only the department, institute and/or university, city, and country. No additional information is required. Indicate all affiliations with a lowercase superscript number immediately after each author's name.

Corresponding author: Clearly specify who will manage correspondence for your article throughout all stages of the review and publication process, including after publication. This includes responding to future questions about your results, data, methodology, and materials. Ensure that the corresponding author's email address and contact details, including the "permanent address," remain up to date throughout the entire submission and publication phases.

Abstract: The abstract should be a single paragraph that adheres to the specified word count and follows a structured format without headings. It should include a background that states the question broadly and highlights the study's purpose; briefly describe the materials and methods; summarize the main findings; and indicate the conclusions. It must objectively represent the article, avoid unsubstantiated results, and not exaggerate conclusions.

Keywords: 5-7 keywords should be added after the abstract, arranged alphabetically, separated by commas, and with the first letter capitalized.

Key Questions Addressed: Please provide one to three concise questions that the manuscript seeks to answer. These will be published as online summaries alongside the article and will appear in the PDF version.

Introduction: The introduction should succinctly provide background information in a broad context and clarify the work's importance. It should outline the work's aims, objectives, significance, and the specific hypotheses being tested. The introduction must be clear enough for scientists outside the paper's field to understand.

Materials and Methods: They should provide sufficient detail for others to implement and replicate the techniques. Newly introduced methods and protocols require thorough descriptions, while established methods can be summarized with proper citations. 

Results: Provide a clear and precise summary of the findings and experimental results, including their interpretation and the conclusions that can be drawn. Insert tables and figures in the results section, citing them as Figure 1, Table 1, etc., and place them near their first mention. Include legends with brief titles and captions below figures and above tables. Figures should have a resolution of at least 1000 pixels in width or height and 300 dpi, and should be placed close to the first reference in the main text. Use Microsoft Word's table feature to create tables, with font sizes no smaller than 8 pt.

Discussion: The results should be discussed and interpreted in light of previous studies. Please avoid repeating the results in the discussion. The findings and their implications should be discussed in the broadest possible context, and the work's limitations should be highlighted. This section may be combined with the results in short papers.

Conclusions: This section is optional, but can be added to the discussion.

Please note that the review article may be divided into subsections with short, informative headings or presented as an original research paper. Systematic reviews should follow the PRISMA guidelines.

Tables
Tables should be submitted as editable text, not images. Position all tables close to the related text or on separate pages at the end of your article. Ensure all tables are cited within the manuscript. Avoid using vertical rules, cell shading, and repeating data already presented in the results. Don't forget to include captions for each table.
Large tables that extend beyond a single manuscript page should be provided as supplementary material.

Figures and images
Figures, images, artwork, diagrams, and other graphical media should be submitted as separate files along with the manuscript. All images must be cited within the manuscript text. Number the images in the sequence they appear in your article. Ensure that captions are included for all figures. Save all figures as TIFF, JPG, or PNG files using a minimum of 300 dpi (for single column: min. 1063 pixels, full page width: 2244 pixels.

• Acknowledgments: All contributors not meeting authorship criteria should be listed in an acknowledgments section. This includes those who provided technical help, writing assistance, or general support from a department chair. Authors should disclose any writing help and identify who paid for it.

• Author Contributions: A short paragraph specifying each author's individual contributions must be provided. Use the following statements: "Conceptualization, X.X. and Y.Y.; Methodology, X.X.; Software, X.X.; Validation, X.X., Y.Y. and Z.Z.; Formal Analysis, X.X.; Investigation, X.X.; Resources, X.X.; Data Curation, X.X.; Writing – Original Draft Preparation, X.X.; Writing – Review & Editing, X.X.; Visualization, X.X.; Supervision, X.X.; Project Administration, X.X.; Funding Acquisition, Y.Y.”.

• Funding source: All funding sources for the study must be disclosed. Clearly specify any grants received to support your research, and if applicable, mention funds used for publication costs. Example for funding statement: "This work was supported by [name of funding agency, grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]." If no funding was provided, include the statement: "This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors."

• Conflict of interest statement: Authors are required to disclose any personal circumstances or interests that might influence how they present or interpret the research findings. If there are no conflicts of interest, simply state "The authors declare no conflict of interest."

