Advances in Approaches and Tools for the Assessment of Animal Welfare and Behavioural States

Dear Colleagues,

Animal welfare is now a central focus of animal science, driven by growing ethical and societal concern for the quality of life of domestic species and by the recognition of its direct impact on product quality, environmental sustainability and animal and human health. Farmed, companion and working animals are exposed to a wide range of welfare challenges that can affect their physiological condition, emotional balance, natural behaviours and overall performance. The evaluation of their welfare status represents the essential first step toward its improvement and the identification of conditions requiring corrective measures. This Special Issue aims to explore innovative approaches and tools for assessing animal welfare and behavioural states, encouraging the integration of behavioural, physiological, health-related and technological perspectives. We invite contributions that advance scientific knowledge and methodologies for evaluating welfare across species and contexts.

We particularly welcome the following studies:
• Identify key welfare challenges in domestic species;
• Develop, refine, or validate novel assessment methods, indicators, or technologies;
• Integrate behavioural, physiological and health approaches in welfare assessment;
• Investigate the relationships between behaviour, welfare outcomes and performance across different environments and management systems.

Research encompassing farmed, companion, working and athletic animals is encouraged. By bringing together multidisciplinary perspectives, this Special Issue seeks to advance our understanding and assessment of animal welfare, ultimately contributing to more ethical, effective and sustainable human–animal relationships.

Dr. Alda Quattrone
Dr. Livio Galosi
Prof. Laura Menchetti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.