Folia veterinaria is the scientific journal published by the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Slovakia. The first Volume of this journal was issued in 1956.
Up to the 25th Volume (1981) of Folia veterinaria, the contributions were published only in Slovak with summaries in foreign languages, namely in Russian, English and German. Even in this form the articles raised interest abroad, which was witnessed by many citations in papers published in the relevant field. Starting from the 8th Volume (1964), the original annual issues were replaced by four single issues or two double issues per year.
A very important milestone in the history of Folia veterinaria was the 26th Volume (1982), because starting with this volume all contributions have been published in English. An exception was a Supplement published in 1984 in Slovak on the occasion of the 25 and 30 years of existence of the Veterinary College in Košice.
In 1992, the name of the Veterinary College was changed to the University of Veterinary Medicine (UVM) and, subsequently, starting from the 37th Volume (1993), the journal changed its format to A4, to correspond to the worldwide formats of scientific journals. Selection of papers helped to increase citations in the journals published abroad. Starting from the 42nd Volume, the number of articles published annually increased considerably after returning to four individual issues per year, each to an extent of about 56 printed pages.
In 2009, the name of the university changed to the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy (UVMP) and, at the same time, the range of manuscript topics of Folia veterinaria was extended by contributions from the pharmaceutical field.
From 1998 till 2014 (Volumes 4258), in addition to four annual issues also special Supplements were published irregularly, devoted to selected topics presented at international scientific conferences and symposiums organized on university premises, or to important jubilees.
In the years 2008 to 2015 (Volumes 52−59) one of the four annual issues was devoted to the selected papers presented at the Student Scientific Conference organised annually by the UVMP.
In 2016, important conceptual changes have occurred in Folia veterinaria. Starting with this year (Volume 60), Folia veterinaria is published on-line as an open access journal by De Gruyter Open. Four issues are published quarterly, each containing minimum 10 scientific articles, most of them supplemented with colour pictures and graphs of high quality. New editorial board of the journal was appointed. As previously, the posts of Editor-in-Chief and Deputy/Managing Editor are held by top University functionaries.
Owing to its periodicity, Folia veterinaria enables rapid spreading of new information and thus has become an inevitable part of the scientific environment of the University and it has been particularly valued by young scientists. All manuscripts submitted for publication are reviewed by two independent reviewers (open peer review), acknowledged professionals, and are subject to publication ethics control. The language of articles before publication is checked by a native English speaker.
An important advantage of the journal is that it is fully supported by the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice and there are no fees for publication of accepted articles. On-line publication by De Gruyter Open ensures a worldwide access to its content, which caused an increase in citations and intensity of contacts with professionals in other countries. The scope of the journal topics is wide as it covers practically the whole field of veterinary medicine and provides opportunity to authors from relevant areas to publish their results and at the same time allows the readers to become acquainted with the recent progress in veterinary medicine.
Owing to its scope, the journal gains readers also from among state and private veterinarians and professional public. Information from the journal is useful also to undergraduate and postgraduate students of the University who welcome the opportunity to publish their articles in case of obtaining outstanding scientific results that are presented at the Student Scientific Conference and Seminar for postgraduate students, organised annually at the UVMP. In this way they can also contribute to the journal success and, at the same time, present their results on a worldwide scale.
In conclusion we can state that by its more than 60 years of existence, the journal Folia Veterinaria has contributed considerably to the good name of the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice not only in Slovakia but also abroad.