Submissions

Author Guidelines

General Instruction

Authors are strictly advised to read this section carefully and adhere to the instructions provided prior to submitting their manuscripts to Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences to avoid inconveniences. Papers submitted to our journal should not be published elsewhere and are not curretly uder consideration by another journal. 

Only manuscripts that are written in clear and concise English will be accepted for review and must use American spelling as well as standard scientific usage. It is advised to check spelling and grammar before submitting. Manuscripts submitted to our journal should be based on original researches that are reproducible. Reviews and Short Communications should bear international relevance.

The manuscript should be presented on A4 (8.27 x 11 inches) paper, 1.5 spacing with 1 inch margin in all four sides.  Please use the font Times New Roman, size 12 throughout the manuscript. Complex mathematical equations should be presented using Microsoft friendly software. Do not use web-linked graphically designed equations, tables, graphs or other illustrations.

Manuscripts should be submitted prefferablly using the online submission system. In case of difficulties, they can be alternatively submitted using the emails electronically case.jaes@gmail.com  In online submission system the authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process. Submissions by anyone other than one of the authors will not be accepted. Only manuscripts written in MS Word are acceptable. There is no page limit. Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere and are not currently under consideration by another journal. The submitting author is responsible for ensuring that the article’s publication has been approved by all the other coauthors. It is also the authors’ responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular institution are submitted with the approval of the necessary institution. Only an acknowledgment from the editorial office officially establishes the date of receipt. Further correspondence and proofs will be sent to the author(s) before publication unless otherwise indicated. It is a condition of submission of a paper that the authors permit editing of the paper for readability.

Structure of the Manuscript

Typical research papers to be submitted to the Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences should have the flowing order: Title, Authors’ names and addresses, Corresponding author’s email, Abstract, Key words, Introduction, Materials and Methods or Methodology, Results and Discussion, Conclusion, Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgement, References. For Review and Short Communication, variation to the above structure is acceptable. First level headers should be written by capitalizing each important word: e.g. 1. Introduction, 2. Materials and Method etc. Second level headers should be written as sentence case: e.g. 2.1 Description of the study area while third level headers as sentence case and italicized: e.g. 2.2.1. Data collection and analysis.

Title

Should be concise and represent the scope of the objective(s) and overall content of the paper. A clear link should be evident between the title, objective and conclusions. As much as possible, scientific names should be replaced with common names, and the former should be placed in keywords. 

Authors’ names

Should appear below the title and should be followed by their respective Affiliations. An asterisk (*) should be added to the right of the corresponding author`s name. The authors` affiliations should be indicated by superscripts ¹, ², ³… placed after each name and before each affiliation. Corresponding author’s email should also be provided e.g. Corresponding author: melak@gmail.com.

Abstract

Should be limited to not more than 300 words, and should be self contained without reference which is written in single spacing. It should contain background statement, objective, key elements of Materials and Methods, main findings, conclusion and recommendation in one paragraph. This section should be complete and particularly factual with results sufficiently supported by empirical data.

Key words

After the abstract, use 5-7 important words from the Abstract, excluding those in the title. These words are useful for retrieval of the paper from various repositories. Separate the words using commas and arrange them alphabetically.

Introduction

It should include information in the form of paragraphs: background of the study, the problem of concern, hypothesis to be tested, significance/rationale of the study, what exists in literature, the specific gaps and objectives of study. Use current journal literature where applicable. This section should not exceed two pages of double spaced text.

 Materials and Methods or Methodology

This section should be informative enough to enable the readers to interpret the results objectively or use the methods for a similar study, without requiring further clarifications. As such, avoid vague or confusing statements. Common methods can be indicated by giving references.  Particular attention should be paid to the study factors/treatments and their structure, design, analysis and other statistical considerations. The sequence of implementation of the study should be followed strictly. For cases where multiple procedures and models exist, the choice of one may need justification. In such cases, citations of credible and latest sources of relevant information should be included. In all cases, please cite the developer and not the user of a procedure.

