Author Guidelines for The Shape of Enrichment Quarterly Publication

 

The Shape of Enrichment is a quarterly publication dedicated to environmental enrichment for animal caretakers. It is an international open forum, presenting articles from researchers, curators, keepers, volunteers, and others involved in animal care.

 

Guidelines for authors are presented below. For more information, view the sample article or contact the editors.

 

Article Content

 

Articles concerned with aspects of environmental enrichment are accepted.

 

Please restrict articles to ideas that you have tried -- whether successful or not!

 

Untried suggestions are appropriate for publication in Letters to the Editors.

 

Since our focus is enrichment and how it benefits animals, be sure to give a complete description of how the animals react, what they do, how they interact with the enrichment and each other, immediate and long-lasting effects, and whether the goal you set is achieved.

 

Feature articles cover a variety of enrichment categories (or one that is not covered in the specialized columns) as well as related issues such as beginning an enrichment program.

 

Columns include enrichment focus on: food and food presentation (Food for Thought); browse (Browsing); enclosure design and construction (Building for the Future); and animal training (In Training).

 

Shorts are usually 1-2 paragraphs long. These short articles are often tips or a single, simple enrichment idea.

 

The Challenges column offers readers the opportunity to present their enrichment challenges (i.e. problems, questions) to our network of enrichment experts. Questions are posed anonymously to a variety of appropriate persons. Answers are forwarded to the person(s) requesting information and published in an upcoming issue.

 

Submissions

 

Articles of any length are accepted -- from 200 to 1,000 words are preferred, but articles both shorter and longer have been published.

 

Technical papers are accepted. However, these will be rewritten into an appropriate format. The editors will rewrite technical papers at the author's request. If you are submitting a technical paper, please only send us the introduction, materials, methods, results, and discussion. Please do not include an abstract or lengthy review of other literature on the subject or species – weÕre looking for the ÒmeatÓ of your article, not what others have said.

 

Articles need not be polished or even completed before submission. One of our favorite articles started as notes on a paper towel - literally! The editors are willing to work with prospective authors to produce the final version.

 

Articles and photos, graphs, drawings, etc. may be submitted via e-mail or posted to:

Article Submission

1650 Minden Dr., San

Diego, CA 92111 U.S.A.

 

Text must be submitted in an MS Word document or a RTF formatted document. Do NOT embed any graphics (photos, graphs, diagrams, etc.) in this file!

 

Photographs and illustrations should be submitted as jpg, tiff, giff, or png files. EACH graphic MUST be in its own file. Photos and illustrations should be 300 dpi or larger in size – e.g., larger than 12 inches width and height.

 

Graphs and tables must also be submitted as separate files from the article text. These should be readable at a small size and in black and white (e.g., a complex graph that relies on different colors to differentiate data will not reproduce appropriately).

 

Review Process

 

All articles are edited for readability, grammar, spelling, etc. and then forwarded to the

Consulting Reviewers. The reviewers comment on content and request clarification or more information where appropriate. These revisions and comments are forwarded to the author. The graphic layout is completed using the authors' final versions, with occasional copy and/or layout edits.

 

Once the article has cleared the review and editing phases, it will be assigned to an upcoming issue. As these phases may take several weeks, the article may not appear in the issue immediately following its submission.