INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

Regular issues

General information

The authors will be required to send, via «submit an article» , a single file with the article, following the format established by the journal Agrociencia Uruguay. Click here to download the «template».

As an option, a letter can be submitted to the editors in order to suggest two or more reviewers, with their corresponding membership number. The latter shall not be contributors nor belong to the same institution as the authors.

The manuscripts will be assigned to the editorial committee (who will declare to have no conflict of interest with the authors), and send to at least two external reviewers (peer review) subject to a double-blind process and according to the cope ethics code «cope».

Categories

The works may be divided into the following categories:

Research article: it shows the results of an original research. It may be presented with the format of a short communication. The research article can contain up to 7000 words, and the short communication up to 3500 words.

Review: it implies the analysis and systematization of the results of a research on a field in which the authors have proven experience. These contributions shall follow an invitation from the magazine. The review can contain up to 9000 words.

Technical paper: it includes the results, from an interpretative and critical perspective, of a particular topic, and from original sources. Some examples are the description of a region, a socio-economic problem of the agricultural sector, or the situation of agricultural production items. The technical paper can contain up to 3500 words.

Presentation

The works should be sent in electronic format, with file formats .doc or .docx.; in Arial Narrow size 12, and single-spaced. Paragraphs should be spaced by 6 points. The pages should be numbered at the center of the lower margin, starting in number 1.

A shortened title of the article should be provided of no more than 8 words, which should be located at the right heading of even pages.

The abbreviations should be defined the first time they are mentioned, in the summary and the text. Biological common names are preferred, indicating the scientific name the first time the species is mentioned.

Language and units

Until 2019, Agrociencia Uruguay was published in Spanish and English, from 2020 it is published completely in English. For those articles that start the editing process in Spanish, you can check our team of translators here «translators». For more information or for help with translation costs, please refer to agrociencia@fagro.edu.uy.

The International System of Units (si) and its abbreviations should be used, in addition to units of frequent use in the area in question. There must be a white space between the number and the unit abbreviation (e.g. 89 kg, 37 °C).

Bold, underlined and superscript text should be avoided in the article. Italics should be reserved for expressions in another language or bibliographical titles. Footnotes should be avoided and, in any case, expressed in Roman numerals.

Titles

The title, of up to 15 words, should be in lower case, in bold, Arial, size 18.

Subtitles within the body of the text should be numbered sequentially up to a third order, and with the following format:

1.     First order: Arial Narrow, size 14, in bold

1.1 Second order: Arial Narrow, size 12, in bold 

1.1.1 Third order: Arial Narrow, size 12, no bolds, italics

Summary and keywords

The article should present summaries in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, of up to 250 words each, followed of up to five keywords, in lower case and separated by commas. 

The abbreviations should be defined the first time they are mentioned, in the summary and the text. Biological common names are preferred, indicating the scientific name the first time the species is mentioned.

Structure of the article

The text should be organized in the following parts: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. Acknowledgements are optional and should follow the conclusions.

The introduction should set the key points of the study, present the subject's state of the art and the most important references, which constitute the fundamental basis of the study. The introduction should also clearly identify the relevance and the problem to be addressed, stating the study's hypothesis.

The author should include enough data so that the procedures applied in the study can be replicated. The methods that had previously been published in detail should not be described; they should be referenced. Authors should specify the name of the manufacturer of the reagents and products employed, and the origin of the materials, equipment and instruments used during the study. Every chemical product used for the study should be identify with name and composition. The authors should bear in mind that every comment, independent variables/manipulations and dependent variables/measurements should be informed, and they should make sure of explaining how were these determined. The latter should be appropriately referenced in the text and included in the list of references. The authors should provide enough details about the design employed in the study, as well as the qualitative and quantitative methods.

In the discussion, the authors should interpret the results and expose the conclusions that support the data in a clear way. They should emphasize the relevance of the findings, make suggestions for future researches, discuss the study's practical implications and identify its limitations.

The conclusions should be strictly based on the objectives, hypothesis and problem stated in the introduction, and the results that arise from the study.

Tables and images

The tables and images should be included in the template and in a good quality. If the table or image is bigger than the width of the column, please try to include them without affecting the format too much.

The headers of the images should be centered on the top of the images. The use of tables with editable format is encouraged, instead of tables with image format.

Data transparency

In order to comply with data transparency, the author should choose one of the following options:

Unavailable data. The data supporting the results of this study are not publicly available.

Available data. All the data supporting the results of this study were published in the article.

Agrociencia Uruguay encourages the submission of replication studies (to independently repeat the methodology of a research by using the same materials).

