International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Author Guidelines
IJABE Guidelines for Authors
1 About IJABE
Focus and Scope
Int. J. Agric. & Biol. Eng (IJABE) is a peer-reviewed open-access international journal sponsored and published jointly by US-based Association of Overseas Chinese Agricultural, Biological and Food Engineers (AOCABFE) and Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering (CSAE). The ISSN 1934-6344 and eISSN 1934-6352 numbers for the IJABE have been registered, which allow IJABE to publish in both online and print. Open access IJABE provides easy sharing of knowledge, and is thus in the best interest of authors, readers, and increases the availability, accessibility, visibility and impact of the papers, and journal as a whole.
IJABE aims at facilitating development of agricultural and biological engineering, promoting the prosperity of academics, and improving international academic exchange and cooperation. This journal strives to publish the latest high-quality research from a diverse array of topics from the international community. Our readers are from the international scientific community as well as educators, policy makers, agricultural engineers and scientists, and interested members of the public around the world. The major technical categories that the journal covers include, but are not limited to:
Power & Machinery System (PMS)
Design and manufacturing, Mechanization and automation, Man-machine system interaction, Precision agriculture and emerging technologies.
Land & Water Engineering (LWE)
Conservation of water and soil resources and quality, Technology for improvement of soil and water infrastructures, Hydrology, Erosion, Drainage, Water quality and ecosystem integration, Stream corridor restoration, Irrigation management, Infrastructure management.
Bio-environmental Engineering (BEE)
Pollution source and emission, Environmental control technology, Ecological engineering, Waste management, Greenhouse engineering, Safety and health, Life cycle analysis.
Information & Electrical Technologies (IET)
Artificial intelligence, Advanced sensing technology, Biosensors and system control, Computer aided systems, Application of GIS, GPS, and RS in agriculture.
Renewable Energy System (RES)
Innovative energy sources, Renewable energy technologies, Biomass production, handling, and utilization, Energy efficiency and conservation.
Agro-product & Food Processing Engineering (AFPE)
Post-harvest handling and storage, healthy food technology, food and biological processing engineering, Imaging and sensing technology, Safety and security, Biomaterials and bio-chemicals.
Emerging Science, Engineering & Technologies (ESET)
Types of Papers
Cover Caption, Editorial, Review, Research Articles, Forum, Perspectives, Commentary, Brief Communications, Book and Media Reviews, Corrections, Correspondence, etc.
2 Criteria for Publication
IJABE is highly selective in the manuscripts that it publishes; rejection rates are high. To be considered for publication in IJABE, any given manuscript must be exceptional in the following ways:
Originality
Importance to researchers in its field
Interest to scientists outside the field
Rigorous methodology and substantial evidence for its conclusions
3 Journal Manuscript Format
IJABE publishes original research articles of outstanding scientific significance. We will consider manuscripts of any length; we encourage the submission of both substantial full-length bodies of work and shorter manuscripts that report novel findings that might be based on a more limited range of experiments. The key criteria are that the work demonstrates clearly its novelty, its importance to a particular field as well as its interest to those outside that discipline, and conclusions that are justified by the study.
The writing style should be concise and accessible. Editors will make suggestions for how to achieve this, as well as suggestions for cuts or additions that could be made to the article to strengthen the argument. Our aim is to make the editorial process rigorous and consistent, but not intrusive or overbearing. Authors are encouraged to use their own voice and to decide how best to present their ideas, results, and conclusions.
Although we encourage submissions from around the globe, we require that manuscripts be submitted in English. As a step towards overcoming language barriers, we encourage authors fluent in Chinese to provide copies of their full articles or abstracts in Chinese. Translations should be submitted as supporting information and listed, together with other supporting information files, at the end of the article text.
