Focus and Scope

Probe - Plant & Animal Sciences aims to bridge the gap between fundamental research and practical applications, providing a platform for scientists, researchers, and practitioners to share their findings and insights.

 

The journal encompasses a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:

 

-Plant Physiology

-Plant Genetics

-Plant Biotechnology

-Plant Pathology

-Plant Ecology

-Plant Taxonomy

-Crop Science

-Plant Breeding

 

-Animal Physiology

-Animal Genetics

-Animal Behavior

-Animal Ecology

-Veterinary Science

-Livestock Management

-Aquaculture

-Conservation Biology

-Animal Reproduction

-Animal Welfare

-Microorganism Ecology

-Biodiversity

-Ecosystem Services

-Climate Change Impact

-Biomonitoring

-Genetically Modified Organisms

-Ecological Restoration

-Natural Resource Management

-Invasive Species

-Microbial Ecology

Section Policies

Articles

Scientific articles based on research findings or analysis. This manuscript type typically has a minimum of 20 references, 4000 words (inclusive of reference list and abstract).

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Review

A summary highlighting recent developments and current/future trends of the field. This manuscript type typically has a minimum of 30 references, 5000 words (inclusive of reference list and abstract).

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Book Review

Book reviews can be a review of a single book (800-1200 words) or an essay on multiple books on the same subject or multiple books from the same author (3000 words).

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Case Report

Documents that summarize the execution and results of cases involving linguistic studies. Submissions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and are usually solicited by the editors.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Editorial

Solicited concise commentary highlighting prominent topics in the Journal’s issue. These are the official opinions of the editors of the journal or its special issue. Editorials will be published in both online and printed versions of the journal. This manuscript type typically has 3500 words.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Communication

Unsolicited commentaries or analysis from reader(s) targeting specific published articles in the journal. Commentaries will be subjected to peer-review and may be published in both online and printed versions of the journal. This manuscript type typically has 3500 words.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Perspective

Authors’ personal opinion on a subject/topic. Unlike reviews, perspective articles may cover a more specific part of the field. However, these are still required to uphold the spirit of academia of being objective as well as aiming to initiate or further discuss on novel experimental procedures in the field. Therefore, it will undergo the peer review process. Accepted articles may be solicited or unsolicited. This manuscript type typically has 5 tables and figures in total, along with approximately 30 references and 5000 words (inclusive of reference list and abstract).

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Erratum & Correction

Erratum involves the update of technical aspect, or refers to the errors introduced by the publisher after the proof correction stage. e.g. replacing the low-quality pictures or add missing information to references.

Correction involves the update of scientific content. It is usually introduced by the authors. e.g. the correction of a scientific data.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Opinions

Opinions are short articles that reflect the author’s viewpoints on a particular subject, technique, or recent findings. They should highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the topic presented in the opinion.

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Brief report

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to journals of Probe - Plant & Animal Sciences undergo a stringent double-blind peer review process, which aims to uphold the high quality of papers published in this journals and ensure truthful and accurate reporting of the research work.

• Upon submission, articles are reviewed by each journal’s Managing Editor, who checks for originality using Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate). Only original works complying with the editorial policy and procedural guidelines are passed to the Editor-in-Chief for initial review.
• The Editor-in-Chief (EIC) carefully evaluates each manuscript to determine if its topic and content are suitable for consideration.
• Qualified manuscripts are then assigned by the EIC to a senior editor according to his or her respective areas of expertise.
• The senior editor invites external reviewers who are suitably qualified to assess the paper.
• Reviewers are asked to evaluate the manuscript’s originality, methodology, contribution to the literature, presentation of results and support for the conclusion, and appropriate referencing of previous relevant studies.
• Post-evaluation by the reviewers, the manuscript is sent to the EIC, who makes one of the following recommendations: Accept, Accept with Minor Revisions, Re-review after Major Revisions, or Reject.
• If the EIC proposes to accept with no changes required by the authors, the manuscript will be handed over to the production team.
• If the EIC proposes to accept with minor revisions, authors have up to 7 days to revise and resubmit the manuscript.
• If the EIC proposes to re-review after major revisions, authors have up to 14 days to edit and resubmit the manuscript.
• If the EIC proposes to reject, the manuscript will be rejected outright and the author will be notified of the decision.

