European Journal of Agronomy 20 (2004) 321–326

Guide for Authors

The European Journal of Agronomy publishes papers previously published elsewhere, except in a prelimin-
in English, describing experimental and theoretical ary form.
contributions to crop science covering the entire field Review articles should cover subjects falling within
ranging from crop quality and post-harvest technology the scope of the journal which are of active current
to production and management. Agroclimatology, interest. They are normally written upon invitation by
ecosystems and the environment complete a full range the Editor-in-Chief. Intending authors should first
of topics. The journal is the official journal of the consult with the Editor-in-Chief.
European Society for Agronomy.
Electronic manuscripts
Submission of manuscripts
For the initial submission of manuscripts for consider-
Submission of an article is understood to imply that ation, hardcopies are sufficient. Elsevier is now pub-
the article is original, has not been published and is not lishing all manuscripts using electronic production
being considered for publication elsewhere. The deci- methods, and therefore needs to receive the electronic
sion of the Editor-in-Chief is final. Upon acceptance of files of your article with two hardcopies of the
the article by the journal, the author(s) will be asked to accepted version. Electronic files can be submitted
transfer the copyright of the article to the publisher. on floppy disks, ZIP/JAZ disks, or CD ROMs.
This transfer will ensure the widest possible
dissemination of information. To ensure fast and easy processing of disk submis-
sions, please use the following guidelines:
Papers for consideration should be submitted to:
1. It is important that the file saved is in the native
format of the wordprocessor program used.
The Editorial Office of the European Journal of
2. Name your files using the correct extension,
Agronomy
e.g. Fig1.cdr, tbl1-6.xls, text.doc, fig1a.eps,
P.O. Box 181
Fig1.tif, etc.
1000 AD Amsterdam
3. Save text and graphics on separate disks.
The Netherlands
4. Label all disks with your name, journal to be
Fax: (þ31) 20 485 3754
published in, and filenames. Please also
E-Mail: agri-eo-f@elsevier.com
include details of the word-processing soft-
ware, compression software, and platform
Types of contribution (PC, Mac, UNIX etc.) used in the creation
of your files.
1. Original research papers (regular papers) 5. Ensure that electronic and hardcopy versions
2. Review articles of your manuscript are identical. In cases of a
discrepancy, the hardcopy version will be used
Original research papers should report the results of as the definitive version by the production
original research. The material should not have been team.

doi:10.1016/S1161-0301(03)00138-2
322 Guide for Authors / European Journal of Agronomy

We can accept most word-processing formats (ideally page of the manuscript, including the title
Microsoft Word or WordPerfect). Most formatting page, references, tables, etc. should be num-
codes will be removed or replaced on processing your bered. However, in the text no reference should
article so there is no need for you to use excessive be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may
layout styling. In addition, do not use options such as refer to sections. Underline words that should be
automatic word breaking, justified layout, double in italics, and do not underline any other words.
columns or automatic paragraph numbering (espe- Avoid excessive usage of italics to emphasize part
cially for numbered references). However do use bold of the text.
face, italic, subscripts, superscripts etc. When prepar- 4. Manuscripts in general should be organized in the
ing tables, if you are using a table grid, please use only following order:
one grid for each separate table and not a grid for each Title (should be clear, descriptive and not too long)
row. If no grid is being used, use tabs to align columns Name(s) of author(s)
not spaces. Please follow this order when you create Complete postal address(es) of affiliations
your manuscript: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Full telephone and Fax No. of the corresponding
Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, author (as well as an E-mail address)
References, Vitae, Figure legends and then Tables. Do Present address(es) of author(s) if applicable
not import the Figures into the text file. Complete correspondence address and E-mail ad-
dress to which the proofs should be sent
Preparation of manuscripts Abstract
Key words (indexing terms), normally 3–6 items
1. Manuscripts should be written in English. Authors Introduction
whose native language is not English are strongly Materials and methods
advised to have their manuscripts checked by an Results
English-speaking colleague prior to submission. Discussion
Authors in Japan please note: Upon request, Conclusion
Elsevier Japan will provide authors with a list of Acknowledgements and any additional information
people who can check and improve the English of concerning research grants, etc.
their paper (before submission). Please contact References
our Tokyo office: Elsevier, 4F Higashi-Azabu, 1- Tables
Chome Bldg, 1-9-15 Higashi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Figure captions
Tokyo 106-0044, Japan; phone: (+81) (3) 5561 5. In typing the manuscript, titles and subtitles
5032; fax: (+81) (3) 5561 5045, E-mail: jp.info should not be run within the text. They should
@elsevier.com. be typed on a separate line, without indentation.
2. Submit the original and two copies of your manu- Use lower-case lettertype.
script. Enclose the original illustrations and two sets 6. SI units should be used.
of photocopies (three prints of any photographs). 7. If a special instruction to the copy editor or
The manuscript must be accompanied by a covering typesetter is written on the copy it should be
letter detailing what you are submitting. Please also encircled. The typesetter will then know that
indicate the author to whom we should address our the enclosed matter is not to be set in type. When
correspondence in the case of multiple authors and a typewritten character may have more than one
include a contact address, telephone/fax numbers meaning (e.g. the lower case letter l may be
and e-mail address. Authors are requested to sub- confused with the numeral 1), a note should be
mit, with their manuscripts, the names and inserted in a circle in the margin to make the
addresses of four potential referees. meaning clear to the typesetter. If Greek letters or
3. Manuscripts should be typewritten, typed on one uncommon symbols are used in the manuscript,
side of the paper (with numbered lines), with wide they should be written very clearly, and if neces-
margins and double spacing throughout, i.e. also sary a note such as ‘Greek lower-case chi’ should
for abstracts, footnotes and references. Every be put in the margin and encircled.
 Guide for Authors / European Journal of Agronomy 323

