Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

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 submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • 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 within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
  • If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

Author Guidelines

INTRODUCTION

SAARC Journal of Agriculture (SJA) is one of the official journals of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and published from SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC), Dhaka, Bangladesh.  It is an open accessed, peer-reviewed international journal with two issues in each year. The aim of the journal is to advance and share scientific knowledge in all spheres of agricultural sciences. The SJA welcomes the manuscripts relevant to the SAARC Member States namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Articles from rest of the world are also welcome subject to its applicability over the agricultural sciences.

SCOPE OF JOURNAL

Topics include (but are not restricted to):

Crop: Agronomy, soil science, plant breeding and genetics, cytogenetics, post-harvest processing and agricultural engineering, agricultural biotechnology, agro-forestry, horticultural sciences, microbiology, pest, weed control, molecular biology, plant pathology, innovative technology, crop modeling, physiology and biochemistry, stress breeding, land use, forestry, climate change, conservation agriculture, extension, economics, watershed, farm mechanization, etc.

Livestock: Animal nutrition/ biotechnology/ production and management/genetics and breeding/ physiology/ reproduction, meat science, dairy technology, veterinary medicine/bacteriology/ virology/ surgery/ public health/ immunology/ parasitology/ epidemiology, fodder production and conservation, poultry production and management, nutraceuticals, safe food production, antimicrobial usages and antimicrobial resistance, greenhouse gas emission and mitigation, veterinary extension etc.

Fisheries: Aquaculture- coldwater, freshwater, brackish-water/ marine, inland fisheries/ fish nutrition and biochemistry/ aquatic animal health/ ecosystem/ processing and value addition/ climate change/ fisheries economics/ resource management/ fish genetics and bio-technology/ aquaculture engineering etc.

Socio economics/cross cutting issues:

Gender mainstreaming, agricultural market, food safety, value chain system, food systems, safe food, biofortification, Policy, nutrition etc.

TYPE OF ARTICLES

Authors are requested to mention the type of articles i.e., original research article, review, case study and short communication. At the time of submitting the article, the corresponding author must choose one or more areas mentioned above.

SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES

Articles from all SAARC Member Countries are invited. Nevertheless, manuscript from rest of the world with direct or indirect impact on agriculture/ livestock/ fisheries will also be considered for publication subject to its applicability in the SAARC region. Manuscripts complete in all aspects may be e-mailed to the editorial desk (saarcjournal@yahoo.com). For any queries regarding the submission, potential authors are requested to contact with editorial desk of SAARC Journal of Agriculture through email.

COVERING LETTER TO THE MANAGING EDITOR

During submission of articles, it is compulsory to include a covering letter to the managing editor. The covering letter must be attached separately stating following:

  • Broad topic (crop science or livestock or fishery or cross cutting issues);
  • That all the authors have given consent to submit the manuscript to the SJA;
  • It is the original work of the authors and all authors have contributed significantly for the pursuance of research;
  • The manuscript is not submitted to any other journal or not under consideration for publication elsewhere;
  • State the novelty in results/findings, or significance of results (two to three bullet points);
  • Three potential referees name, affiliation, mail id, and reason for their selection.

STRUCTURE

Follow this order while preparing the manuscript:

TITLE PAGE

Title, details of authors (names, affiliations, email), abstract, keywords, corresponding author. The corresponding author should be marked using asterisk (check the spelling)

MAIN MANUSCRIPT

Title, names of authors, abstract, keywords, introduction, materials and method, results and discussion (combined), conclusion including future researchable issues, acknowledgment, conflict of interest if any, reference, tables with title, figure with captions.

TEXT LAYOUT

Prepare manuscript using ‘Times New Roman’ with font size 12 pt having double spacing and wide (0.3 cm) margins on right and left side in word format. Please ensure that each new paragraph is clearly indicated. Present table and figure with appropriate title and caption, respectively. Number all pages consecutively using 12 pt. font size and standard fonts.

MANUSCRIPT LENGTH

The maximum word count of the manuscript should be restricted to 5000, 4000, and 2500 for review, original research article and case-study/short communication, respectively.