Organization of the Manuscript
Most articles published in IJABE will be organized into the following sections: Title, authors, organizations/ affiliations, abstract, article notes, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusions, references, acknowledgments, tables and figure legends. Uniformity in format will facilitate the experience of readers and users of the journal. Page numbers are required for all sections (figures exempted). There are no specific length restrictions for the overall manuscript or individual sections. However, we urge authors to present and discuss their findings concisely. Our submission system can support a large range of formats for text and graphics, but if you experience difficulties with the site or are concerned about the suitability of your files, please contact us. Please submit your manuscript with double spacing (a blank line under each line of text) for the convenience of the editors and any reviewers. Line number and page number are required.
Title
The title should briefly identify the subject and indicate the purpose of the document, specific yet concise. The title should supply enough information for the reader to make a reliable decision on probable interest. It should be comprehensible to readers outside your field. A short informative title is preferred over a long obtuse one. In short, a good title is defined as the fewest words that adequately describe the paper contents, in which several main keywords should often included. Title should often not exceed ten substantive words excluding articles, prepositions, and conjunctions, except in unusual instances. Please also provide a brief “running head” of approximately 60 characters. Title should not contain “waste” words, which often appear right at the start of the title such as “Study on”, “Investigation on”, “Observation on”, “A/An”, “The”. Avoid special abbreviations, if possible. Titles should be presented in title case, meaning that the first letter of the first word of the title should be capitalized. Title page is needed. The title page should include a word count for text only and the full names, highest academic degrees, and affiliations of all authors. If an author’s affiliation has changed since the work was done, the new affiliation also should be listed.
Authors and Affiliations
Provide the first names or initials (if used), middle names or initials (if used), surnames, and affiliations—department, university or organization, city, state/province (if applicable), and country—for all authors. One of the authors should be designated as the corresponding author. It is the corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure that the author lists, and the summary of the author contributions to the study are accurate and complete. For authors in mainland China, the way of spelling their names should follow “Hanyu Pinyin Fang’an”. For authors from other countries and regions outside China, we respect and adopt their frequently-used spellings of names. Full names are recommended. If the article has been submitted on behalf of a consortium, all consortium members and affiliations should be listed after the Acknowledgments.
Authorship Criteria
Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to published article. Authorship credit should be based only on (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; and (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the version to be published. Conditions 1, 2, and 3 must all be met.
Role of the Corresponding Author
The corresponding author (or coauthor designee) will serve on behalf of all coauthors as the primary
correspondent with the editorial office during the submission and review process. If the manuscript is accepted, the corresponding author will review an edited typescript and proof, make decisions regarding release of information in the manuscript to the news media, government agencies, or both, and will be identified as the corresponding author in the published article. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the Acknowledgment section of the manuscript is complete. “Acknowledgment” is the general term for the list of contributions, credits, and other information included at the end of the text of a manuscript but before the references.
Group Authorship
If authorship is attributed to a group (either solely or in addition to one or more individual authors), all members of the group must meet the full criteria and requirements for authorship as described above. If that is not the case, a group must designate one or more individuals as authors or members of a writing group who meet full authorship criteria and requirements. Other group members who are not authors may be listed in an Acknowledgment.
Abstract
Include a structured abstract (OMRC) of no more than 300 words for research papers of original data and reviews. Abstracts should be prepared for other major manuscripts such as research notes, brief communications, include an unstructured abstract of no more than 200 words that summarizes the objective, main points, and conclusions of the article. Abstracts are not required for editorials,
commentaries, and some special features. The abstract succinctly introduces the paper. It should mention the techniques used without going into methodological detail and mention the most important results. The abstract is conceptually divided into the following four sections: Background/Objective, Methodology, Results/Principal Findings, and Conclusions/Significance, however these headers do not appear in the published article. Please do not include literature citations or references to tables, figures, or equations in the abstract. Avoid specialist abbreviations. In context, a researcher preparing an abstract should think: This is what we studied. This is how we did it. This is what we learned. This is what it means. In detail, the abstract should include a hypothesis or rationale for the work, a brief description of the methods, a summary of the results, and a conclusion: The topic sentence states the purpose of the research: What was studied? What hypothesis was tested? A brief description of the methods should give the reader an idea of the general approach used by the researcher. The abstract should contain only enough about methodology to provide a context for the results. The results should include the major trends and the most important results of the study. Data may be given to emphasize the results; group size, p-values, etc., should not be included. Concise conclusions that can be drawn from the study complete the abstract.
