The Journal of Shelter Medicine and Community Animal Health (JSMCAH) is an independent online journal published by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. JSMCAH publishes original research, case studies, professional guidelines, and review articles relevant to shelter and community animal health, behavior, and welfare. This includes a variety of topics such as companion animal epidemiology, shelter population management, spay-neuter programs, access to care programs, spectrum of care, community services, public health, disaster response, and veterinary forensics. Learn more >>
Editorial Process
Process and Timeline
Once the article is submitted via JSMCAH, the Editor-in-Chief will screen the manuscript for quality and scope and either reject the submission or assign it to an Associate Editor for peer review. This may take up to a week. The Associate Editor will assign at least two reviewers to review your manuscript. This step can take a week or two. You may be able to speed this process by recommending reviewers you know have appropriate expertise, are likely to agree to review, and do not have a conflict of interest. See the Peer Review Process section for more information. JSMCAH asks our reviewers to complete their review within three weeks, although reviewers can ask for more time. The Associate Editor will review the reviewers’ comments and make a recommendation—whether to ask for revisions and resubmission or reject—to the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief will then decide the disposition for the manuscript and send that decision to the author(s). This can be another week or so. We ask authors to return revisions within three weeks, although authors can ask for more time. Revisions will be reviewed within a week or two, depending on the extent of the changes. Generally, revisions are limited to two rounds.
Once an article is accepted for publication, it enters the production phase, where the article is converted to the journal’s layout and copyedited. This can take a week or two. The article will then be returned to the authors for approval and any requested revisions. It is important to review the article carefully at this stage, as minor corrections are often required that cannot be made later in the process. We recommend that you ask a fresh pair of eyes to read the article. Once the proof is approved, the article will be published online, where it is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and is fully citable, generally within a few days.
Peer Review Process
JSMCAH employs a double-blind process at the review stage (the reviewer does not know the authors' identity, and the authors do not know the identity of the reviewers) but reveals the names of the reviewers upon publication. Peer reviewers are asked to adhere to the principles of COPE's Ethical Guidelines for Peer-reviewers. Reviewers are selected based on their expertise. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure that submissions are blinded.
Costs to Authors
As a gold open-access journal, there is no cost to read the journal. The cost of publication is covered by Article Publication Charges (APCs) charged to authors of accepted manuscripts. The APCs are subject to change and are charged at the rate effective on the submission date. APCs are covered by ASV sponsors through 2024. Reviewers for JSMCAH have the opportunity to earn credits toward future APCs that may be charged after this initial period.