PEER REVIEW

The SJA is a journal that operates on single blind review process. All submitted manuscripts are initially assessed by the editorial desk for its scientific merit and suitability of publication in the SJA. Manuscripts deemed appropriate are then sent to expert reviewer to assess the scientific merit of the article. The reviewer’s comments are communicated to the corresponding author and she/ he is expected to comply with recommendations/ suggestions. The author is expected to revise the manuscript after incorporating suggestions or remarks of the referee. The changes of the revised manuscript need to be marked in different colour. Finally, the corresponding author will submit revised manuscript with colour marking, cleaned version and compliance report in separate files.  The editorial team is responsible for the final decision regarding the publication of the manuscript.

ARTICLE STRUCTURE (Research articles)

Authors are requested to divide their manuscript into clearly defined sections as mentioned below:

TITLE

Please be concise and informative as it is often being used for the scientific information retrieval.  Title should be self-explanatory to convey message about the article. Avoid stale words. A small running title may be provided.

ABSTRACT

The manuscript should contain an abstract. It should be self-contained and citation-free, and should not exceed 250 words. An ideal abstract should contain introductory lines, objectives, materials and method, results and conclusions of the experiment. Abbreviations that appear in the abstract must be defined before they are first used.

KEYWORDS

List up to 5 keywords in alphabetical order and separated by comma at the end of the abstract. The first letter of each of the keyword should be in upper case.

INTRODUCTION

Introduce the topic with relevant and appropriate background information evading detailed literature survey or results. Try to use latest references. This should not exceed three pages.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Describe the methods in such a way that an independent researcher could reproduce the same during their future investigation. Methods which are already published should be mentioned in brief citing the reference. Any modifications or changes made on the established protocol should be described in detail. 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Results should be elaborated clearly and briefly. Discuss significance of the results based on available and published literature. Repeated citation and discussion should be avoided.

UNITS

Please follow internationally accepted rules. Always use the international system of units (SI).

CONCLUSION

The main conclusions arrived from results should be presented briefly (maximum 150 words). Authors may also point out the future research scope on the particular topic. Should be avoided repetition of sentences.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It should appear at the end of the article, before the references. Provide funding details with project or sanction number. Please acknowledge the individuals (if any) who have extended help during the research, assisted in language editing, helped in procurement of research materials etc.

ARTICLE STRUCTURE (Short communication)

It should restrict the word count to 2500 including title, names of authors and affiliation, abstract (150 words), brief introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion (combined), references, relevant tables and figures.

ARTICLE STRUCTURE (Review)

It should restrict the word count to 5000 including title, name of authors and affiliation, abstract (250 words), introduction, aim, headings and sub-headings (context specific), references, relevant tables and figures. The authors of the review should have adequate number of research publications on the subject. 

Reference style in Text

  1. Single author: the author surname followed by year of publication (Singh, 2020).
  2. Two authors: both authors surnames followed by the year of publication (Singh and Jahan, 2020).
  3. Three or more authors: first author surname followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication (Singh et al., 2020).

REFERENCES

Restrict the references which are relevant to the particular topic. Recent and relevant, not more than 20 years old references are encouraged;

All references quoted in the text must appear at the end of the article and vice-versa. The spelling of names of author and date or year at the two places should be carefully checked;

The references should include names of all authors, year (within brackets), full title of the article, full name of the journal (in italic, no abbreviation), volume number, issue number in bracket, and pages. For book or monograph, the name of the publisher should also be given as well as its volume, edition and relevant pages;

The references cited together in the text should be arranged chronologically. The list of references should be arranged in alphabetical order. A few examples for correct citation of references are mentioned herewith.

Journal Article

Khan, M.M.H. (2018). Abundance, damage severity and management of guava mealybug, Ferrisia virgata CkII. SAARC Journal of Agriculture, 16(2): 73-82.

Khan, M.M.H., Islam, M.M., Asaduzzaman, M. and Uddin, M.N. (2018). Mutants and weather parameters affecting the population dynamics of three major insect pests of mungbean. SAARC Journal of Agriculture, 16(2): 1-12.

Reference to a journal publication with an article number

Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J. and Lupton, R.A. (2018). The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon, 19: e00205.

Book/ policy brief

Gyeltshen, K. and Sharma, S. (2019). Integrated plant nutrition system modules for major crops and cropping systems in South Asia. SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Pp. 176.