8. Elsevier reserves the right to return to the author 3. Each illustration should be identified on the reverse
for revision accepted manuscripts and illustra- side (or—in the case of line drawings — on the
tions which are not in the proper form given in lower front side) by its number and the name of the
this guide. author. An indication of the top of the illustrations
is required in photographs of profiles, thin sections,
Abstracts and other cases where doubt can arise.
4. Illustrations should be designed with the format of
The abstract should be clear, descriptive and not the page of the journal in mind. Illustrations should
longer than 400 words. be of such a size as to allow a reduction of 50%.
5. Lettering should be in Indian ink or by printed
Tables labels. Make sure that the size of the lettering is
big enough to allow a reduction of 50% without
1. Authors should take notice of the limitations set becoming illegible. The final font size should be
by the size and lay-out of the journal. Large tables about 6–8 pt. The lettering should be in English.
should be avoided. Reversing columns and rows Use the same kind of lettering throughout and
will often reduce the dimensions of a table. follow the style of the journal.
2. If many data are to be presented, an attempt 6. If a scale should be given, use bar scales on all
should be made to divide them over two or more illustrations instead of numerical scales that must
tables. be changed with reduction.
3. Drawn tables, from which prints need to be made, 7. Each illustration should have a caption. The cap-
should not be folded. tions to all illustrations should be typed on a
4. Tables should be numbered according to their separate sheet of the manuscript.
sequence in the text. The text should include 8. Explanations should be given in the typewritten
references to all tables. legend. Drawn text in the illustrations should be
5. Each table should be typewritten on a separate kept to a minimum.
page of the manuscript. Tables should never be 9. Photographs are only acceptable if they have good
included in the text. contrast and intensity. Sharp and glossy copies are
6. Each table should have a brief and self-explana- required. Reproductions of photographs already
tory title. printed cannot be accepted.
7. Column headings should be brief, but sufficiently 10. If, together with your accepted article, you submit
explanatory. Standard abbreviations of units of usable colour figures, Elsevier will ensure that
measurement should be added between parenth- these figures appear free-of-charge in colour in
eses. the electronic version of your paper, regardless of
8. Vertical lines should not be used to separate whether or not these illustrations are reproduced
columns. Leave some extra space between the in colour in the printed version. Colour illustra-
columns instead. tions can only be included in print if the additional
9. Any explanation essential to the understanding of cost of reproduction is contributed by the author:
the table should be given as a footnote at the you will receive information regarding the costs
bottom of the table. from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted arti-
cle. Please note that because of technical compli-
Illustrations cations which may arise by converting colour
figures to ‘‘grey scale’’ (for the printed version,
1. All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) should you not opt for colour in print), you should
should be submitted separately, unmounted and submit in addition usable black and white prints
not folded. corresponding to all the colour illustrations.
2. Illustrations should be numbered according to 11. For more information on submission of artwork,
their sequence in the text. References should be please refer to the following website: http://
made in the text to each illustration. authors.elsevier.com
324 Guide for Authors / European Journal of Agronomy

