The International Journal of Poultry Science (IJPS) is committed to promoting responsible, humane, and ethically conducted research in poultry science and related disciplines. Research submitted to the journal must comply with applicable institutional and national requirements governing animal research, animal welfare, biosafety, and responsible scientific conduct.

Ethical Approval for Animal Research

Research involving live animals must receive approval from an appropriate institutional animal ethics committee, animal care and use committee, or other authorized review body when such approval is required by the institution or jurisdiction in which the research was conducted.

Authors should identify the approving institution or committee and provide the approval or protocol number, when available, in the manuscript. The journal may request documentation of ethical approval during editorial assessment, peer review, or after publication if an ethical concern arises.

Animal Welfare

The welfare of animals used in research must be given appropriate consideration throughout the study. Experimental procedures should be designed and conducted to avoid or minimize unnecessary pain, distress, fear, discomfort, injury, or prolonged suffering.

Authors should follow applicable standards for the humane care and use of animals and should use appropriate methods of handling, restraint, anesthesia, analgesia, treatment, and euthanasia where relevant to the experimental design.

Poultry Experiments and Management

For studies involving poultry, authors should provide sufficient information about the species or strain, age, sex where relevant, housing conditions, stocking density where applicable, feeding and watering practices, environmental conditions, health management, experimental treatments, and other husbandry factors necessary to understand and evaluate the study.

Experimental designs involving feed restriction, disease challenge, environmental stress, invasive procedures, or other interventions that may adversely affect animal welfare must have a clear scientific justification and appropriate ethical oversight.

Feed, Nutrition, and Intervention Studies

Studies involving experimental diets, feed additives, supplements, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, probiotics, enzymes, or other interventions should be designed with appropriate consideration of animal health and welfare. Authors should clearly describe the intervention, dosage or inclusion level where applicable, duration of exposure, and relevant monitoring procedures.

Potentially harmful or toxic substances should not be administered without appropriate scientific justification, ethical approval where required, and measures designed to minimize unnecessary harm to the animals.

Field and Farm-Based Research

Research conducted on commercial farms, institutional farms, hatcheries, or other field settings must comply with applicable animal welfare and research requirements. Authors are responsible for obtaining any institutional, farm, owner, or regulatory permissions required for the conduct of the study.

Routine commercial or veterinary procedures should be clearly distinguished from procedures performed specifically for research purposes. Where research procedures require ethical review, the appropriate approval must be obtained before the study begins.

Humane Endpoints and Euthanasia

Where a study may result in significant illness, injury, pain, or distress, appropriate humane endpoints should be established in advance. Animals meeting predetermined humane endpoint criteria should receive appropriate treatment or be humanely euthanized when required.

Methods of euthanasia used in research should be appropriate for the species and circumstances and should comply with applicable institutional or national animal welfare standards.

Studies Not Requiring Formal Ethical Approval

Certain observational studies, analyses of previously collected data, or research involving samples obtained through routine commercial or veterinary activities may not require formal animal ethics approval under local regulations. In such cases, authors should clearly explain the ethical status of the study and, where applicable, identify the institution or authority that determined that formal approval was not required.

Human Participants

Although IJPS primarily publishes animal and poultry research, any submitted study involving human participants, identifiable human data, questionnaires, interviews, occupational studies, or other human-subject research must receive appropriate ethical review where required. Informed consent must be obtained in accordance with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

The privacy and confidentiality of human participants must be protected, and identifiable information should not be published without appropriate consent.

Biosafety and Biosecurity

Research involving infectious agents, pathogens, genetically modified organisms, hazardous biological materials, or procedures presenting biosafety or biosecurity concerns must be conducted in accordance with applicable institutional and regulatory requirements. Authors are responsible for obtaining any required approvals and for describing relevant safety measures when necessary for evaluation of the research.

Research Integrity and Data Reliability

Authors must report their research accurately and transparently. Fabrication, falsification, inappropriate manipulation of data or images, deliberate misrepresentation of experimental results, or other forms of research misconduct are unacceptable.

Authors should maintain appropriate experimental records and supporting data and should be prepared to provide ethics approvals, protocols, underlying data, or other relevant documentation if requested by the journal in connection with an ethical or research integrity concern.

Noncompliance and Ethical Concerns

The journal may request clarification, supporting documentation, or information from authors or relevant institutions when concerns arise regarding animal welfare, ethical approval, biosafety, research conduct, or the reliability of reported findings. Editorial consideration may be suspended while significant concerns are being evaluated.

Research involving serious ethical violations or unacceptable treatment of animals may be rejected regardless of its scientific results. If a significant ethical problem is identified after publication, the journal may take appropriate post-publication action in accordance with its editorial policies, including correction or retraction where warranted.