Authors contribution

This section is mandatory and should appear before the references. Please indicate the contribution each author has made to the manuscript. For example: AX conceived and designed the analysis; AB collected the data, contributed to data or analysis tools, performed the analysis, wrote the paper; all authors contributed equally to the content.

Bibliography

The bibliographic references should follow the sequentially numbered system in order of appearance in the text. For instance, if the first citation is Rodríguez, it will have the number 1 and appear in the first place on the list of references. Numbers should be in superscript characters and in brackets: (1)(2). Bibliographic references shall comply with the Vancouver Standards.

Journal articles

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Article Title. Short Journal Title. Date of Publication; volume number(issue number):pagination. 

Example: Zhang C, Laurent S, Sakr S, Peng L, Bédu S. Heterocyst differentiation and pattern formation in cyanobacteria: a chorus of signals. Mol Microbiol. 2006;59(2):367-75.

Journal articles on the Internet

Kaul S, Diamond GA. Good enough: a primer on the analysis and interpretation of noninferiority trials. Ann Intern Med [Internet]. 2006 [cited 2007 Jan 4];145(1):62-9. Available from: http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/145/1/62.pdf.

Books chapters

Author AA, Author BB. Title of the chapter. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, editors. Title of the book. City of publication: publishing firm; year of Publication. Pages consulted.

Example: Barbulova A, Chiurazzi M. A procedure for in vitro nodulation studies. In: Márquez A, editor. Lotus japonicus Handbook. Berlin: Springer; 2005. p. 83-6.

Presentation at conferences

Author AA, Author BB. Contribution title. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, editors. Title of the congress; date of the congress; venue of the congress. City of publication: publishing firm; year of Publication. Pages consulted.

Example: Rice AS, Farquhar-Smith WP, Bridges D, Brooks JW. Canabinoids and pain. In: Dostorovsky JO, Carr DB, Koltzenburg M, editors. Proceedings of the 10th World Congress on Pain; 2002 Aug 17-22; San Diego, CA. Seattle (WA): IASP Press; 2003. p. 437-68.

Supplementary material

In this section, all the relevant material for the conclusion of the article can be presented, as well as such material that, because of its size or format, cannot be included in the body of the article. The elements should be clear and contain all the necessary information, without the reader having to organize the material with respect to the article. The material may include data files, graphics or lengthy tables.

Special issues

Presentation

The works should be sent in electronic format, with file formats .doc or .docx.; in Arial Narrow size 12, and single-spaced. Paragraphs should be spaced by 6 points. The pages should be numbered at the center of the lower margin, starting in number 1.

The contribution should be contain up to 4000 words not counting bibliographic information (title, authors, affiliation, abstract, key words).

A shortened title of the article should be provided of no more than 8 words, which should be located at the right heading of even pages.

The abbreviations should be defined the first time they are mentioned, in the summary and the text. Biological common names are preferred, indicating the scientific name the first time the species is mentioned.

Language and units

Contributions in special issues could be in English, Spanish or Portuguese.

The International System of Units (si) and its abbreviations should be used, in addition to units of frequent use in the area in question. There must be a white space between the number and the unit abbreviation (e.g. 89 kg, 37 °C).

Bold, underlined and superscript text should be avoided in the article. Italics should be reserved for expressions in another language or bibliographical titles. Footnotes should be avoided and, in any case, expressed in Roman numerals.

Titles

The title, of up to 15 words, should be in lower case, in bold, Arial, size 18.

Subtitles within the body of the text should be numbered sequentially up to a third order, and with the following format:

1.     First order: Arial Narrow, size 14, in bold

1.1 Second order: Arial Narrow, size 12, in bold 

1.1.1 Third order: Arial Narrow, size 12, no bolds, italics

Summary and keywords

The article should present summaries in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, of up to 250 words each, followed of up to five keywords, in lower case and separated by commas. 

The abbreviations should be defined the first time they are mentioned, in the summary and the text. Biological common names are preferred, indicating the scientific name the first time the species is mentioned.

Structure of the article

The text should be organized in the following parts: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. Acknowledgements are optional and should follow the conclusions.

The introduction should set the key points of the study, present the subject's state of the art and the most important references, which constitute the fundamental basis of the study. The introduction should also clearly identify the relevance and the problem to be addressed, stating the study's hypothesis.

The author should include enough data so that the procedures applied in the study can be replicated. The methods that had previously been published in detail should not be described; they should be referenced. Authors should specify the name of the manufacturer of the reagents and products employed, and the origin of the materials, equipment and instruments used during the study. Every chemical product used for the study should be identify with name and composition. The authors should bear in mind that every comment, independent variables/manipulations and dependent variables/measurements should be informed, and they should make sure of explaining how were these determined. The latter should be appropriately referenced in the text and included in the list of references. The authors should provide enough details about the design employed in the study, as well as the qualitative and quantitative methods.