Include the name, address, code and country of the suppliers or manufacturers of any chemical or apparatus used. The section can be subdivided in to different sub-headers like Description of the study area, Data collection and analysis and etc.

Results and Discussion

Results should be concise along with statistical tools, where applicable, to enable readers make factual inferences. Avoid narrative texts that reproduce information already presented in illustrations. Data should be presented either in tables or figures. Do not present the same results in tables and figures. Discussion should follow each result. It is an exclusively explanation section and should not be a reproduction of the contents of the Results section. Authors must discuss their results articulately first before rushing to literature to substitute for their much needed professional contributions. Indicate clearly the significance and implications of the results obtained, in the context of the answers expected against the study objectives, and subsequently, how they auger with the existing literature on the subject. Citations should preferably consist of current literature and largely from peer reviewed journals.

Conclusion

This part should clearly highlight the importance and relevance of the work. It should indicate the results of the objectives set. It should not include any statement that was discussed in the results. Its content should not substantially duplicate the abstract made. Based on the results, specific recommendations might be given for the future research or development intervention.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors should declare the absence of conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgement

This section is optional. It could be made to financial contributors, pre-paper reviews, etc. Do not include friends and family members; these suite best in project reports.

 References

Except principal facts, all information should be supported with sources as references. It is recommended mostly to cite published scholarly materials like journals, books, periodicals, documentary materials, statistical abstracts, annual reports and etc. citation of unpublished materials like reports, thesis or dissertation, must be avoided or at least kept to a minimum. All references cited in the text must be included in the list of references at the end of the paper and all references listed under references section must be cited in the text. As a rule cross-reference is not allowed. If it is to be used due to some reasons, it should not be more than two or three citations. In this case, both the original work and the work that referred it should be cited as Abebe (2002) as cited in Alemu et al. (2011).

Citation in the text

Follow name-year citation system in the Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences: e.g. according to Abebe et al. (2018) or according to Abebe and Belay (2018). In the case where more references are cited, follow the chronological order (Belay, 2010; Abebe, 2015; Beay et al., 2018). When more than one article is published by the same author in the same year assign to each article the letters a, b, c: Abebe 2010a; Abebe 2010b; Abebe 2010c in the text as well as in the reference section. For an article with more than two authors, use et al. after the name of the first author in the text. However, in the reference section all author`s names and their initial should be listed.

Reference listing

All references are listed alphabetically with the author surname. All author names should bear their initials after the surname or last name of each author or co-author, but separated by a comma. Examples of reference listing:

For journals

Benepal, P. S.  (1967). Interrelations among plant nutrients application levels on yield of potatoes. American Potato Journal. 44(6): 187–194.

Bitew, Y. and Alemayehu, M. (2017). Impact of crop production inputs on soil health: A review. Asian Journal of Plant Sciences. 16: 109-131.  

Yayeh,  S.G., Alemayehu,  M.,  Haileslassie,  A.,  and Dessalegn,  Y. (2017). Economic and agronomic optimum rates of NPS fertilizer for irrigated garlic (Allium sativum L) production in the highlands of Ethiopia. Cogent Food & Agriculture. 3: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2017.1333666

Books

Olsen, S.R., and Dean, L.A. (1965). Phosphorous. In C. A. Black (Ed.), Methods of soil analysis—Part 2: Chemical and microbiological properties, (Vol. 9, pp. 1035–1049). Madison: American Society of Agronomy.

OR

Rai, N. and Yadav, D.S. (2005).  Advances in vegetable production. New Delhi: Researchco Book Centre.

Proceedings

Aklile, M., Alemayehu, M., Alemayehu, G. (2016). Performance evaluation of tomato varieties for irrigation production system in Mecha District of West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. In: Alemayehu, M. (ed.). Proceeding of the 3^rd Annual National Conference on “Agriculture and Environmental Management for Sustainable Development”, 17-18 June, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. pp. 142-157.

