AGROCHIMICA - INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS
Journal scope
Agrochimica publishes in English original papers, reviews and short communications written by researchers from all over the world and peer reviewed by referees familiar with the fields of research involved. The Journal focuses on plant and soil chemistry and biochemistry as well as on the chemical aspects of plant nutrition. Also covered are several new, rapidly-expanding fields such as agricultural and environmental pollution, agro-industrial biotechnology, pesticides and agricultural waste treatment and disposal. The Journal places particular attention on all scientific aspects connected with the agricultural chemistry and the environment protection.
Ethics
Multiple reporting of research - Papers (or parts of them) should not be already published or under editorial consideration for publication elsewhere. Resubmission of a previously rejected manuscript is permitted following Editor’s decision.
Plagiarism - The Editor will not tolerate plagiarism.
Submission of manuscripts
Manuscripts should be submitted by e-mail to agrochimica@agr.unipi.it together with the corresponding author’s name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers.
Manuscript types
Original papers should report original researches that are expected to have a definite impact on the progress of science and technology. Originality will be documented by novel experimental results, theoretical treatments, interpretations of data, and absence of prior publications on the same/similar topics as evidenced by the literature cited in the manuscript or in bibliographic indexes. A manuscript must not exceed 25 double-spaced pages (font: Times; font size: 12 points) with 2.5 cm margins, including summary, references, tables and figures.
Reviews should report information in a field in which the literature is scattered or should deal with published data or other information so as to provide a new approach or to stimulate further research. A manuscript must not exceed 40 double-spaced pages (font: Times; font size: 12 points) with 2.5 cm margins, including summary, references, tables and figures.
Short communications should describe results deemed to be of high importance and urgency in their field. Only manuscripts reporting complete research, as opposed to preliminary results, will be considered. A justified request for expedited handling should be included in the letter accompanying the manuscript. Short communications must not exceed 10 double-spaced pages (font: Times; font size: 12 points) with 2.5 cm margins, including summary, references, tables and figures.
Conference proceedings. The Editor will consider publication of a series of manuscripts (proceedings) reporting original researches presented in a conference or otherwise clustered around a single topic. Conference organizers should contact the Editor well in advance to determine whether the subject matter conforms to the goals and criteria of Agrochimica, and to obtain specific instructions for submission of the manuscripts.
Editorial peer review process
Peer review is used to ensure quality of published manuscripts. Scientists with expertise in the subject will evaluate the manuscripts for validity of the experimental design and results, originality, significance, and appropriateness to the Journal.
A new manuscript submission is forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief who assess whether the submission meets Journal standards and criteria for publication. The Editor normally secures two reviewers for each manuscript. The Editor may exercise a prerogative to decline a manuscript without peer review if the paper is judged to be outside the scope of the Journal, poorly written or formatted, fragmentary and only marginally incremental, or lacking in significance.
Anonymous copies of the reviewers’ comments and the Editor’s decision are sent to the corresponding author. If reviewers’ and Editor’s comments are not satisfied by the authors, the Editor may reject the manuscript. If the reviewers’ evaluations of the manuscript disagree, the Editor may select additional reviewers who may assist the Editor in reaching the final decision. Manuscripts accepted for publication will be paged edited and sent to the corresponding author for galley proof corrections. Once accepted for publication, the manuscript cannot be withdrawn.
Time of publication
Manuscripts will be reviewed within 2 months from the submission date and published within 3 months from the final acceptance. When papers need a revision, usually only a single revised version will be considered and the revised manuscript should be submitted within 4 weeks from the request.
Manuscript organisation
Word-processing details. Do not include any page-layout instructions such as placement information for graphics in the file. The text should be ‘left-justified’, and automatic end-of-line hyphenation should be turned off. Use carriage returns only to end headings and paragraphs, not to break lines of text. Do not insert spaces before punctuation. To ensure expeditious processing of a manuscript, the references should conform to the format described under References. Ensure that all characters are correctly represented throughout the manuscript: for example, 1 (one) and l (ell), 0 (zero) and O or o (oh), x (eks) and × (times sign). Check the final copy carefully for consistent notation and correct spelling. The Editorial Office conversion programme will faithfully transfer any errors to the typeset copy. Ensure that all special characters (Greek characters, mathematic symbols, etc.) are present in the body of the text as characters (Symbol font) and not as graphic representations.
Language. Standard English use is required (both British and American English). Authors who are not familiar with the English language are urged to seek assistance. Deficiencies in grammar may present serious hindrance during the review process.
File format. Manuscripts should be prepared using accepted word-processing software. When preparing a manuscript use the document mode or its equivalent in the word-processing programme. Files should not be saved in “Text Only” (ASCII) mode. If a non-Western version of the word-processing software is used, save the file in rich-text format (RTF).
Page and line numbering. All pages should be numbered consecutively starting with the title page and including tables. The lines of each page should be also numbered.
