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Agrochimica
Internazionale:
Izzo Riccardo (Direttore responsabile) - Comitato
di Gestione: Carloni L. (Presidente), Navari-Izzo
F. (Direttore Editoriale)
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Scope, Policy, and Instructions for Authors
(Revised January 2007)
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS
We encourage email manuscript submission and correspondence to tciampa@agr.unipi.it.
If submitted by post, manuscripts should be
on 31/2 inch discs in MS-DOS or MS-DOS compatible formats and should be addressed
to: Redazione di AGROCHIMICA –
Dipartimento di Chimica e Biotecnologie Agrarie – Via del Borghetto, 80 –
56124 Pisa, Italy
phone (+39) 50 2216633, fax (+39) 50 2216630.
Manuscripts should be accompanied by a letter specifying:
manuscript title
running title
corresponding author’s name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail
address.
Do not post hardcopies of manuscripts that have already been submitted by e-mail.
JOURNAL SCOPE
AGROCHIMICA publishes original papers, short communications and reviews in English.
It focuses on the fields of soil and plant
chemistry and biochemistry, plant nutrition, pedology and soil fertilisation.
Also covered are several new, rapidly-expanding fields
such as agricultural and environmental pollution, agro-industrial biotechnology,
pesticides and agricultural waste treatment and disposal.
Manuscripts will be peer reviewed by referees familiar with the fields of research
involved.
MANUSCRIPT TYPES
Research articles should report original research that is expected to have a definite
impact on the advancement 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 (such as Chemical
Abstracts). A manuscript shall not exceed 20 double-spaced pages with 2 cm margins
including tables, figures and summary.
Short communications should describe results deemed to be of high importance and
urgency in their field and will be considered for
expedited processing and review. Only manuscripts reporting complete research,
as opposed to preliminary results will be considered.
Arequest for expedited handling, along with a justification for this request must
be included in the letter accompanying the manuscript
at submission. Short communications should not exceed 6 double-spaced pages with
2 cm margins including tables, figures and summary.
Review articles will be considered that summarise information in a field in which
the literature is scattered, or that treat published
data or other information so as to provide a new approach or to stimulate further
research. They should not exceed 40 double spaced
pages with 2 cm margins including tables, figures and summary.
Symposia or Topical Collections. The Editor will consider publication of a series
of manuscripts reporting original research that are
presented in a symposium or otherwise clustered around a single topic. Prospective
organisers should contact the Editor well in
advance to determine whether the subject matter conforms to the AGROCHIMICA’s
goals and criteria, and if space is available, also
to obtain specific instructions for manuscript submission.
ETHICS, CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Guidelines:
Multiple Reporting of Research. It is improper for an author to submit manuscripts
describing essentially the same research to more
than one journal. Resubmission of a manuscript rejected or withdrawn from publication
is permissible.
Plagiarism. The Editor will not tolerate plagiarism.
EDITORIAL PEER REVIEW PROCESS
Peer review is used to help ensure the quality of published manuscripts. Scientists
with expertise in the subject will evaluate the manuscript
for validity of the experimental design and results, originality, significance,
and appropriateness to the Journal. The Editor may
exercise a prerogative to decline a manuscript without peer review if that paper
is judged to be outside the scope of the Journal, poorly
written or formatted, fragmentary and only marginally incremental, or lacking
in significance.
All manuscripts are handled by the Editor-in-Chief, or are assigned to one of
the Editorial Board, who is responsible for the assigned
manuscript, including acknowledging receipt, evaluating content and format, selecting
reviewers, monitoring the progress of the
review process, evaluating the comments of reviewers and forwarding these to the
author for response, communicating ultimate
acceptance or rejection to the corresponding author, and carrying out a final
check of an accepted manuscript for format and style.
Anonymous copies of the reviewers’ comments and the Editor’s decision
are sent to the corresponding author. If the reviewers’ evaluations
of the manuscript disagree, or if reviewers’ and Editor’s comments are
not satisfactorily addressed by the authors, the Editor
may reject the manuscript or select additional reviewers. These additional reviewers
may assist the Editor in reaching a final decision.
Manuscripts accepted for publication will be sent to the corresponding author
to make galley proof corrections.
MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
Manuscript Format. Manuscripts should be prepared using accepted word-processing
software and all parts must be double-spaced.
All pages should be numbered consecutively starting with the title page and including
tables and figures. A standard 12-point font
should be used. The lines of each page should be numbered. The Journal requires
that manuscripts be kept within the upper limit of
20 double spaced typed pages, including references, tables, and figures. Standard
English usage is required. Authors who are not familiar
with standard English are urged to seek assistance. Deficiencies in grammar may
present serious hindrance during the review
process.
The various sections of the manuscript should be assembled in the following sequence:
Title, running title and authorship (single page)
Summary and keywords (single page)
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion and (Conclusions)
Acknowledgment(s)
References
Figure Legends
Tables
Figures
TITLE AND AUTHORSHIP
The title, authorship, and institutional affiliations should be included on a
single page.