Appeal

Authors of rejected submissions may make an appeal in writing to editorial-pas@usp-pl.com, in which specific reasons for the appeal and a detailed response to the reviewers’ suggestions are included.

Decisions made on appeals by the EIC are final and no further considerations will be made.

Conflict-of-Interest

USP believes that in order to make the best decision on a manuscript submission, a journal's Editor-in-Chief should be aware of any conflicts of interest that may exist for the authors.

A conflict of interest occurs when a professional judgment about a primary interest (such as patient welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by secondary interests (such as financial gain or personal relationships). Conflicts of interest are not inherently unethical, but they should be recognized and publicly disclosed.

Examples of conflicts of interest include committee membership, consultancy, employment, expert demonstration funding (including pending), contract research, lectures or other educational activities, retained speakership, patents (including planned, pending, and issued), provision of equipment or other items, royalties, stock/options/other forms of ownership, other expenses not covered by the terms of the declared conflicts of interest (COIs), and other expenses that (may) arise impact on personal or professional relationships.

If there are no conflicts of interest, the author(s) also need to declare it, for example: "The author(s) declare no conflicts of interest."

Before an article can be considered and accepted for publication, we must receive a declaration of conflict of interest from all authors.

Statement of Human and Animal Rights

All papers submitted to USP should declare agreement with the following 'statement of human and animal rights'. Any paper lacking it will not be considered for publication. Papers describing procedures involving humans or animals must include an explicit and easily identifiable statement pointing out that the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 and 2008. If any doubt exists as to whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach, and then demonstrate that the institutional ethical committee explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.

When reporting experiments on animals, authors should be asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Statement of Informed Consent

All papers submitted to our Journal should declare agreement with the following 'statement of informed consent'. Any paper lacking it will not be considered for publication. When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the published article.

Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. All information that could contribute to identify patients, including patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, etc., unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives explicit written informed consent for publication. For this purpose the manuscript should be shown to the patient before publication and specific and explicit informed consent should be obtained. Furthermore, individuals who provide writing assistance should be identified by the authors, and they must disclose the funding source for this assistance.

Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. However, since complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, informed consent should be obtained from each patient involved, if there is any doubt. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning, and editors will note that.

Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are de-identified, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning, and editors will note that.

Language

The language used in papers submitted to Probe - Plant & Animal Sciences (PAS) should be English—either British English or American English, and the text should be readable. USP will provide professional language editing service for authors whose first language is not English.

Plagiarism

USP does not approve any form of plagiarism used in submitted manuscript. All manuscripts submitted to USP journals will be checked for plagiarism by our managing editor before being passed to the Editor-in-Chief. Any manuscripts found to be in violation of plagiarism will be rejected by our managing editor.

Publishing Ethics

USP follows the Committee on Publication Ethics' (COPE) Core Practice and Ethical Oversight Policies. USP makes all reasonable efforts to investigate publication misconduct, including fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. If misconduct is suspected, journal editors will act in accordance with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing as stipulated by the COPE, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

All submissions to USP journals are subject to rigorous review. The editors, authors, or readers can forward their concerns to the journal if they find out that the description in a published article may constitute academic fraud, research misconduct, or publication malpractice. The concerns or complaints on the possible allegations submitted to the journal will be dealt with promptly and appropriately according to the procedure set out in the COPE flowchart on complaints. The complainant may direct all inquiries and correspondence to the Publisher at editorial-pas@usp-pl.com.

Authorship

Any person who made a significant contribution in the preparation of a submission should be listed. All authors share responsibility and accountability for the results of the published research, and those who participated in certain aspects should be listed or acknowledged as contributors to their study. Authors should reveal the identity of the people who help with the writing and the source of funding for such help. Authors appointed as the corresponding author(s) will handle all correspondence about the article and sign the publishing agreement on behalf of all other authors. Corresponding author(s) are responsible for ensuring that all the authors' contact details are correct and that all authors agree on the order that their names will appear in the article. All authors also need to make sure that their affiliations are correct, as explained in more detail below.