Keywords
A short list of keywords or phrases should be included immediately after the abstract for indexing purpose. In general, 3-8 keywords are recommended, and main keywords should be from the article title. Choose keywords that reflect the content of your article. Note that words in the title are not searchable as keywords unless they are also included in the keyword list.
Article Notes
In published articles, the article notes appear as a footnote at the bottom of the first page. In your manuscript, use the article notes to:
Indicate received date and accepted date of the manuscript.
Indicate manuscript approval by your sponsoring organization or employer, if necessary.
List the full names, AOC, CSAE, or other scholarly membership, professional titles, and professional affiliations and locations for all authors.
List the contact information for the corresponding author, including the full mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address.
Body of the Article
You will want to organize the main text in a manner that can be easily understood by the reader. Depending on the subject matter, this organization may be chronological, spatial, geo-graphical, or any other sequence that develops logically. Manuscripts may be written in either the first or third person. Clearly indicate subdivisions of the main body with headings and sub-headings, but do not use more than three levels of headings. Subheadings facilitate comprehension for all readers and provide a quick summary for the scanning reader. The following are typical headings in a journal article:
Introduction
The introduction should put the focus of the manuscript into a broader context. As you compose the introduction, think of readers who are not experts in this field. The introductory section of the text should include a brief statement of why the research was conducted. It should also define the problem and present objectives (including a description of the subject, scope, and purpose) along with a plan of development of the subject matter. Include a brief review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the experiments and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.
Materials and Methods
This section should provide enough detail for reproduction of the findings. So, sufficient detail should be provided so that the work may be repeated. Do not give details of methods described in readily available sources. Instead, refer to the source and describe any modification. Protocols for new methods should be included, but well-established protocols may simply be referenced. Figures that illustrate test apparatus and tables of treatment parameters or equipment specifications are appropriate here.
Results and Discussion
If warranted, the results and discussion may be combined into one section, or may be divided into two separate sections. This section describes the solution to the problem stated in the introductory section. Use figures and tables to visually supplement the presentation of your results. The text must refer explicitly to all visuals, and you must interpret the visual elements to emphasize the evidence on which your conclusions are based. Do not omit important negative results. The results should provide details of all of the experiments that are required to support the conclusions of the paper. There is no specific word limit for this section, but details of experiments that detract from the focus of the article should not be included. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading. The results section should be written in past tense. The discussion should spell out the major conclusions and interpretations of the work including some explanation on the significance of these conclusions. How do the conclusions affect the existing assumptions and models in the field? How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that must be done? The discussion should be concise and tightly argued. In addition, relate your findings to previous findings by identifying how and why there are differences and where there is agreement. Speculation is encouraged, but it must be identified. Any controversies should also be presented clearly and fairly.
Conclusions
This is a summary of your results. In this section, state any conclusions that can be drawn from your data. You may also include suggestions for future research. The
conclusion may be a subsection of the Results and Discussion section, or it may be a separate section. Data or statements cited in your conclusion must have been stated previously in the article. Do not introduce new information in the conclusion.
Acknowledgments
The “Acknowledgments” section is the general term for the list of contributions, credits, and other information included at the end of the text of a manuscript but before the references. People who contributed to the work, but do not fit the criteria for authors should be listed in the Acknowledgments, along with their contributions. Authors should obtain written permission that anyone named in the Acknowledgments agrees to being so named. Details (project names and coded number) of the funding sources that have supported the work should be confined to the funding statement, which will be revealed in this section.