Ali, Y., Shrestha, R.B., Bokhtiar, S.M. and Samanta, A.K. (2019). Food safety in South Asia: Challenge, opportunity and policy perspectives. SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Pp. 184

George, G. and Hassan, M.S. (2020). Policy brief on “Guidelines for ensuring sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture in South Asia”. SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Pp. 1-4.

Chapter in a Book

Bhatta, R., Anandan, S. and Giridhar, K. 2019. Livestock feeds and feeding practices in India. In: Samanta, Ashis Kumar, Bokhtiar, Shaikh Mohammad and Ali, Mohammad Younus (Editors). Livestock feeds and feeding practices in South Asia. SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Pp. 64 - 100.

Conference/Symposium/ Proceedings

Joshi, B.K. (2004). Crossing frequency and ancestors used in developing Nepalese mid and high hill rice cultivars: Possible criteria for yield improvement and rice genes conservation. Proceedings of 4th National Conference on Science and Technology held at Kathmandu, Nepal. Pp. 502-523.

Reference to a website

Cancer Research UK. (2003). Cancer statistics reports for the UK.  https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/bowel-cancer. Accessed on 8th June, 2019.

Figures

The number of figures should be restricted to 4 and it should have title below the figure. Citation of figures should appear within the main manuscript chronologically.

Tables

The number of tables should be restricted to 4, should be numbered and have title (above the table). Avoid large tables, which are not comprehendible. In case of large tables, the data could be presented using graphs for better understanding. Citation of table should appear within the main manuscript chronologically. The combined number of tables and figures should be restricted to eight only.

Abbreviations

Should use internationally accepted abbreviations. New abbreviation for manuscript should be defined during their first use.

Authorship and its sequence

Before submission, authors are anticipated to consider carefully the list and order of authors and mention the definitive order of authors at the time of the original submission based on their contribution. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names will lead to rejection of the manuscript by the editorial board of the journal. Only in exceptional circumstances, the corresponding author can submit such request through their head of organization stating the reason.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Authors should follow “guide for authors” stringently, else the manuscript would be rejected without peer review. Editors reserve the right to adjust the style to certain standards of uniformity.

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGE

Articles of any type (review, research, short communication and case study) are accepted based on scientific merit and published free of cost.

Submission checklist

Before sending the manuscript to the designated email id of SJA, the authors are requested to undertake final check of the prepared manuscript:

  1. Covering letter;
  2. Among all the authors, one has been designated as corresponding author;
  3. Affiliations along with email id of all authors at the title page;
  4. Full postal address of the organization where particular research has been approved and carried out;
  5. Title page including title of manuscript, authors name/ address/ email id, abstract, keywords, corresponding author;
  6. Entire file should have two parts:
  7. Title page: as mentioned before.
  8. Main manuscript: title, running title, name of authors (initial followed by surname), abstract, keywords, introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion (combined), conclusion including future researchable issues, acknowledgment, conflict of interest if any, references, tables with title and figures with caption.
  9. Manuscript has been spelling and grammar checked;
  10. Permission is taken for the use of copyright material;
  11. All references mentioned in the body of the manuscript are being cited in the reference list and vice versa.

Privacy Statement

Bangladesh Journals Online (BanglaJOL) is a member of the Ubiquity Partner Network coordinated by Ubiquity Press. According to the EU definitions, BanglaJOL is the data controller, and Ubiquity Press are the service providers and data processors. Ubiquity Press provide the technical platform and some publishing services to BanglaJOL and operate under the principle of data minimisation where only the minimal amount of personal data that is required to carry out a task is obtained.

More information on the type of data that is required can be found in Ubiquity Press’ privacy policy below.

Ubiquity Press Privacy Policy

We take seriously our duty to process your personal data in a fair and transparent way. We collect and manage user data according to the following Privacy Policy. This document is part of our Terms of Service, and by using the press portal, affiliated journals, book, conference and repository websites (the “Websites”), you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Service. Please read the Terms of Service in their entirety, and refer to those for definitions and contacts.

What type of personal data do we handle?

There are four main categories of personal data stored by our journal platform, our press platform, and our book management system; Website User data, Author data, Reviewer data and Editor data.

The minimum personal data that are stored are:

  • full name
  • email address
  • affiliation (department, and institution)
  • country of residence

Optionally, the user can provide:

  • salutation
  • gender
  • associated URL
  • phone number
  • fax number
  • reviewing interests
  • mailing address
  • ORCiD
  • a short biography
  • interests
  • Twitter profile
  • LinkedIn profile
  • ImpactStory profile
  • profile picture

The data subjects have complete control of this data through their profile, and can request for it to be removed by contacting info@ubiquitypress.com

What do we do to keep that data secure?