Changes to Authorship

• Before submitting a manuscript, authors should carefully review the author list and the order.
• Changes to the names of authors on the list of authors, such as additions, deletions, etc., can only be made before the manuscript is approved for publication. The corresponding author shall give the editorial office a formal confirmation certificate of consent to the change from all authors (current authors and those to be added or removed), which should include the reasons for the change.
• No changes in authorship are permitted without the consent of the editorial board.

Article Processing Charge (APC)

The Gold Open Access format is used for all journal publications. Article Processing Charges (APCs) are charged to authors. Fees will come from the authors' institution or other research funding agencies. All articles published in our journals are open access and freely available online. The Publisher does not require readers to purchase a subscription of any kind to view the online version of its publications. Our belief is to create a better academic environment with our authors and readers.

Waiver and Discount Policy

USP offers APC waivers and discounts to reduce the financial burden on authors or institutions from low-income countries. For information about our waiver and discount policy for authors in financial need, please contact editorial-pas@usp-pl.com. The Publisher reserves the right to approve or reject an application.

For further information on APCs, authors should consult the journal to which they wish to submit their manuscript.

USP Journal	Article Processing Charges
Probe - Plant & Animal Sciences	US$ 500

Open Access Policy

Universe Scientific Publishing Pte. Ltd. (USP) provides immediate Gold Open Access to its contents, as USP believes that making research freely available to the public helps promote research results and in turn benefits the scholarly community as evidenced by the following:

• Open access brings more exposure to research
• Open access increases research impact
• Open access allows more people to participate in science
• Open access eliminates obstacles and facilitates research applications

All published contents are distributed under the term of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY).

Editorial Policy

In order to make sure that the contributions submitted are in relevance to the style and principle of the journal, authors are obliged to read the "Author Guidelines" before submission.

All contributions submitted to Probe - Plant & Animal Sciences (PAS) are contingent on a rigorous peer review. Aspects such as admissible English language, originality, novelty related to this journal are considered anterior to the peer review process.

All contributions submitted to PAS will not be made available to anyone except our individuals who take part in the publishing process of this manuscript.

Works that has been published or in consideration for publication in other journals are not accepted. If the data of the manuscript are presented in other platforms, authors should notify us. A submission checklist is needed to fill up to ensure the fulfillment of these criteria.

Correction, Retraction, and Withdrawal

Correction

Some mistakes or omissions are inevitable and do not affect the findings and the scientific integrity of the paper. If authors detect any errors in the published article, please contact the journal editor as soon as possible. Under this consideration, the corresponding author will be responsible for sharing the details of the errors with the journal. A corrigendum will be linked to the article corrected under the approval and guidance of the editor.

On rare occasions, the Publisher may correct some minor errors made during the production of an article. If these cases occur, the journal will post an Erratum to correct the errors, and the Erratum will be linked to the article corrected.

Retraction

A published article may be retracted if its integrity is seriously compromised by errors in the conduct, analysis, and/or reporting of the research. If the research violates publication or research ethics, it may also result in the article being retracted. The original version of a retracted article will be marked as retracted. A retraction typically includes a declaration of the reason and initiating party. The PDF content of the article is still available to readers. All links related to the publication online will be pointed to the Retraction. Once a retraction decision is made, all the authors and their institutes will be notified.

Withdrawal

Authors may request a withdrawal of an article. But withdrawal of an article, especially one that has been processed to be under peer review or in progress before being published, is strongly discouraged and only used when there are academic misconducts, ethical violations in the research and publication, or an earlier/incorrect version of the article alleged during the publication process. In this case, a panel will organize an investigation in which the authors are required to cooperate. If the allegations are proven to be true, the internal record of this article will be marked for withdrawal, and the journal will retain a copy of the withdrawn work in the submission archive.

If the authors themselves decide to withdraw their paper (before the publication), they must write to the editors of the journal at editorial-pas@usp-pl.com, stating the reason(s) for withdrawal soundly and clearly. Once the withdrawal is approved, the submission will be removed from the production system but archived in the submission system. A notification email will be sent to all authors. The Publisher will track the authors' requests and limit a maximum of three withdrawal requests across the journals in USP.

A USD200 fee is charged for the withdrawal of a paper, and it should be noted that the paid Article Processing Charge will not be refunded if a paper is withdrawn for academic misconduct and ethical violation.

