12/21/23, 11:16 AM Submission Guidelines - Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka

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Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka

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Author Guidelines
Submission Preparation Checklist
Copyright Notice
Privacy Statement
Publication Fees

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Submission Guidelines

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Author Guidelines
Policy for Publication Fees
There is no publication fee or manuscript processing fee for this journal until 01st March
2024.

Please read following guidelines carefully before you prepare a manuscript for this journal.

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Plagiarism Policy
The Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka does not allow any kind of plagiarism,
manipulation of data or figures, provision of incorrect information and any kind of copyright
breach. All the manuscripts will undergo complete plagiarism check before sending for peer
review. An article plagiarized more than 20% (Similarity Index), observed by editors, peer
reviewers or by editorial staff at any stage of publication process would be rejected and authors
are notified the same.

Types of Manuscripts Accepted

The Journal of Agricultural Sciences - Sri Lanka is an international peer reviewed journal that
provide a forum to publish authoritative and well referenced articles in agriculture and allied
disciplines. The journal publishes original research work, reviews, short communications and
comparative articles on Agriculture and other related fields in agricultural sciences. Research
papers submitted for publication should have a sound disciplinary basis, although cross
disciplinary contributions are also accepted.

Papers submitted for publication are strictly double-blind peer reviewed.

Peer Review Process

Manuscripts submitted by the authors are subjected to an initial screening based on
appropriateness of the theme and quality of the content of the manuscript. Manuscripts which
are not according to the author guidelines will be returned to the author without processing
further.

Those manuscripts that have passed the initial screening then undergo a double-blind peer
review process. Two subject experts will be assigned as reviewers by the Editor in Chief in
consultation with the Managing Editor to carry out the review based on evaluation criteria.
Based on the evaluation reports of the reviewers, the Editor in Chief and the editorial team then
make a final decision for acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.

Peer review process would take around 12 weeks. However, in some cases it may take lesser
than 12 weeks or more than 16 weeks. It is assured that the whole process will not take more
than 20 weeks.

If the manuscript is accepted with reviewers’ comments, the manuscript will be sent to the
author with comments and an author response form and the author will be given a maximum
period of two weeks to incorporate the suggested improvements and return to the Editor in
Chief. Authors are kindly requested therefore, to follow the guidelines for the authors when
submitting the manuscript initially and finally, and to return the improved manuscript before
the deadlines as mentioned above.

Conditions for submission

The language of publication is English. The manuscript should be written in clear, accessible

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language, which can be understood by those outside the author’s area of specialization.
Submission of a manuscript to The Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka implies a
commitment to publish in this journal. Authors undertake that the manuscripts submitted have
not been previously published and are not currently under consideration for publication by
another journal. Exceptions may be made in case if abstract published in the proceedings of a
conference or translated from another language with permission. All the authors who submit
manuscripts to the Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka are strongly requested to follow
the author guidelines strictly. Manuscripts not prepared according to the author guidelines will
be rejected without further processing.

Manuscripts can be submitted online through the website of the Journal of Agricultural
Sciences (https://jas.sljol.info/about/submissions/ ) with a covering letter confirming the
manuscript originated from original research not submitted for publication or already
published elsewhere.

Authors are requested to follow the format of manuscript strictly adhering to following
guidelines. For proper understanding of correct form of manuscript refer an article available in
the journal website ( https://jas.sljol.info/). The main text should be double-spaced with 2.5
cm-wide page margins and all tables must be in Microsoft Word format (Version 98 or newer)
only. Manuscripts should be prepared as single-column documents. Manuscripts should
contain tables, figures, photos etc. in the text where they are intended to. However, same
figures, photos etc. should be submitted separately and prepared in JPEG file type. Times New
Roman fonts must be used throughout the text including table and graphs. Justify all
paragraphs including figure legends. No indents, line breaks, section breaks and unnecessary
spaces in text should be included. Page number should be at the bottom right corner.

Assemble sections of your manuscript in the following order: (1) Title Page; (2) Abstract; (3)
Main text; (4) References; (5) Tables; and (6) Figures (submitted separately, one figure per
page along with figure legends in JPEG file type). Include references to the figures in the text in
appropriate places with figure numbers. Specific guidelines for the sections are given below.