• Ethics Statement: Provide the ethical approval number for studies involving humans or animals. You may omit this if ethical approval was not required. For human or animal studies, include the statement: “The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) of [name of institute/protocol code XXX/date of approval].” If ethical review was waived, state: “Ethical review and approval were waived for this study due to (please specify the reason).” For studies not involving humans or animals, write “Not applicable.””

• Data Availability: In this section, authors should provide detailed information about the data reported in the results, including links to publicly archived datasets that were analyzed or generated during the study.

• Supplementary Materials: All large tables and figures will be published as supplementary materials. Please label each element as follows: Figure S1: title, Table S1: title, etc.

• References

• Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also included in the reference list. References should be carefully checked for accuracy and corrected to conform exactly to the journal's style. 

• We recommend that you not include unpublished results or personal communications in your reference list, though you may mention them in the text of your article. Please add "unpublished results" or "personal communication" for any unpublished results or personal communications.

• This journal follows the Vancouver (ICMJE) referencing style

In-text citations

• References should be cited in the text using Arabic numerals in brackets [1, 2, 3].

• References must be numbered consecutively in the order of first appearance in the text.

• If a reference is cited more than once, use the same number each time.

Example: Antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic pathogens is a growing global concern [1,2].

Reference List

• The reference list should appear at the end of the manuscript.

• References should be listed numerically, in the same order as cited in the text.

• Use the Vancouver (ICMJE) reference style.

• Journal titles should be abbreviated according to PubMed/MEDLINE standards.

• List up to six authors; if there are more than six, list the first six followed by et al.

• Include the volume, page numbers, and DOI where available.

• Examples of reference formats

Journal article
Smith JA, Brown L, Ahmed R, Khan M, Lopez D, Chen Y, et al. Molecular characterization of multidrug-resistant Salmonella isolated from poultry. Vet Microbiol. 2023; 278(1):109648. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2023.109648   

Book
Quinn PJ, Markey BK, Leonard FC, Fitz Patrick ES, Fanning S, Hartigan PJ. Veterinary Microbiology and Microbial Disease. 2nd ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell; 2011.

Book chapter
Prescott JF. Antimicrobial therapy in veterinary medicine. In: Giguère S, Prescott JF, Dowling PM, editors. Antimicrobial Therapy in Veterinary Medicine. 5th ed. Ames (IA): Wiley Blackwell; 2013. p. 3–19.

Online article
World Health Organization. Global priority list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria [Internet]. Geneva: WHO; 2017 [cited 2025 Jan 10]. Available from: https://www.who.int

Special considerations for microbiology topics

• Scientific names of microorganisms should follow international nomenclature standards.

• Gene names, plasmids, and strains should be cited according to accepted microbiological conventions.

• Preprints may be cited only if clearly identified as preprints.

• Strains, isolates, and sequences must be cited with: Accession numbers (GenBank, EMBL, etc.) and culture collection numbers where applicable.

Reference management: Authors are encouraged to use reference management software (e.g., EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero) configured to the Vancouver style to ensure accuracy and consistency

Prohibited citation practices

To comply with COPE and Scopus ethics rules, the following are not allowed:

• Citation manipulation

• Excessive self-citation

• Citation of irrelevant articles for metric inflation

• References to predatory or deceptive journals

Editors reserve the right to request corrections or reject manuscripts for unethical citation behavior.

Responsibility of authors
Authors are responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and integrity of all references.
Incorrect or misleading references may be considered a breach of publication ethics (COPE).

This journal is fully open access. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, allowing unrestricted use, distribution, and reuse, provided the original authors are properly credited.

A one-time Article Processing Charge (APC) of €2,200 is applied to accepted manuscripts to cover peer review management, production, dissemination, and related publishing costs. Editorial decisions are based solely on scholarly merit and are independent of any financial considerations. The APC is requested only after acceptance; advance payment does not guarantee acceptance.

There are no submission fees, no charges for rejected manuscripts, and no additional fees based on article length, figures, or supplementary materials. Selected content types (e.g., Editorials, Corrections, Addenda, Retractions, and Comments) are published free of charge.

To ensure that the ability to pay does not constitute a barrier to publication, full or partial APC waivers are available to authors unable to cover the fee, including those from low- and middle-income countries and those conducting unfunded research. All waiver requests are handled confidentially and do not influence editorial decisions.

For waiver requests, please submit the complete article and a formal request, stating the journal name and the reason for the waiver to waiver@infinity-ipc.org