Advertising Policy

USP will consider advertising opportunities as a means to provide value to our readers. Advertisements must comply with local policies without inducement or deception. All advertisements are subject to approval by the Publisher.  All advertising and sponsorships are without prejudice to editorial decisions. For more inquiries, please send an email to editorial-pas@usp-pl.com.

Preprint Policy

Prior to formal submission to a journal, USP permits and promotes early publication on accredited industry preprint servers for evaluation by other scientists. A cover letter that accompanies a manuscript submission must include information about any accession numbers and any preprint sites. USP prohibits all in-process or peer-reviewed revisions from being posted on preprint servers. A manuscript whose corresponding preprint version has been indexed (e.g., in MEDLINE or PubMed) will not be considered.

Once a manuscript has been accepted by a USP journal, authors should link all preprints to the final online publication in the journal.

Disclaimer

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should understand USP's publishing policies and strictly abide by the relevant laws, regulations, and ethics. Authors are responsible for all contents in their article(s) including the accuracy of the content, statements, citing data, and so on. Facts and opinions in articles published by USP are personal statements of the respective authors.

The journals and the Publisher disclaim any liability for any errors or consequences arising from the use of information contained in the journals. The journals and the Publisher disclaim all responsibility for any injury to a person or property of any person caused by any idea or product mentioned in the articles or in advertisements to which it refers.

In addition, peer reviewers, once they accept the invitation to review, must maintain an objective attitude and be responsible for a fair review of the article. They must be aware of the review policy and proactively disclose any potential conflicts of interest. As for editors, they must avoid the evaluation process of manuscripts that they are involved in as one of the authors and take the initiative to disclose potential interest disputes.

Indexing & Archiving

1. Authors are encouraged to archive the final version of their published article in institutional repositories (such as those listed in the Directory of Open Access Repositories).

2. The National Library Board of Singapore will archive all articles published in USP journals, and all the publications will be digitally preserved by the PKP Preservation Network for the long term.

3. The final PDF version published can be acquired on the website by authors.

AIGC Policy

As per the Guideline on the Boundaries of AIGC Usage in Academic Publishing, the use of Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) in the publishing industry is restricted by boundaries that limit its use across the publishing process, from research to publication. Stakeholders involved in research and publishing need to ensure that the technology is employed with integrity and transparency.

AIGC technology can be utilized for sorting out research background information, suggesting diagram types (with the exception of biology diagrams), making linguistic refinements, organizing citations, and performing automatic sorting. Authors are responsible for verifying the authenticity of AIGC content to ensure precise and dependable research outcomes.

AIGC cannot replace the role of an article author or be credited as one. If authors use such tools to write any part of the manuscript, they must openly and thoroughly describe it in the Methods or Acknowledgements section, including details such as the AIGC tool's name, version number, content written by the AIGC, and the reason for its usage. Furthermore, it is essential to ensure that all participants in the article publication process, such as researchers, authors, peer reviewers, and readers, are informed and openly acknowledge the use of AIGC. Undisclosed AIGC textual content may be considered academic misconduct.

AIGC tools used should adhere to recognized standards and guidelines to guarantee that data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.

Misconduct Policy

We treat all potential academic misconduct seriously. If our editor suspects that the content of a submission may constitute academic misconduct in research, publication, or professional conduct, we may discuss it with the USP Ethics Committee, while withholding key identifying information.

Plagiarism

USP does not approve any form of plagiarism used in submitted manuscripts, and plagiarized articles are not allowed in any publication by USP. Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that they have written an original work. As a part of our commitment to protect the integrity of scholarly publications, we take the necessary steps in all aspects of publishing ethics. All manuscripts submitted to USP journals will be checked for plagiarism via Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) by our Managing Editor before being passed to the Editor-in-Chief. Overlapping and similar texts in the manuscripts submitted will be investigated promptly and may be considered as plagiarism. Any manuscripts found to be plagiarized will be rejected.

Fabrication and falsification

Any acts of fabricating or falsifying, including fabricating data, deceptively reporting research results, concealing conflicting data, deliberately concealing or distorting data, if found to exist at any stage during the evaluation of a manuscript, even though it may have been officially published, will result in direct rejection or retraction by the Publisher.

Duplicate submission

USP does not accept a duplicate submission. Papers must be original and have not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere.