Journal history

Created in 1947, it succeeded the Recueil de médecine vétérinaire exotique (Exotic Veterinary Medicine Collection), which was published from 1928 to 1940. Originally conceived as a “liaison body” designed to “make public the works of [French] services, laboratories and isolated researchers”, “to serve as a bridge between them”, and “to collect the documents that are often left idle in official archives”, REMVT also deemed from the start that it was its duty to make known the “results of similar services in foreign countries” and “offer a review of foreign studies”. Short summaries in English and Spanish were added in 1956 at the end of the original articles in French. Beginning mid-1970s, articles in English were published, at first sparsely. This trend amplified when, alongside the works of veterinarians and researchers from the French Institute of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine for Tropical Countries (IEMVT), and of livestock services of francophone countries in Africa, the Journal began to publish studies by English-speaking researchers, for example from Nigeria or Sudan.

In 1984, CIRAD was created and IEMVT became one of its founding departments. In the 1990s onward, CIRAD researchers gradually published more often their original works in English in international journals, saving for REMVT research reviews aimed at a French-speaking readership who did not have access to the aforementioned journals. At this point, the researchers of the newly established national research institutes in warm countries, particularly in Africa, proposed their work more frequently to the Journal.

CIRAD teams and their partners from the South remain much attached to the Journal, especially for its educational role in scientific publication. It encourages the reviewers of the manuscripts to provide detailed comments and has a pedagogical role, giving authors specific tools to progress in the presentation of their results. It also welcomes manuscripts on highly finalized subjects related to livestock breeding and the environment of tropical and Mediterranean regions, often describing studies at the interface of research and development, or it serves as a niche for studies mainly aimed at a French-language readership. These functions do not lessen its demand for scientific quality, which it has always sought to promote and which contribute to its reputation as a journal aiming at scientific advancement and rigor.

From 1947 to 2005, REMVT published its articles in quarterly issues, producing four issues printed with continuous pagination in an annual volume, referenced and archived in scientific libraries.

Since 2006, REMVT has published its contents in open access on the Internet, with no publication fees for authors or readers.

In January 2023, REMVT’s publication schedule changed to provide continuous publication of articles accessible online as they are accepted.