Animal: Statistical Guidelines for Authors

Abstract

This paper presents the updated statistical guidelines for authors of the journal animal. animal recognises that there is no unique way of statistically analysing data, but considers that for readers, editors and reviewers to understand the research and the statistics, precise and thorough reporting as well as clear presentation are required. The focus is on designed experiments, but some advice is also provided for other types of studies. Emphasis is also put on defining the reporting requirements for each section of an article while providing advice to authors on good practice in communicating and reporting research. Understanding a research study begins with the research hypothesis or question, which should be stated in the Introduction and supported by a strong rationale. In the Material and methods section, the journal recommends a specific sub-section devoted to the Study design where the name of the experimental design, its detailed description, the experimental and/or observational units (as appropriate) and the structure of the data are given. Reporting requirements are defined for meta-analysis and compartmental models in the Material and methods section. A subsection on the Statistical analysis of data is also requested for the reporting of diagnotics methods, the statistical model and analysis, including treatment comparison methods. Finally, reporting requirements are defined for the Results and Discussion sections, in which the variables most important to test the research hypothesis or question are presented, together with the number of experimental units (or degrees of freedom) and the uncertainty associated with the results, as well as the limits and scope of inference of the results and conclusions.