In the discussion, the authors should interpret the results and expose the conclusions that support the data in a clear way. They should emphasize the relevance of the findings, make suggestions for future researches, discuss the study's practical implications and identify its limitations.

The conclusions should be strictly based on the objectives, hypothesis and problem stated in the introduction, and the results that arise from the study.

Tables and images

The tables and images should be included in the template and in a good quality. If the table or image is bigger than the width of the column, please try to include them without affecting the format too much.

The headers of the images should be centered on the top of the images. The use of tables with editable format is encouraged, instead of tables with image format.

Data transparency

In order to comply with data transparency, the author should choose one of the following options:

Unavailable data. The data supporting the results of this study are not publicly available.

Available data. All the data supporting the results of this study were published in the article.

Agrociencia Uruguay encourages the submission of replication studies (to independently repeat the methodology of a research by using the same materials).

Authors contribution

This section is mandatory and should appear before the references. Please indicate the contribution each author has made to the manuscript. For example: AX conceived and designed the analysis; AB collected the data, contributed to data or analysis tools, performed the analysis, wrote the paper; all authors contributed equally to the content.

Bibliography

The bibliographic references should follow the sequentially numbered system in order of appearance in the text. For instance, if the first citation is Rodríguez, it will have the number 1 and appear in the first place on the list of references. Numbers should be in superscript characters and in brackets: (1)(2). Bibliographic references shall comply with the Vancouver Standards.

Journal articles

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Article Title. Short Journal Title. Date of Publication; volume number(issue number):pagination. 

Example: Zhang C, Laurent S, Sakr S, Peng L, Bédu S. Heterocyst differentiation and pattern formation in cyanobacteria: a chorus of signals. Mol Microbiol. 2006;59(2):367-75.

Journal articles on the Internet

Kaul S, Diamond GA. Good enough: a primer on the analysis and interpretation of noninferiority trials. Ann Intern Med [Internet]. 2006 [cited 2007 Jan 4];145(1):62-9. Available from: http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/145/1/62.pdf.

Books chapters

Author AA, Author BB. Title of the chapter. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, editors. Title of the book. City of publication: publishing firm; year of Publication. Pages consulted.

Example: Barbulova A, Chiurazzi M. A procedure for in vitro nodulation studies. In: Márquez A, editor. Lotus japonicus Handbook. Berlin: Springer; 2005. p. 83-6.

Presentation at conferences

Author AA, Author BB. Contribution title. In: Editor AA, Editor BB, editors. Title of the congress; date of the congress; venue of the congress. City of publication: publishing firm; year of Publication. Pages consulted.

Example: Rice AS, Farquhar-Smith WP, Bridges D, Brooks JW. Canabinoids and pain. In: Dostorovsky JO, Carr DB, Koltzenburg M, editors. Proceedings of the 10th World Congress on Pain; 2002 Aug 17-22; San Diego, CA. Seattle (WA): IASP Press; 2003. p. 437-68.

Supplementary material

In this section, all the relevant material for the conclusion of the article can be presented, as well as such material that, because of its size or format, cannot be included in the body of the article. The elements should be clear and contain all the necessary information, without the reader having to organize the material with respect to the article. The material may include data files, graphics or lengthy tables.

Guidelines for editors for special issues

Agrociencia Uruguay offers the possibility of publishing special issues, which can relate to a specific topic or contributions to events (congress, symposiums, etc.). The articles included in these issues may be published in English, Spanish or Portuguese.

The editorial committee for special issues should be determined by the interested party and they should carry out the articles' review process (peer review, subject to a double-blind process), ensuring that the requirements for quality and transparency of the information set in Agrociencia Uruguay are fulfilled.

Agrociencia Uruguay is committed to publishing the special issue in no longer that 2 months after receiving the last manuscript accepted by the editorial committee for complying with the regulations of the journal. In order to ensure the rapid publication, in the case of special issues aimed at events, we request to send the manuscripts within a period of no more than 3 months after such event.

Every special issue shall be structed as follows: an editorial regarding the topic of the issue, between 12 and 15 contributions and, as an option, one or two review articles.

The contributions and reviews shall be sent in accordance with the format set out by the journal for special issues. You can download the format here:  «template»

Those interested are requested to send a note to agrociencia@fagro.edu.uy including the following information:

·         Information about the special issue you may consider relevant (title, logo, date and location of the event, etc.).

·         Indicate the structure of the organizing committee and the scientific committee (members).

·         Indicate the structure of the special edition editorial committee (members).