Title Page (Page 1)

A separate title page should be submitted. The title page should contain the title, list of authors,
their affiliations, full postal address and their ORCID details. The title of the article should be in
Times New Roman fonts of size 14, sentence-case (first letter of first word and any proper
nouns should be in capital). Non-English words like in vitro, and Latin (scientific) names of
plants and animals should be in italics.

List all authors’ names below the title with initials before surname (e.g. A. B. Smith, E. A. Van
bethowan and A. B. Martin) and not in bold. One author will need to be identified using a
superscript asterisk (*) in the authorship line as the corresponding author. Add a footnote on
the title page to identify the ‘Author for correspondence’. Provide full postal address (es) of all
authors in sentence case and not bold. In the case of multiple authors, indicate each appropriate
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author by superscripts1, 2, etc. An author should have one postal address only. Include the e-
mail address of the corresponding author. The JAS-SL will communicate only with the
corresponding author.

Please include ORCID IDs of all authors. All authors are required to sign up for ORCID and
submit these to the journal at the time of submission of the manuscript. More information on
ORCID is available at https://orcid.org/

Once submitted, the names, order of authorship and their affiliations cannot be changed,
deleted or added. Therefore, please make appropriate decisions prior to the submission of the
manuscript.

ABSTRACT (Page 2)
The word ABSTRACT at the top should be in capitals. Start text leaving an empty line below the
word ABSTRACT and each sub-section. Text should be justified, as a single paragraph with each
sub-heading, ideally not longer than 250 words in Times New Roman font size 12. Do not repeat
the title of the paper. The abstract should not contain any citations or abbreviations (unless
used more than once and defined in full at the first use). Include information about the purpose
of the work, how it was done, the main findings and their relevance.

Abstract should be written in the format below under the following five sub-headings

Purpose:
Please explain the purpose of the research with the research problem (maximum 60 words)
Research Method:
Please describe the research method and relevant tools (Maximum 50 words)
Findings:
Describe the main findings of the research (maximum 90 words)
Research Limitations:
Describe key limitations of the research (maximum 25 words)
Originality/value:
Describe the practical value of the research (25 words)
Key Words:
Maximum of 6 key words in italics and in the alphabetical order.
Authors are requested to follow the above format for abstracts strictly. For review articles, the
abstract can be prepared to brief the content of review with no more than 250 words. Key words
are according to above.

MAIN TEXT (From Page 3 onwards)

The manuscript should start with the title. Divide the manuscript into the following main
headings: INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION,
CONCLUSIONS and REFERENCES. For review articles however, authors can ignore some
sections such as MATERIALS AND METHODS, and RESULTS AND DISCUSSION sections if not

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relevant and may add a LITERATURE REVIEW.

Only three levels of headings are allowed in the following hierarchy.

1. Headings: In UPPER-CASE, Times New Roman, font size 12, bold, left aligned, with text
on next line, no indents. E.g., INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS and REFERENCES.

2. Sub Headings: In Title-Case, Times New Roman, font size 12, in Italics, bold, left-aligned,
with text on next line, no indents. E.g., Assessment on Post-harvest Losses.

3. Sub-sub-headings: In sentence-case, Times New Roman, font size 12, in Italics, not bold,
left-aligned, Followed by a colon, with text on next line, no indents. E.g., At the wholesale
level:

Leave one empty line between text and next heading or sub-heading. No numbering should be
used for headings or sub-headings.

Authors' statement of any conflicts of interest and acknowledgement of sources of funding

Authors' statement of any conflicts of interest in the research and acknowledgement of sources
of funding for the research if necessary (heading; bold, title case, Times New Roman font size
12) should be included after the end of the main text, leaving only one extra line below the main
text.

REFERENCES
Refer to the authors and year of publication within the text as follows. (Martin, 2000); (David
and Silva, 2010) and in case of three or more authors (Perera et al.,1990). When two or more
references are to be cited together, they should be given in the chronological order (Perera et
al.,1990; Martin, 2000). All references cited in the text should be presented in the list of
references according to following guidelines. References should be indicated in the typescript
using the Harvard style referencing giving the author’s name, and year of publication in
parentheses. If several papers by the same author and from the same year are cited, they should
be denoted with letters a,b,c, etc. after the year of publication, [E.g., (Moore, 2000a), (Moore,
2000b)]. Use justified text. Check references against original sources, paying particular
attention to correct full article and journal titles, spellings, accents etc, especially in languages
other than English. Include DOIs for references to reduce delays in publication of your article.
The references should be listed in full at the end of the paper in the following standard forms.

