Submissions
Author Guidelines
Sri Lanka Journal of Food and Agriculture (SLJFA) is an international journal that is published in two issues a year. The SLJFA encourages integration of knowledge among disciplines that underpin food and agriculture. Many contributions will thus be multi-disciplinary or inter-disciplinary.
- Papers accepted generally deal with holistic, quantitative or qualitative systems approaches to a range of problems within food and agriculture systems and their interactions with other systems.
- The content of papers should be properly introduced, presented and discussed to readers from a wide range of disciplines.
- The scope of the journal includes policy, systems analysis, methodologies and novel technologies, technology transfer and the relationship among them.
Types of Papers
- The journal publishes original scientific papers and short communications.
- Review articles and book reviews are accepted only by invitation from the Editorial Board.
Reviewing Policy
- The SLFA follows a double-blind review process to ensure quality and relevance of the papers it publishes. Two reviewers who are experts in the particular subject area are assigned by the Editorial Board to evaluate each research paper. In general, 2 weeks are given to reviewers to complete and send their evaluation, comments and suggestions. If both reviewers have accepted the paper with corrections, the 2 reviews are sent back to the author for revising their original manuscript. The the revised paper is forwarded to the Editorial Board by the Editorial Office. If at least 1 reviewer has rejected the paper, it is forwarded to the Editorial Board by the Editorial Office. If both reviewers have rejected the paper it is informed to the author by the Editorial Office. The Editorial Board makes the final decision regarding all submissions.
Manuscript preparation
- Manuscripts should be prepared using MS Word (version 2007 or higher).
- The Figures and Tables should be placed at appropriate locations in the text and also be submitted in separate files identifying them by the Table or Figure Number. The text should be in single-column format.
- All text should be done in Times New Roman, 12-point, and 1.5 spacing excluding Tables (single spacing).
- The maximum length of the manuscript should be 15 A4-size paper.
- The title of Tables, caption of Figures, data presented in Tables and the list of References should be in Times New Roman 11-point, single spacing.
- Submission of paper not withstanding to the guidelines will be returned to the authors without being considered for review.
- Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been published before and is not under consideration for publication anywhere else.
- The corresponding author is responsible for the content of the manuscript and that it has been approved by all co-authors. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation
- Manuscripts should be submitted to the Editorial Office via e-mail carp@slcarp.lk, identifying “SLJFA Paper Submission” in the subject line. Authors are kindly requested to visit the website www.slcarp.lk for further information
Manuscript Structure
- Title Page: A concise and informative title in “Sentence case” The name(s) of author(s) (e.g. A.B.C. Sumanaweera and X.Y.Z. Amarasinghe) Affiliations and addresses of all authors (do not include the position in organization) Email address of the corresponding author
- Abstract: maximum 300 words; should not carry references, Tables, Photos and/or Figures, or any undefined abbreviations; should provide a brief introductory statement, objectives, key materials and methods, important results, and conclusions
- Keywords: up to a maximum of six (6) keywords
- Introduction: State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results
- Materials and Methods: should include the experimental materials, sampling procedures, experimental methods, experimental design and number of replicates and statistical methods adopted. Standard protocols should not be described in detail.
- Results: should be clear and concise
- Discussion (may be combined with Results): should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature
- Conclusions
- Acknowledgement
- References
Scientific style
- Generic names of drugs and pesticides should be given. If trade names are used, the generic name should be given at the first appearance.
Sub headings
- Sub-headings are not permitted in the Abstract, Introduction, Conclusions and Acknowledgements.
- Sub-headings in other sections should be in lower-case and bold-font.
Footnotes
- Footnotes for the pages are not allowed.
Colour Figures, Photos and Artworks
- All materials should be in black and white. The corresponding author is responsible for submitting clear and legible material for publication.
- Colour Figures, Photos and Artwork are accepted only under special circumstances as decided by the Editorial Board.
Figure captions
- Ensure that each illustration has a caption immediately below.
- A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration.
- Explain all symbols and abbreviations used. Digital versions of Figures, preferably in TIFF format, should be sent separately.
- Figures should be presented with appropriate statistical inference.
- Number the Figures consecutively as they appear in the text.
Tables
- Avoid vertical lines.
- Data presented in tables should not be repeated in Figures, or vice versa.
- Prepare Tables only by using the Insert Table function.
- Do not use Tabs within tables or any other software to produce Tables.
- Place notes below the Table and indicate them with a superscript or lowercase letters.
- Data presented should have appropriate statistical inference.
- Number the tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text.
Equations
- Use the equation editor for equations.
Signs and Symbols for Units
- Always use internationally accepted signs and symbols for units (SI units).
Acknowledgements
- List those individuals or organizations who provided help during the research (e.g., providing funds, language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
References
- Citation in text
- Ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).
- Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. The personal communication should indicate the name of the individual with initials, affiliation and the country)
Citation and Reference style
- See examples below
- Citation in the text: ……. (Defoirdt, 2008; Pasquel et al., 2011). For papers with more than two authors, the name of the first author should be followed by “et al.”
- Articles with more than two authors should be cited as First author followed by “et al.”
- Reference list should be limited to the minimum but important articles. The reference style is as follows
Bandara H.A.D., Defoirdt T., Bhowmick P.P., Karunasagar I. and Bossier P. (2011): In vitro and in vivo expression of virulence genes in Vibrio isolates belonging to the Harveyi clade in relation to their virulence towards gnotobiotic brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana). Environ. Microbiol. 13(2): 506–51
Madigan M.T., Martinko J.M., Dunlap P.V. and Clark D.P. (2008): Brock Biology of Microorganisms, 12th Edition. New York, USA: Pearson Higher Education.
Finlay B.I., Fenchel T. and Embley T.M. (1993): Methanogen endosymbiosis in anaerobic climates. In: Trends in Microbial Ecology (Guerrero, R. and Pedros-Alio, C. Eds.). pp 285-288. Barcelona: Spanish Society for Microbiology, Spain.
Beckleheimer J. (1994): How do you cite URLs in a bibliography? (WWW……..doc) - Accessed on 7th March 2014
After Acceptance for Publication:
- Proof reading
- The purpose of the proof is to check for typesetting or conversion errors and the completeness and accuracy of the text, tables and figures. Substantial changes in content, e.g., new results, corrected values, title and authorship, will not be allowed.
The Sri Lanka Journal of Food and Agriculture (SLJFA) is a publication of the Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy (SLCARP) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Sri Lanka