Thesis

Mekashaw, M. (2016).  Assessment of farmer’s production practices and effects of different rates of NPS fertilizer on yield and yield components of potato (Solanum tuberosum L) variety under irrigated farming system in Dessie Zuria District, Amhara Region, Ethiopia (M.Sc. thesis). Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia.

Information from the web pages

Central Statistic Agency. (2013). Report on area and production of major crops. Vol. I. Bulletin No. 532. Retrieved from http://www.csa.gov.et

Tham, M.T. (1997). Distillation: An introduction. http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/distil/distil0.htm. Retrieved: May 20, 2001.

For others

Personal communication may be cited only in the text and not listed in the Reference section. Provide name, title, institution or organisation (address), and year. Only top professionals/experts on the subject are considered for “personal communication”. In very rare cases, critical unpublished materials may be accepted for cited only in the text.

There may be cases of articles not easily accessible, particularly electronically. In such cases use of “as cited by” could be acceptable, but only the citer’s article is listed in the Reference section of the manuscript.

Illustrations

All illustrations (Tables, Figures, maps, photos, drawings, etc.) and information about them should be complete to make them independent of the main manuscript text. Captions should be brief, but should adequately describe contents. Generally, captions should be self explanatory.  Tables and Figures should be numbered consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and cited as Table 1, Table 2…, Figure 1, Figure 2, …..  The captions of Tables should appear at the top of the table while that of Figures at the bottom of the figure and will have the same font size with the text and not in bold face. Each column or row of the table must have headings with the first letter in upper-case.

Avoid vertical lines to separate the columns of Tables. Horizontal lines are used to delineate the headings of the Tables and column headings, and at the bottom of the Table to show the end of the Table. Tables should not be drawn from shape lines but should be automatically inserted. Footnotes may be put under tables to elaborate data in tables. Use different number of asterisks (*, ** ) to describe 5 and 1% level of statistical significance and non-significant (NS) for non-significant mean comparisons. You may also elaborate abbreviations found in the table using the foot note.

In Figures, X- and Y- axes of the Figures should be labeled. Photographs should be extremely vital to impact readers about, for instance, a new disease symptom or effect of a treatment. Good photographs replace a great deal of text and not vice-versa. Illustrations should permit adjustment of size at least up to 50%. Use of colored illustrations is encouraged for our online publication. All Figures should be posted in Microsoft Word manuscript file rather than other formats such as JPG, JPEG, PNG and TIFF. Graphs made in MS-Excel should be saved in MS-Excel format when saved in MS-Word.

Review system

The Journal appoints two active researchers or experts on the subject of the manuscript. Reviews are anonymous. Whenever contrasts of opinion arise between the two reviewers, a third reviewer is appointed or the editorial committee makes a decision based on the intensity of the review reports from the both reviewers.

Paper revision

The author will receive the comments of the reviewers from the editor. The author is advised to submit the revised manuscript in accordance with the deadlines provided by the Editor. Longer intervals may lead the manuscript being treated as a new submission. Authors are supposed to return the revised version of the paper along with the “comment-by-response” rebuttal sheet.

Quality control policy and conflict resolution

Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences operates a zero-tolerance policy to research and publication misconduct (including plagiarism, falsification, cheating and other forms of ethical misconduct). Offenders are alerted and barred from subsequent publication with the Journal, unless they provide satisfactory rebuttals. We use the two anonymous tire peer reviewer system, and adopt a third one in case of conflicting review reports. We access global expertise for peer reviewers for various disciplines. This is very helpful in resolving local conflicts within our limited and fairly slow review system. Ultimately, the editorial committee evaluates the reviewers’ reports for objectivity and adequacy and neutrality, and the outcome, in part is a basis for further considerations/re-appointment of reviewers for other engagements. Feedback from the journal readership, authors, reviewers and International Editorial Advisory Board constitutes key input into the journal’s quality improvement.

Proof reading

Galley proofs will normally be sent to the author for approval for final publication.

 Publication charge

There is no publication fee to publish in the Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

Submission preparation checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
2. The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format.
3. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
4. The text is 1.5 spaced; uses a 12-point font and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
5. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in author guideline.