Book:
Matarana, H. and Varela, F. (1987). The tree of knowledge. 2nd Edition. Boston, Shimbala.
125pp.
Surname, Initial. and Surname, Initial. (Year of publication). Title of the book. Edition.
Publisher, City, Country. Provide total number of pages in the book or the page range of a
section or chapter in the book (e.g., 125pp. or 95-103.).

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For chapters within books or proceedings:

Elton, L.A., Narayan, A. and Perera, S. (1992). Models of collaboration and cooperation between
Universities from North and south. In: Advanced Study Programmes for Key Persons and
Cross-cultural Dialogue North-South-East-West. Volume 1. (Berendt, B., Lim, A. and Stary, J.
Eds.). Publications Saule, Chene, France. 125-140.
Surname, Initials. Surname, Initials. and Surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title of the
chapter. In: Title of the book. Volume (if any). (Names of editors of the book. Eds.). Publisher,
City, Country. page range of a paper or chapter in the book 125-140. If the abstract in
proceedings is in one page, mention page number and one p (eg. 25p.)

Journal article:
Gunadasa, H. & Dissanayake, P. (2012). Optimization of quality in exported Polyscias
balfouriana "Marginata" by using different shade levels. Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 7 (2 ),
pp. 58–65. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/jas.v7i2.4403
Surname, Initials. Surname, Initials. and Surname, Initials (bold). (Year of publication). Title
of the article. Full name of the Journal (italic, should not be abbreviated). Volume (issue if any):
Page range of the article (First and last page). DOI

Online Journal article

Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography.
European Journal of Marketing, 41, 1245-1283. DOI: 10.1108/03090560710821161
Surname, Initials. and Surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title of the article. Full name of
the Journal (italic should not be abbreviated). Volume (issue if any): Page range of the article
(First and last page). Web address. Date of reference or down load.

Note: If no DOI is listed, use the periodical's homepage URL (e.g., Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/ (ISSN) 1936-2706

Material from the Internet

McFarlance, D., Chembez, D and Befecadu, J. (2003). Internet adoption and use of e-commerce
strategies. http://www2.aamu.edu/saes/SFRCdocs/PDF/ECOMMERCE_PAPER.pdf. 15.09.2011.

Material from Other sources

Kithamura, P. and Wing, H. (1991). A checklist of North American wild flowers. Miscellaneous
Publication Series of the X Research Station, Alberta, Canada. No. 22. 30 pp.

Watanabe, W. and Titt, R. T. (1982). The white willows. Annual Report of the Basketmakers’
Research Institute, 1981-82. Salixville, Australia. 106-107.

Weeping, G. J. (1986). Maran: Possible Commercial Uses. Ph.D. Thesis, Sabaragamuwa

University of Sri Lanka, Belihuolya, Sri Lanka. 225 pp.

For anonymous publications, quote in the text as Anon (1992), ), provide details of such work /
publications for tracking purposes if necessary. Unpublished work indicates just as

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“(unpublished)” in the text. Authors need to include DOIs for references used in the reference
section.

Authors need to include DOIs for references used in reference section.

Tables (Continue page numbering)

Start each table on a separate sheet, double-spaced. Tables are numbered 01, 02 etc and
referred to ideally in the section prior to the table, e.g., Table 01, etc. Captions of tables are in
bold, (e.g., Table 01:) with a colon. The descriptive (meaningful) but brief caption should be
placed above the table. Caption should be in sentence-case with final stop. Technical, statistical
or explanatory details are presented as footnotes to the table using superscripts (Details of ±SE,
*. **, P values units etc in footnotes with lower-case, superscript indicator symbols).
All the content must be in a table with all boarders. No indents [Tabs] should be used to create a
table. Avoid very large, complex tables, and use same type, size and font as in main text.
Caption should be descriptive enough to understand the content by the reader without cross
reference to the text. Refer the table in the text as (Table 01. Table 02. etc.). Indicate the position
of the table in the text in a separate line as TABLE 01, TABLE 02. etc. for the reviewers and
production staff to locate the tables easily.