References
IJABE uses the Vancouver Style, namely, the numbered citation (citation-sequence) method for citing and listing references. In the Vancouver Style, citations within the text of your essay/paper are identified by Arabic numbers in square brackets. This applies to references in text, tables and figures. e.g. [2] – this is the style used by the referencing software Endnote. The Vancouver System assigns a number to each reference as it is cited. Number references in the order they appear in the text; do not alphabetize. A number must be used even if the author(s) is named in the sentence/text. The author should number and list the references in Arabic numerals according to the citation order in the text. Put reference numbers in square brackets in superscript at the end of citation content or after the cited author’s name. For citation content which is part of the narration, the coding number and square brackets should be typeset normally. For example, “The structural and engineering design of the farm Robert meets agronomic needs[1,2]”. If references are cited directly in the text, they should be put together within the text, for example, “From references [1,3-8], we know that...” Multiple citations within a single set of brackets should be separated by commas. Where there are more than three sequential citations, they should be given as a range. For example: “...has been shown previously[1, 4-6, 10].” Make sure the parts of the manuscript are in the correct order for the relevant journal before ordering the citations. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct text citation. When the authors write the references, please ensure that the order in text is the same as in the references section and also ensure the spelling accuracy of the first author’s name. Do not list the same citation twice. When the authors list the references, abbreviated names of journals according to the journals list in PubMed. For all references, list all authors and/or editors up to six; if more than six, list the first six followed by “et al.” Note: Journal references should include the issue number in parentheses after the volume number. Because all references will be linked electronically as much as possible to the papers they cite, proper formatting of the references is crucial. You can include a DOI number for the full-text article as an alternative to or in addition to traditional volume and page numbers. Please use the following style for the reference list:
Examples of reference style:
Journal Article
Published Papers
[1] Chen W, Foss M, Tseng K F, Zhang D. Redundant Mechanisms Recruit Actin into the Contractile Ring in Silkworm Spermatocytes. PLoS Biol. 2008; 6(9): e209. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060209.
Same as above, but “In press” appears instead of the page numbers. Example: Science, 2008, In press.
Electronic Journal Articles
[1] Loker W M. “Campesinos” and the crisis of modernization in Latin America. J Pol Ecol, 1996. Available: http://www.library. arizona. edu/ej/jpe/volume_3/ ascii-lokeriso.txt. Accessed on [2006-08-11].
Books
[1] Bates B. Bargaining for life: A social history of tuberculosis. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1992. 435 p.
Book Chapters
[1] Hansen B. New York City epidemics and history for the public. In: Harden V A, Risse G B (Ed.), editors. AIDS and the historian. Bethesda: National Institutes of Health.1991. pp. 21–28.
Degree Dissertation
[1] Wang Yingkuan. Open access publishing of scientific scholarly journals in China. PhD dissertation. Beijing: Peking University, 2006, 12. 240 p.
Newspaper Article
[1] Di Rado A. Trekking through college: Classes explore modern society using the world of Star trek. Los Angeles Times, 1995-03-15 ( p. A3).
Encyclopedia Article
[1] Sturgeon T. Science fiction. In: The encyclopedia Americana. Danbury, CT: Grolier. 1995, Vol. 24: pp. 390-392.
ERIC Document
[1] Fuss-Reineck M. Sibling communication in Star trek: The next generation: Conflicts between brothers. Miami F L: Annual Meeting of the Speech Communication Association. ERIC Document Reproduction Service, 1993, No. ED 364932.
Website
[1] Pretty Jules N. Regenerating Agriculture: Policies and Practice for Sustainability and Self-Reliance. Washington D C: Joseph Henry Press. 1995. http://www.nap.edu/ books/0309052467/ html/index.html. Accessed on [2006-06-12].
Manuscript Style
Spelling
The Journal uses US spelling and authors should therefore follow the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Units
We strongly encourage the use of SI units. All
measurements must be given in SI or SI-derived units. If you do not use these exclusively, please provide the SI value in parentheses after each value.
Abbreviations
Please keep abbreviations to a minimum, only where they ease the reader's task by reducing repetition of long, technical terms. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation only. Non-standard abbreviations should not be used unless they appear at least three times in the text.
Trade names
Chemical substances should be referred to by the generic name only. Trade names should not be used when it is not essential or ambiguous. If trade names are used, the name and location of the manufacturer must be given.
……