Text. Text (including the title page, all sections of the paper, tables, references and figure captions) should be included in the same file, whereas figures should be sent as separate
files and not included in the text file. The various sections of the manuscript should be double-spaced and assembled in the following sequence:
Title, running title, authorship, institutional affiliations, keywords and abbreviations (title page)
Summary
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results/Discussion/Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References
Tables
Figure captions
Abbreviations may be used provided they are clearly explained in parentheses the first time they are used.
The Editor may exercise a prerogative to decline or to request a new submission of a manuscript without peer review if the paper does not satisfy the format indicated in the present guide.
Title, authorship and affiliations
Title - The title should be specific and informative and, possibly, brief and clear. If a plant is referred to in the title or elsewhere in the text by its common or trivial name, it should be identified by its scientific name in parentheses immediately following first occurrence.
Running title - It should not exceed 50 characters, spaces included.
Authorship - Be consistent in authorship designation in the manuscript and in all correspondence. First and middle name initials and surname are generally adequate for correct identification, but omit titles. The name of the author to whom inquiries should be addressed (corresponding author) should be marked with an asterisk which specifies in a footnote his/her current e-mail address.
Institutional affiliations - Under the names of the authors write the names of their institutions, then assign a number (1, 2, 3…) to each institution and put the appropriate number in superscript after the author’s surname. Specify the institutional affiliation of each author (only the name of the institution, city and country), and give only the complete mailing address of the corresponding author.
Keywords - Provide significant keywords (no more than 5) to aid prospective readers in literature retrieval. Keywords should be listed in alphabetical order.
Abbreviations - Abbreviations should be listed in alphabetical order after the keywords.
Summary
Summary is used directly for bibliographical indexes, and for this reason it should be clear, concise (maximum 150 words), informative rather than descriptive, giving scope and purpose, experimental approach, significant results, and major conclusions. Abbreviations may be used provided they are clearly explained in parentheses the first time they are used.
Introduction
Discuss relationships of the study to previously published works but do not reiterate or attempt to provide a complete literature survey. The purpose of, or reason for, the research which has been undertaken and its significance, originality or contribution to new knowledge
in the field should be clearly and concisely stated. Do not include or summarize current findings in this section.
Materials and methods
Apparatus, reagents, and biological materials used in the study should be incorporated into a general section. List and describe preparation of special reagents only. Reagents normally found in the laboratory and preparations described in standard handbooks or texts should not be listed. Specify the source, vendor (city and country) and availability of special equipment, reagents, kits, etc. Do not include catalogue numbers. Biological material should be identified by its scientific name (genus, species and family) and cultivar, if appropriate, together with the site from which the sample was obtained. Specific experimental methods should be sufficiently detailed for others to repeat the experiments unequivocally. Omit details of procedures that are common known to researchers in the field. Brief highlights of published procedures may be included, but details should be referred to the References. Describe pertinent and critical factors involved in analytical procedures so that the method can be reproduced but avoid excessive description. Describe statistical design and methods in this section.
Units of measure - The metric system is standard, and SI units must be used as much as possible. Use negative exponents to indicate units in the denominator when three or more units are used (e.g., μmol m-2 s-1 rather than μmol/m2/s).
Equations and formulae - Write all equations and formulae clearly and number equations consecutively. Place superscripts and subscripts accurately; avoid superscripts that may be confused with exponents.
Results/Discussion/Conclusions
Results and Discussion may be presented in separate sections or combined into a single section. Be complete but concise in discussing findings, comparing results with previous works and proposing explanations for the results obtained. All data should be accompanied by appropriate statistical analyses. Avoid comparisons or contrasts that are not pertinent, and avoid speculations that are not supported by the results obtained. A separate Conclusion section should be used.
Acknowledgements
Include essential credits but keep these to an absolute minimum. Acknowledgement of financial support should be included in this section.
References
Authors should cite all published works directly pertinent to the manuscript. However, extensive bibliographies that go beyond a direct connection with the manuscript are discouraged. Authors should limit citations to 30 (for reviews the limit is 60). Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references.
Papers should not depend for their usefulness on unpublished material, and excessive reference to material “in press” is discouraged. Reference to the authors’ own unpublished work is permitted if the subject is of secondary importance to the manuscript in question, but any unpublished results of central importance should be described in sufficient detail within the manuscript. If pertinent references are “in press” or unpublished for any reason, furnish copies to enable reviewers to evaluate the manuscript.
Citations in text
The authors’ surname should be cited in parentheses using the SMALL CAPITAL font followed by comma and year of publication:
One author: (SMITH, 2011)
Two authors: (SMITH andWHITE, 2011)
More than two authors: (SMITH et al., 2011)
References
References should be arranged first alphabetically and without numbering, and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication. Cite the name of all authors in inverted form (surname first, then first and middle initials) and using SMALL CAPITALS. Do not use “Anonymous”. If more than seven authors write ‘et al.’ after the sixth author. Title and subtitle should be separate by a full stop and not by a colon. References should be formatted as shown below (please note punctuation and capitalization). Journal names should be abbreviated according to CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service): http://www.cas.org/content/references/corejournals.