Figures (Continue page numbering):

Type double-spaced with a colon (e.g., Figure 02:). All numbered Figure legends should be
typed together on a separate sheet(s). If Figures are grouped (e.g., several photographs or
graphs, histograms etc, label each Panel as A, B, C etc), give a general and a meaningful title
and describe each Panel (A, B etc) separately in the legend. All the legends should be clear and
readable. For graphs with several symbols, or different kinds of lines, include a description of
these (e.g., open circles, filled triangles, dotted lines) in the caption, or provide a key as part of
the graph. Caption of figures should be in bold (e.g., Figure 01: Rainfall pattern in the study
area). Figure caption should be descriptive enough and meaningful to understand the content
by the reader without cross reference the text.

Illustrations (Figures)
In text refer the figure as (Fig. 01. etc.). Position of the figure in the text should be indicated in a
separate line as FIGURE 01. etc. Illustrations should be submitted as high quality, computer-
generated files (JPEG files are recommended). If there are several related photographs or
drawings, assemble them into a composite Figure, and label each Panel A, B, C etc. (not a, b, c,
or la, 1b). Micrographs and photographs should include clear scale bars (scale defined in
legend). Labelling to describe the units on each axis should be large, parallel to each axis, even-
sized, and clear. Use upper- and lower-case lettering, not all capitals, not bold. Lines of figures
should be thick enough to clearly visible at printing. Each figure should be marked with its
number. For histograms, use black, white or grey columns, not cross-hatching or speckled etc.,
no colour figures (refer to a recently published article). Authors are requested to send

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additional high quality colour photograph related to the study to publish as cover page
photographs if space permits (no charges will be applied for this purpose).

Notes
Footnotes to the text should be avoided. Cut/ Copy & paste from other documents must be
avoided and such practices will be considered as disqualification for publishing an article in
JAS-SL.

Author’s requirement to sign up for ORCID

Authors need to sign up for ORCID and submit these to the journal at the time of submission of
the manuscript. More information on ORCID is available at https://orcid.org

All the authors who submit manuscripts to the Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka are
strongly requested to follow the author guidelines strictly. Manuscripts that do not comply with
author guidelines will be rejected without further processing.

Copyright Notice

Copyright on any research article in the Journal of Agricultural Sciences is retained by the
author(s).

The authors grant Journal of Agricultural Sciences a license to publish the article and
identify itself as the original publisher.

Submission of an article implies that the authors grant the Journal of Agricultural Sciences
– Sri Lanka a license to publish the article and identify the journal as the original
publisher.

Articles in the Journal of Agricultural Science are Open Access articles published under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This license permits non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
provided it is licensed under the same terms and the original work is properly cited.

Submission Preparation Checklist

1. The submission has not been previously published or in consideration by another journal
for publishing (or an explanation has to be provided in comments to the Editor-in-Chief).

2. The submission file should be in Microsoft Word document file format.

3. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.

4. Where available, DOIs for the references have been provided.

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5. The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining
(except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed according
to the guidelines above.

6. Every effort has been made to ensure that the submission is ready for peer review
according to the journal's review policy. If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the
journal, the submitted files (including file properties) have been anonymised.

7. Additional Mandatory Information

Following information is required.
• Academic discipline and sub-disciplines: (e.g., Agriculture; Crop Science; Livestock
Production; Agribusiness etc.)
• Geo-spatial coverage: (e.g., Sri Lanka; South Asia; Europe; Global; etc)
• Chronological or historical coverage: (e.g., Contemporary; Twentieth Century; 21st
Century; between 2016 and 2019 etc)
• Research sample characteristics: (e.g., Age; Gender; Ethnicity; etc.)
• Type, method or approach: (e.g., Field study; Experimental, Theoretical, Survey; etc.)
This information should be supplied at a later stage if the manuscript is accepted for
publication. Therefore, please keep this information ready.

8. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author
Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.

Copyright Notice
Copyright on any research article in the Journal of Agricultural Sciences is retained by the
author(s).

Articles in the Journal of Agricultural Science are Open Access articles published under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The authors grant Journal of Agricultural Sciences a license to publish their article and identify
itself as the original publisher. This license permits non-commercial use, distribution and
reproduction in any medium, provided it is licensed under the same terms and the original
work is properly cited.

Privacy Statement
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The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the
stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any
other party. The full privacy policy can be viewed here.

Publication Fees
There is no publication fee or manuscript processing fee for this journal until 01st March 2024.

v.0.9.136
E-ISSN: 2386-1363
Print ISSN: 1391-9318
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