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Start SubmissionTropical Agricultural Research and Extension is an International Scientific Journal covering a wide range of subject areas in tropical and subtropical agriculture, published annually by the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.
Manuscripts and all correspondence should be addressed to:
Editor-in-Chief,
Editorial Office,
Faculty of Agriculture,
University of Ruhuna,
Kamburupitiya, 81100,
SRI LANKA.
Tel: +94 (0)41 229 2200 Ext. 371
Fax: +94 (0)41 229 2384
Email: tare@agricc.ruh.ac.lk
EDITORIAL POLICIES
Submission of manuscripts:
Tropical Agricultural Research and Extension publishes research & development results of broad practical significance in tropical and subtropical agriculture. The subject areas covered include crop genetic resources, agronomy, crop improvement, crop physiology, plant protection, weed science, ecology and sustainable management of tropical and subtropical agricultural environments, restoration of degraded environments, agroforestry, utilization and domestication of under-exploited plant and animal resources, bio-technological applications, horticulture, perennial crops, animal science including fisheries, food science, post-harvest technology, farming systems, agricultural economics, extension and education.
The papers submitted to the Journal should not have been published previously in the same, or any other form or language, or being considered for publication elsewhere. However publications appearing as abstracts or as part of a published lecture or thesis may be submitted as a research paper.
The Journal publishes review articles on critical evaluations of existing knowledge in a specialized field, research papers and short communications. The Editorial Board encourages publications relating to research & development on indigenous, under-exploited plant and animal resources, traditional methods and techniques, work containing new methodological approaches, etc.
Language of publication: English
Refereeing and editing:
All material submitted for publication will be reviewed. The papers will be edited if necessary to improve clarity and ease of communication. Papers conforming to the conventions of the Journal with regard to symbols, illustrations, tables, references, nomenclature, etc. will be processed expeditiously.
Frequency of publication:
Tropical Agricultural Research and Extension is an annual publication with one issue per volume, printed and circulated in the months of October/November
MANUSCRIPTS
The original and three copies of the manuscript should be submitted . Authors are encouraged to submit an electronic version of the manuscript and correspond with the editorial office via email, to expedite publication.
Length:
Although there is no maximum length prescribed for Review Articles, the maximum preferred length of Research Paper should be about 20 pages, including tables, figures and references. Short Communications, which should carry an abstract of about 50 words, should not exceed 2000 words including a maximum of two tables. They need not be structured as prescribed for Research Papers. Nevertheless, the text should include the objectives of the study, materials and methods used, results obtained, discussion of the results, conclusions and relevant references. Lengthy articles and reviews, proceedings of relevant conferences and symposia may be published from time to time as a supplementary issue of the Journal.
Organization of the text:
Research Papers should preferably be divided into the following sections: (a) Abstract (b) Introduction (c) Materials and methods (d) Results (e) Discussion (f) Conclusion (g) Acknowledgements (if any) and (h) References. If necessary, each section may be divided into sub-sections, and the sections (d) and (e) above may be combined for clarity and convenience. Titles and sub-titles should be typed on separate lines without indentation. The manuscripts should be typed on one side of A4 paper, double spaced, with 4 cm margin on all sides. They should be accompanied by a title page with following information; (a) Title (the title should be as short as possible, but should contain sufficient information reflecting the contents) (b) Running Title- a shortened version of the title with less than 30 letters for running headlines (c) Names of authors and their affiliations and addresses (in the order in which they appear in the paper) (d) Name and address of the corresponding author if different from the first author (e) Fax number and E-mail address of corresponding author.
The next page- first page of the text, should begin with the title, names of authors and address/ addresses of the establishment/establishments where the work was carried out. Indicate the present address (es) of authors in a footnote if different from the establishment where the work was carried out. Include Fax and Email addresses as well.
Abstract should contain objectives of investigation, experimental material and methods of investigation, results and conclusions. The abstract should not exceed 175 words. Up to six key words should be included just below the abstract.
The text should begin immediately after the key words, starting from the Introduction, which should be as short as possible and should concentrate on the topic of the paper. It should be limited to the statement of the problem and aim of the experiments. Only the most recent and the most relevant previous publications should be cited.
Materials and methods should give sufficient details of the experimental materials, techniques, designs and methods employed so that the experiment could be repeated. Where the methods are well known, citation of the standard work is sufficient. The statistical methods used should be clearly stated.
Results should be supported by brief but adequate tables, or graphic or pictorial materials, whenever necessary. Self-explanatory tables should be typed on separate sheets. The place for inclusion of tables and figures should be marked by pencil on the left border of the text. The results presented in tables or figures should not be repeated in the text and the same data should not be presented both in tables and figures. Figures and tables should be limited to the bare minimum. Running title should be written on the reverse side of each table and figure, using pencil.
Discussion of the results should include recent literature relevant to the findings and lead on to clear conclusions and areas for further investigations. If warranted, a separate section on conclusions may be included.
Acknowledgements should, as far as possible, be limited to financial and technical assistance, and supply of material that are not readily available.
