Aims and scope

Avian Research is an open access, peer-reviewed journal publishing high quality research and review articles on all aspects of ornithology from all over the world. It aims to report the latest and most significant progress in ornithology and to encourage exchange of ideas among international ornithologists. As an open access journal, Avian Research provides a unique opportunity to publish high quality contents that will be internationally accessible to any reader at no cost.

Open access

All articles published by Avian Research are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers.

As authors of articles published in Avian Research you are the copyright holders of your article and have granted to any third party, in advance and in perpetuity, the right to use, reproduce or disseminate your article, according to the BioMed Central license agreement.

For those of you who are US government employees or are prevented from being copyright holders for similar reasons, BioMed Central can accommodate non-standard copyright lines. Please contact us if further information is needed.

Article-processing charges

The publication costs for Avian Research are covered by Beijing Forestry University, so authors do not need to pay an article-processing charge for each article accepted for publication.

Indexing services

All articles published in Avian Research are included in:

· BIOSIS

· DOAJ

· Science Citation Index Expanded

· SCImago

· Scopus

· Zoological Record

The full text of all articles is deposited in digital archives around the world to guarantee long-term digital preservation. You can also access all articles published by BioMed Central on SpringerLink.

Peer-review policy

Peer-review is the system used to assess the quality of a manuscript before it is published. Independent researchers in the relevant research area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help editors determine whether the manuscript should be published in their journal.

Avian Research operates a single-blind peer-review system, where the reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer reports provided to authors are anonymous. The benefit of single-blind peer review is that it is the traditional model of peer review that many reviewers are comfortable with, and it facilitates a dispassionate critique of a manuscript.

Submitted manuscripts will generally be reviewed by two or more experts who will be asked to evaluate whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, whether it duplicates already published work, and whether or not the manuscript is sufficiently clear for publication. The Editors will reach a decision based on these reports and, where necessary, they will consult with members of the Editorial Board.

Editorial policies

The editorial policies of Avian Research are determined jointly by its Editorial Board and Springer Nature in accordance with the legal and regulatory requirements of China. Unless otherwise stipulated in these guidelines, all manuscripts submitted to Avian Research should adhere to BioMed Central's editorial policies.

Citing articles in Avian Research

Articles in Avian Research should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. Because articles are not printed, they do not have page numbers; instead, they are given a unique article number.

Article citations follow this format:

Authors. Title. Avian Res [year], [volume number]:[article number].

e.g. Roberts LD, Hassall DG, Winegar DA, Haselden JN, Nicholls AW, Griffin JL. Increased hepatic oxidative metabolism distinguishes the action of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor delta from Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma in the Ob/Ob mouse. Avian Res 2009, 1:115.

refers to article 115 from Volume 1 of the journal.

Appeals and complaints

If you wish to appeal a rejection or make a complaint you should, in the first instance, contact the Editor who will provide details of the journal's complaints procedure. For complaints that cannot be resolved with the Editor, the authors should contact the Publisher.

Why publish your article in Avian Research

High visibility

Avian Research's open access policy allows maximum visibility of articles published in the journal as they are available to a wide, global audience. 

Speed of publication

Avian Research offers a fast publication schedule whilst maintaining rigorous peer review; all articles must be submitted online, and peer review is managed fully electronically (articles are distributed in PDF form, which is automatically generated from the submitted files). Articles will be published with their final citation after acceptance, in both fully browsable web form, and as a formatted PDF.

Flexibility

Online publication in Avian Research gives you the opportunity to publish large datasets, large numbers of color illustrations and moving pictures, to display data in a form that can be read directly by other software packages so as to allow readers to manipulate the data for themselves, and to create all relevant links (for example, to PubMed, to sequence and other databases, and to other articles).

Promotion and press coverage

Articles published in Avian Research are included in article alerts and regular email updates. Some may be highlighted on Avian Research’s pages and on the BioMed Central homepage.

In addition, articles published in Avian Research may be promoted by press releases to the general or scientific press. These activities increase the exposure and number of accesses for articles published in Avian Research.

Copyright

As an author of an article published in Avian Research you retain the copyright of your article and you are free to reproduce and disseminate your work (for further details, see the BioMed Central license agreement).