We regularly backup our databases, and we use reliable cloud service providers (Amazon, Google Cloud, Linode) to ensure they are kept securely. Backups are regularly rotated and the old data is permanently deleted. We have a clear internal data handling policy, restricting access to the data and backups to key employees only. In case of a data breach, we will report the breach to the affected users, and to the press/journal contacts within 72 hours.

How do we use the data?

Personal information is only used to deliver the services provided by the publisher. Personal data is not shared externally except for author names, affiliations, emails, and links to ORCiD and social media accounts (if provided) in published articles and books which are displayed as part of the article/book and shared externally to indexes and databases. If a journal operates under open peer review then the reviewer details are published alongside the reviewer details.

How we collect and use your data:

1. When using the website

1.1 what data we collect

  • When you browse our website, we collect anonymised data about your use of the website; for example, we collect information about which pages you view, which files you download, what browser you are using, and when you were using the site.
  • When you comment on an article or book using Disqus, we are not collecting, controlling or processing the data. More details on the DISQUS privacy policy can be found on their website.
  • When you annotate an article or book, this is done via a 3rd party plugin to the website called Hypothes.is. In using this plugin we are not collecting, controlling or processing the data. More details on the Hypothes.is privacy policy can be found on their website.

1.2 why we collect the data

  • We use anonymised website usage data to monitor traffic, help fix bugs, and see overall patterns that inform future redesigns of the website, and provide reports on how frequently the publications on our site have been accessed from within their IP ranges.

1.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • We do not collect personal information that can be used to identify you when you browse the website.
  • We currently use Google Analytics for publication reports, and to improve the website and services through traffic analysis, but no personal identifying data is shared with Google (for example your computer’s IP is anonymised before transmission).

1.4 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

  • Please contact info@ubiquitypress.com to request a copy of your data, or for your data to be removed/anonymised.

2. When registering as an author, and submitting an article or book

2.1 what data we collect

  • When registering an account we ask you to log in and provide certain personal information (such as your name and email address), and there is the option to register using an ORCiD which will pre-fill the registration form.
  • As part of submitting an article for publication, you will need to provide personally identifying information which will be used for the peer review process, and will be published. This can include ‘Affiliation’, ‘Competing interests’, ‘Acknowledgements’.

2.2 why we collect the data

  • Registering an account allows you to log in, manage your profile, and participate as an author/reviewer/editor. We use cookies and session information to streamline your use of the website (for example in order for you to remain logged-in when you return to a journal). You can block or delete cookies and still be able to use the websites, although if you do you will then need to enter your username and password to login. In order to take advantage of certain features of the websites, you may also choose to provide us with other personal information, such as your ORCiD, but your decision to utilize these features and provide such data will always be voluntary.
  • Personal data submitted with the article or book is collected to allow follow good publication ethics during the review process, and will form part of the official published record in order for the provenance of the work to be established, and for the work to be correctly attributed.

2.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • We do not share your personal information with third parties, other than as part of providing the publishing service.
  • As a registered author in the system you may be contacted by the journal editor to submit another article.
  • Any books published on the platform are freely available to download from the publisher website in PDF, EPUB and MOBI formats on the publisher’s site.
  • Any personal data accompanying an article or a book (that will have been added by the submitting author) is published alongside it. The published data includes the names, affiliations and email addresses of all authors.
  • Any articles published on the platform are freely available to download from the publisher website in various formats (e.g. PDF, XML).
  • Ubiquity Press books and articles are typeset by SiliconChips and Diacritech.This process involves them receiving the book and book associated metadata and contacting the authors to finalise the layout. Ubiquity Press work with these suppliers to ensure that personal data is only used for the purposes of typesetting and proofing.
  • For physical purchases of books on the platform Ubiquity Press use print on demand services via Lightning Source who are responsible for printing and distribution via retailers. (For example; Amazon, Book Repository, Waterstones). Lightning Source’s privacy policy and details on data handling can be found on their website.