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.
Authorship. Be consistent in authorship designation in the manuscript and in all
correspondence. First name, middle initial, and last
name are generally adequate for correct identification but omit titles. Give the
complete postal address of the institution where the
work was conducted and identify the affiliation of each author. If the current
address of an author is different, include this in a footnote
on the title page. The name of the author to whom inquiries should be addressed
must be marked with an asterisk; provide also
the telephone and fax numbers and email address of this correspondent.
ABSTRACT AND KEYWORDS
Abstract. Authors’ abstracts are used directly for Chemical Abstracts. The
abstract should be a clear, concise (maximum 150 words),
one-paragraph summary, informative rather than descriptive, giving scope and purpose,
experimental approach, significant results, and
major conclusions.
Keywords. Provide significant keywords to aid prospective readers in literature
retrieval. The keywords (no more than 5) are published
immediately before the text and following the abstract.
INTRODUCTION
Discuss relationships of the study to previously published work but do not reiterate
or attempt to provide a complete literature survey.
The purpose or reason for the research being reported and its significance, originality,
or contribution to new knowledge in the field
should be clearly and concisely stated. Do not include or summarise 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 devices of a specialised
nature or instruments that may vary in performance, such that the model used may
affect the quality of the data obtained (e.g.
spectroscope resolution). 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 state), and availability of
special equipment, reagents, kits, etc. Do not include catalogue numbers. Biological
materials should be identified by scientific name
(genus, species and family) and cultivar, if appropriate, together with the site
from which the samples were obtained. Specimens
obtained from a natural habitat should be preserved by deposit of samples in a
herbarium for plants or in a culture collection for microorganisms,
with a corresponding collection or strain number listed. Specific experimental
methods should be sufficiently detailed for
others to repeat the experiments unequivocally. Omit details of procedures that
are common knowledge to those in the field. Brief highlights
of published procedures may be included but details must be left to the References.
Describe pertinent and critical factors
involved in reactions so that the method can be reproduced but avoid excessive
description. Describe statistical design and methods
in this section.
RESULTS/DISCUSSION
Results and discussion may be presented in separate sections or combined into
a single section, whichever format conveys the results
in the most lucid fashion. Be complete but concise in discussing findings, comparing
results with previous work and proposing explanations
for the results obtained. All data must be accompanied by appropriate statistical
analyses. Avoid comparisons or contrasts that
are not pertinent, and avoid speculation that is unsupported by the results obtained.
A separate summary or conclusion section is not
to be used; any concluding statement is to be incorporated within the Discussion
section.
NOMENCLATURE
Refer to The ACS Style Guide for the preferred forms of commonly used abbreviations.
Specialised abbreviations may be used provided
they are placed in parentheses after the word(s) for which they are to substitute
at first point of use and are again defined in this
section. Avoid trivial names and “code” abbreviations (e.g., NAR for
naringenin) unless such codes are in common usage (e.g. MTBE
for methyl ter-butyl ether). If trade names are used, define at point of first
use.
Use SI units insofar as possible. Refer to The ACS Style Guide for lists of SI
units and a discussion of their use. Write all equations
and formulae clearly and number equations consecutively. Place superscripts and
subscripts accurately; avoid superscripts that may be
confused with exponents. Identify typed letters and numbers that might be misinterpreted,
such as “oh” for zero or “ell” for one. It is
the authors’ responsibility to provide correct nomenclature. Insofar as possible,
authors should use systematic names similar to those
used by Chemical Abstracts Service, the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry, and the International Union of
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Chemical Abstracts (CA) nomenclature rules
are described in Appendix IV of the Chemical
Abstracts Index Guide. For CA nomenclature advice, consult the Manager of Nomenclature
Services, Chemical Abstracts Service, P.O.
Box 3012, Columbus, OH 43210-0012.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT(S)
Include essential credits but keep these to an absolute minimum. Omit academic
and social titles. Meeting presentation data and
acknowledgment of financial support of the work should be included here.
REFERENCES
Authors should cite all prior published work directly pertinent to the manuscript.
However, extensive bibliographies that go beyond a
direct connection with the manuscript are discouraged.
As a general guideline, authors should attempt to limit citations to about 30.
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their references.
References should be listed on a separate sheet and in alphabetical order. References
should be cited in the text by Author surname
and date (brackets) using et al. when there are more than two authors.
Give complete information, using the last name and initials of the author. Do
not use “Anonymous”. Follow Chemical Abstracts
Service Source Index for abbreviations of journal titles.
Typical references should follow the styles below.
For journals and chapters of books:
1. CRATHORNE, B., FIELDING, M., STEEL, P.C. and WATTS, C.D.: Organic compounds
in water: analysis using coupled-column high-performance
liquid chromatography and soft-ionisation mass spectrometry. Environm. Sci. Technol.,
18, 797-801 (1984).