References should be arranged alphabetically, typed double-spaced and in text referred to as: author (last name without initials) and year of publication, e.g. (Malik 1995). Unless absolutely necessary, citation of personal communications and unpublished data should be avoided. Such citations should appear only in the text as, for example: (D.L. Eskew Personal Communication). They should not be listed in the reference list and vice versa. Please follow the examples given below:
Journal:
Tan K, Keltjens WG and Findenegg GR 1993 Aluminium toxicity in sorghum genotypes as influenced by solutions acidity. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr. 39: 291-298.
Book:
Date RA, Grundon NJ, Rayment GE and Robert ME (eds.) 1995 Plant Soil Interations at Low pH: Principles and Management. Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Section of book:
Kumarasinghe KS and Eskew DL 1995 Azolla as a nitrogen fertilizer in sustainable rice production. In: Nuclear Methods in Soil-Plant Aspects of Sustainable Agriculture. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. pp. 147-154.
Hauck RD, Meisinger JJ and Mulvaney RL 1994 Practical considerations in the use of nitrogen tracers in agricultural and environmental research. pp.907-950. In: Weaver RW (ed.) Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 2. Microbiological and Biochemical Properties. SSSA Book Ser. Number 5. SSSA,Madison, WI, USA.
When journal articles are listed, the journal name should be abbreviated in accordance with the "World List of Scientific Periodicals", Butterworths Scientific Publications, London. In case of doubt, the full name should be given.
Abbreviations, symbols and units:
Whenever physical units, names and symbols are used, the SI-system should be employed. Abbreviations should be explained when they first appear in the text. Non-standard abbreviations should not be used in the abstract. Abbreviations and symbols recommended in the British Standard 1991: Letter Symbols, Signs and Abbreviations should be used.
Nomenclature:
For plants and animals, binary nomenclature with authority should be used, e.g.: Oryza sativa L. They should either be typed in italics or underlined. In subsequent citations the generic name may be abbreviated, e.g. O. sativa L. For chemical compounds follow the Chemical Abstracts (Chemical Abstract Service, Ohio State Univ., Colombus, USA) and it's indexes. For biochemicals, including abbreviations and symbols, SUPAC-IUB Commission of Biochemical Nomenclature should be consulted.
PRINTING
Proofs:
Once the manuscript is accepted for publication, two copies of page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. Proof-reading should be limited to the correction of typographical errors. Authors should return the corrected proofs by air mail or courier within the requested time.
Offprints:
For each paper, the corresponding author will receive 10 offprints free of charge. Additional offprints may be ordered at the time or return of page proofs, according to the order form supplied.
Copyright:
Contributions published in the Journal or accepted for publications are protected by copyright. All copyrights, whether whole or part of the published material are reserved. Translations, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, reproduction on microfilms or by other means require authorization of the Editor-in-Chief. Written permission should also be obtained before any part of the publication is stored in a retrieval system.
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS ON DISC
Submission of a disc version at the time of submission of a revised manuscript or at the time of acceptance is highly recommended. It will allow the Editorial Office to expeditiously publish the manuscript with less proof corrections. If a disc version is being submitted, please follow the guidelines given below.
Format:
Only discs formatted for MS-DOS or PC-DOS on IBM compatible computers are acceptable. Discs of 3�"(1.44MB) size are acceptable.
Time of submission:
The disc version may be submitted at the time of acceptance for publication or along with the revised manuscript, after a minor revision.
Software:
Word processing package Microsoft Word is preferred. Manuscript may be submitted on any other word processing package, but will be converted to Microsoft Word with some risk of altering the original format. With the hard copy (printed version) available, the disc copy will be most valuable even if it comes in another word processing package. The disc copy and paper copy should match, i.e. the disc copy should be the version used to get the final print.
Tables and figures:
If available, the tables feature of the word processor should be used to generate tables. Include all tables after the text, as they appear in the print. If a spreadsheet package was used for the preparation of tables, such files can still be used if they are saved in ASCII format. When aligning columns, one tab per column should be used. Do not use space bar to align columns. If the figures have been generated using a computer package, please include the disc version of the figures as well, with a note of the software package and its version. If any additions were made to the figures available on disk, please mention that in your covering letter or on the reverse side of figure, using pencil. Use line patterns instead of shading as the latter does not reproduce as clearly as line patterns.
Symbols:
If symbols required for the text are available in the word processor, please use them. However, never use two different word processing characters for the same symbol. In using word processors, special care has to be taken of consistency of symbols. For example, do not use zero for English letter 'O' and vice versa, do not use figure one (1) for lower case "L" (1). When necessary, use the italics feature if available. Otherwise use underscore for italics. Please do not mix these two features.
If certain symbols not available in the word processor were drawn by pen, or if available symbols were modified, please indicate this by pencil on the side of the printed text.
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS BY ELECTRONIC MAIL
Manuscripts may also be submitted by electronic mail to expedite the reviewing process. However, the electronic version should be followed by hard copies. The email address for submission is as follows:
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.
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.