Journal article:
SENESI N.: Binding mechanisms of pesticides to soil humic substances. Sci. Total Environ. 123, 63-76 (1992).
HOGY P., FANGMEIER A.: Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on grain quality of wheat. J. Cereal Sci. 48, 580-591 (2008).
CRATHORNE B., FIELDING M., STEEL P.C., WATTS C.D.: Proteoid roots in white lupin (Lupinus albus L.). J. Plant Physiol. 130, 797-801 (1984).
ROSSI V., CAFFI T., LEGLER S.E., CAROTENUTO E., BIGOT G.: Large scale application of a web-based Decision Support System for sustainable viticulture. IOBC/WPRS Bull. (2014b). In press.
On-line journal article:
KITSON R.E., MELON M.G.: Colorimetric determination of phosphorus. Ind. Eng. Chem. 16, 379-383 (2004). doi: 10.1021/ja047915p. Available at http://www.ejpau.media.it.
Book:
STEEL R.G.D., TORRIE J.H., DICKEY D.A.: Principles and Procedure of Statistics. A Biometrical Approach. McGraw-Hill, New York, USA, 2nd ed. (2009).
Book chapter:
TERZI V., MORCIA C., FACCIOLI P.: Molecular traceability in the post-genomic era: an application of DNA technology to food science. In: Food Science and Technology: New Research (Greco L.V. and Bruno M.N., eds.). Nova Science Publishers Inc., New York, USA, pp. 211-241 (2008).
Proceedings:
EVLARD A., CAMPANELLA B., PAUL R.: In vitro effects of cadmium on ectomycorrhizal fungi growth. Proceedings of the International Conference on Environmental Pollution and Clean Bio/Phytoremediation (Pisa, Italy, 16-19 June 2010), p. 24 (2010).
Thesis:
SABEL F.: Field Studies on Soil Erosion. M.S. Thesis, University of Munich, Germany (1988).
Tables
Tables should be inserted after the Reference section. Each table should be inserted in a single page. Create tables with an accepted word-processing programme and number them
consecutively using Arabic numerals. Ensure each data entry is in its own table cell. Each table should be provided with a descriptive heading which, together with the individual column headings, should make the table self-explanatory. If significance of values is to be indicated, use a superscript letter immediately after the value. Abbreviations and statistical analysis description should be inserted in a footnote immediately below the table.
Figures
Submission – Each figure should be sent as a separate file and not included in the text file, except for captions which should be listed in the text file. Figures and captions should be sequentially numbered using Arabic numerals. The journal does not publish coloured figures/photographs.
Quality - The quality of the illustrations printed in the Journal depends on the quality of the originals figures provided by the authors. Since figures cannot be modified or enhanced by the journal production staff, only readable and accurately drawn figures are acceptable. Therefore, the Editors could reject images that do not satisfactorily support data/statements reported in the manuscript or that are not of satisfactory quality for publication. Moreover, only high-quality digital reproductions will allow reviewers to correctly verify the experimental results. For the above reasons, when electronic artwork is finalized, please “save as” or convert to TIFF or JPEG formats:
grayscale photographs (halftones): keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
bitmapped (pure black and white pixels) line drawings: keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (grayscale): keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.
Contrast is important. For manuscripts containing images of gel patterns the use of a high resolution digital scanner is recommended.
Size - The maximum size of 20 x 30 cm should not be exceeded. For best results, submit illustrations at the actual size at which they should appear in the journal.
Lettering and lines - Avoid the use of very large and very small lettering within the same figure: lettering should be no smaller than 4.5 points and lines should be no thinner than 0.5 point. If the artwork submitted needs to be reduced, use larger lettering and thicker lines so that, when reduced, the artwork meets the above mentioned values. Lettering and lines should be of uniform density.
Proofs and offprints
Proofs - Galley proofs are made available only to the corresponding author of a paper by e-mail. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ascertain that all co-authors agree with the corrections before the corrections are returned. Corrections should be designated by galley proof page and line numbers. Galley proofs are to be returned within 7 days. At this stage of the editorial process galley proofs cannot be withdrawn.
Charges - There are no charges for publication of original papers, reviews and short communications.
Charge for offprints or electronic versions (PDF) is required and depends on number and paper pages.
Offprints - Please return by e-mail or fax the ‘Offprint Order Form’ and/or the ‘PDF Order Form’ (completely filled in together with corrected galley proof) to the following address:
Pisa University Press s.r.l.
e-mail: seymons.press@unipi.it
Fax (+39) 050 2212945
Offprints will normally be shipped within 2 months from the printed journal release.