2.4 why we store the data

  • We store the account data so that you may choose to become a reviewer and be able to perform those tasks, or to become an author and submit an article and then track progress of that article.
  • Published personal data that accompanies an article or a book forms part of the official published record in order for the provenance of the work to be established, and for the work to be correctly attributed.

2.5 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

  • You are able to view, change and remove your data associated with your profile. Should you choose to completely delete your account, please contact us at support@ubiquitypress.com and we will follow up with your request as soon as possible.
  • To conform to publication ethics and best practice any personal data that is published alongside an article or book cannot be removed. If you have a query about a publication to which you are attributed please contact info@ubiquitypress.com

3. When registering as a reviewer

3.1 what data we collect

  • To become a reviewer you must first register as a user on the website, and set your preference that you would like to be considered as a reviewer. No new personal data is collected when a registered user elects to become a reviewer.
  • When registering an account we ask you to log in and provide certain personal information (such as your name and email address), and there is the option to register using an ORCiD which will pre-fill the registration form.
  • Reviewers can also be registered by editors who invite them to review a specific article. This requires the editor to provide the reviewer’s First Name, Last Name, and Email address. Normally this will be done as part of the process of inviting you to review the article or book.
  • On submitting a review, the reviewer includes a competing interest statement, they may answer questions about the quality of the article, and they will submit their recommendation.

3.2 why we collect the data

  • The data entered is used to invite the reviewer to peer review the article or book, and to contact the reviewer during and the review process.
  • If you submit a review then the details of your review, including your recommendation, your responses to any review form, your free-form responses, your competing interests statement, and any cover letter are recorded.

3.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • This data is not shared publicly and is only accessible by the Editor and system administrators of that journal or press.
  • The data will only be used in connection with that journal or press.
  • Data that is retained post final decision is kept to conform to publication ethics and best practice, to provide evidence of peer review, and to resolve any disputes relating to the peer review of the article or book.
  • For journals or presses that publish the peer reviews, you will be asked to give consent to your review being published, and a subset of the data you have submitted will become part of the published record.

3.4 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

  • If you would no longer like to be registered as a reviewer you can edit your profile and tick the box ‘stop being a reviewer’. This will remove you from the reviewer database, however any existing reviews you may have carried out will remain.
  • If you have been contacted by an editor to peer review an article this means that you have been registered in the system. If you would not like to be contacted for peer review you can reply to the email requesting that your data be deleted.

4. When being registered as a co-author

4.1 what data we collect

  • Co-author data is entered by the submitting author. The submitting author will already have a user account. According to standard publishing practice, the submitting author is responsible for obtaining the consent of their co-authors to be included (including having their personal data included) in the article/book being submitted to the journal/press.
  • The requested personal data for co-authors are at the bare minimum; first name, last name, institution, country, email address. This can also include; ORCID ID, Title, Middle Name, Biographical Statement, Department, Twitter Handle, Linkedin Profile Name or ImpactStory ID.

4.2 why we collect the data

  • Assuming that it is accepted for publication, this data forms part of the official published record in order for the provenance of the work to be established, and for the work to be correctly attributed.
  • Author names, affiliations and emails are required for publication and will become part of the permanent cited record.

4.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • The co-author’s personal data is stored in the author database. This personal data is only used in relation to the publication of the associated article.
  • Any co-author data collected is added to the author database and is only used in association with the article the user is co-author on.

4.5 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data, or want your data to be removed

  • To receive a copy of your data, please contact info@ubiquitypress.com
  • To conform to publication ethics and best practice any personal data that is published alongside an article or book cannot be removed. If you have a query about a publication to which you are attributed please contact info@ubiquitypress.com

5. When signing-up to receive newsletters

5.1 what data we collect

  • We require you to include your name and email address

5.2 why we collect and store the data, and for how long

  • This data would be collected to keep you updated with any news about the platform or specific journal

5.3 what we do (and don’t do) with the data

  • We use mailchimp to provide our mailing list services. Their privacy policy can be found here

5.4 what to do if you want to get a copy of your data or want your data to be removed

  • All emails sent via our newsletter client will include a link that will allow you to unsubscribe from the mailing list

Notification about change of ownership or of control of data

We may choose to buy or sell assets. In the case that control of data changes to or from Ubiquity Press and a third party, or in the case of change of ownership of Ubiquity Press or of part of the business where the control of personal data is transferred, we will do our best to inform all affected users and present the options.

(Updated: 18 May 2018)