2. BRAR, B.S and PASRICHA, N.S.: Long term use of organic and inorganic fertilisers
in maize-wheat-cowpea cropping system on alluvial
soil of Punjab. In: Long term soil fertility management through integrated plant
nutrient supply (Swarup A., Damodar R. and Prasad R.N.,
eds.) Proceedings of a National Workshop held during 2-4 April, 1998 at Indian
Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, pp. 164-168 (1998).
For books:
3. STEEL, R.G.D., TORRIE, J.H. and DICKEY, D.A.: Principles and procedure of statistics:
a biometrical approach. McGrawHill, New
York, USA (1997).
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 must 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.
TABLES AND ARTWORK
Tables and graphics (illustrations) should be inserted after the References section.
Tables. Tables may be created using either a word processor’s text mode or
table format feature. The table format feature is preferred.
Ensure each data entry is in its own table cell. If the text mode is used, columns
should be separated with a single tab and with a line
feed (return) at the end of each row. Tables should be numbered consecutively
with Arabic numbers and should be grouped after the
References section. Each table should be provided with a descriptive heading which,
together with the individual column headings
should make the table, as nearly as possible, self-explanatory. In setting up
tabulations, authors are requested to keep in mind the type
area of the journal page and to make tables conform to the limitations of this
dimension.
Conversely, arrangements that include more than 20 columns should be broken into
two tables if possible. If significance of values is
to be indicated, use a lower case letter for this, placed on the line and one
space after the value.
Figures and Artwork. Insert the illustrations into the word-processor file following
the References. Artwork should be sequentially
numbered using Arabic numbers. Schemes and charts may have titles and footnotes;
figures should have captions.
For manuscripts containing images of gel patterns the use of a high resolution
digital scanner is recommended. Only high-quality digital
reproductions will allow reviewers to correctly verify the experimental results.
Only readable and accurately represented images
are acceptable. The Editors reserve the option to reject images that do not satisfactorily
support points made in the manuscript or that
are not of satisfactory quality for publication.
The quality of the illustrations printed in the Journal depends on the quality
of the originals provided by the authors. Figures cannot
be modified or enhanced by the journal production staff. Contrast is important.
Remove all colour from graphics.
Each figure or photograph should be properly labelled.
For best results, submit illustrations at the actual size at which they should
appear in the journal. Lettering should be no smaller than
4.5 points.
Lines should be no thinner than 0.5 point. Lettering and lines should be of uniform
density. Avoid the use of very large and very small
lettering within the same figure.
If artwork is submitted that must be reduced, use larger lettering and thicker
lines so that, when reduced, the artwork meets the abovementioned
parameters.
Structural Formulae. Authors should note that structural formulae are valuable
in expressing concisely the precise nature of the compounds
under discussion and revealing the essence of the subject to readers unfamiliar
with the topic thus avoiding unnecessary
recourse to reference material. The use of chemical names without accompanying
structures may cause readers to overlook the significance
of the paper.
Structures should be produced with the use of a drawing program such as ChemDraw.
CURRENTLY ACCEPTABLE WORD-PROCESSING PACKAGES
Macintosh: Microsoft Word 98 and higher.
IBM and compatibles: Microsoft Word 97 and higher.
WORD-PROCESSING DETAILS
When preparing a manuscript use the “Document” mode or its equivalent
in the word-processing programme - do not save files 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).
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 (ex) and × (times
sign). Check the final copy carefully for consistent notation
and correct spelling. The editorial office conversion program will faithfully
transfer any errors to the typeset copy.
All of the text (including the title page, abstract, all sections of the body
of the paper, figure captions, scheme or chart titles and footnotes,
and references) and tabular material should be in one file, with the complete
text presented first, then the tabular material. It is
best to use the fonts “Times” and “Symbol”. Ensure that all
special characters (Greek characters, maths symbols, etc.) are present in
the body of the text as characters and not as graphic representations. Consult
the documentation for the specific software package being
used on how to detect the presence of graphics in the files and replace them with
the appropriate text characters.
REVISIONS AND RESUBMISSIONS
For all revisions:
Clearly identify the manuscript as a revision; refer to the manuscript number.
Include an itemised list of changes, with a response to each comment made by the
Editor and by each reviewer.
Be aware that, at the discretion of the Editor the manuscript may be sent for
additional review.
PROOFS AND REPRINTS
Proofs. Galley proofs are made available only to the corresponding author of a
paper via email. 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 line number.
Reprints. Please return the reprint order form, with a purchase order to Redazione
di AGROCHIMICA – Dipartimento di Chimica e
Biotecnologie Agrarie – Via del Borghetto, 80 – 56124 Pisa, Italy; phone
(+39) 50 2216633, fax (+39) 50 2216630. Reprints will normally
be shipped within 2 months of the printed journal date.
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Pisa University Press
Agrochimica