Supplementary files offer the author additional possi- names and dates are exactly the same in the text
bilities to publish supporting applications, movies, as in the reference list.
animation sequences, high-resolution images, back- 2. In the text refer to the author’s name (without
ground datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary initial) and year of publication, followed—if
files supplied will be published online alongside the necessary—by a short reference to appropriate
electronic version of your article in Elsevier web pages. Examples: ‘Since Peterson (1988) has
products, including ScienceDirect: http://www. shown that . . . ’ ‘‘This is in agreement with
sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your sub- results obtained later (Kramer, 1989, pp. 12–16)’’.
mitted material is directly usable, please ensure that 3. If reference is made in the text to a publication
data is provided in one of our recommended file for- written by more than two authors the name of the
mats. Authors should submit the material in electronic first author should be used followed by ‘et al.’
format together with the article and supply and concise This indication, however, should never be used in
and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed the list of references. In this list names of first
instructions please visit the journal’s home page and author and co-authors should be mentioned.
click on the left-hand side link to the Author Gateway. 4. References cited together in the text should be
arranged chronologically. The list of references
Basic guidelines for submitting computer gener- should be arranged alphabetically on authors’
ated artwork/illustrations: (For in-depth informa- names, and chronologically per author. If an
tion about submitting electronic artwork, please author’s name in the list is also mentioned with
check http://authors.elsevier.com) co-authors the following order should be used:
1. Computer-generated illustrations and halftones/ publications of the single author, arranged accord-
lines/tones (either colour or black & white) are ing to publication dates—‘publications of the
acceptable. Since we cannot guarantee the usability same author with one co-author—publications
of graphic files, original hardcopies of all illustra- of the author with more than one co-author.
tions must accompany the accepted printout of the Publications by the same author(s) in the same
manuscript in all cases. year should be listed as 1974a, 1974b, etc.
2. TIFF or EPS files are the preferred format. Sug- 5. Use the following system for arranging your
gested packages for line graphics are Adobe Illus- references:
trator (version 3.0 or above), Freehand, and Corel a. For periodicals
Draw. Graphics made in WordPerfect or Word Munier-Jolain, N.G., Ney, B., Duthion, C.,
generally have too low a resolution. Files of 1993. Sequential development of flowers and
scanned line graphics can be accepted preferably seeds on the main stem of an intermediate
at a resolution of 1000 dpi, for scanned halftones soybean. Crop Science 33, 768–771.
(300 dpi) and scanned line/tones (500 dpi). b. For edited symposia, special issues, etc., pub-
3. Black & white photos, micrographs etc. should not lished in a periodical
be saved as colour. Rice, K., 1992. Theory and conceptual issues.
4. Colour illustrations should be scanned in at 300 dpi In: Gall, G.A.E., Staton, M. (Eds.), Integrating
(500 dpi for colour/line tones). Conservation Biology and Agricultural Pro-
5. If the image files are large and you compress them duction. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Envi-
prior to submission, please indicate the compres- ronment 42, 9–26.
sion software used. c. For books
Gaugh Jr., H.G., 1992. Statistical Analysis of
References Regional Yield Trials. Elsevier, Amsterdam,
278 pp.
1. All publications cited in the text should be pre- d. For multi-author books
sented in a list of references following the text of Snobas, B.A., Wilkins, D.E., Hadjichristodou-
the manuscript. The manuscript should be carefully lou, A., Haddad, N.I., 1988. Stand establish-
checked to ensure that the spelling of authors’ ment in pulse crops. In: Summerfield, R.J.
 Guide for Authors / European Journal of Agronomy 325

(Ed.), World Crops: Cool Season Food of a very long name occurring very frequently or
Legumes. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dor- in the case of a compound being described as the
drecht, pp. 257–259. end product of a gravimetric determination (e.g.
6. In the case of publications in any language other phosphate as P2O5).
than English, the original title is to be retained.
However, the titles of publications in non-Latin Footnotes
alphabets should be transliterated, and a notation
such as ‘(in Russian)’ or ‘(in Greek, with English 1. Footnotes should only be used if absolutely essen-
abstract)’ should be added. tial. In most cases it should be possible to incor-
7. Work accepted for publication but not yet pub- porate the information in normal text.
lished should be referred to as ‘in press’. 2. If used, they should be numbered in the text,
8. References concerning unpublished data and ‘per- indicated by superscript numbers, and kept as short
sonal communications’ should not be cited in the as possible.
reference list but may be mentioned in the text.
Nomenclature
Formulae

1. Formulae should be typewritten, if possible. Leave 1. Authors and editors are, by general agreement,
ample space around the formulae. obliged to accept the rules governing biological
2. Subscripts and superscripts should be clear. nomenclature, as laid down in the International
3. Greek letters and other non-Latin or handwritten Code of Botanical Nomenclatur, and the Interna-
symbols should be explained in the margin where tional Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria.
they are first used. 2. All biotica (crops, plants, insects etc.) should be
Take special care to show clearly the difference identified by their scientific names when the Eng-
between zero (0) and the letter O, and between one lish term is first used, with the exception of com-
(1) and the letter l. mon domestic crops.
4. Give the meaning of all symbols immediately after 3. All biocides and other organic compounds must be
the equation in which they are first used. identified by their Geneva names when first used in
5. For simple fractions use the solidus (/) instead of a the text. Active ingredients of all formulations
I
horizontal line, e.g. Ip/2m rather than 2mp . should be likewise identified.
6. Equations should be numbered serially at the right- 4. For chemical nomenclature, the conventions of the
hand side in parentheses. In general only equations International Union of Pure and Applied Chemis-
explicitly referred to in the text need be numbered. try and the official recommendations of the IUPAC-
7. The use of fractional powers instead of root signs is IUB Combined Commission on Biochemical
recommended. Also powers of e are often more Nomenclature should be followed.
conveniently denoted by exp.
8. Levels of statistical significance which can be Copyright
mentioned without further explanation are *P <
0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001. 1. An author, when quoting from someone else’s work
9. In chemical formulae, valence of ions should be or when considering reproducing an illustration or
þþ
given as, e.g. Ca2þ and CO2 3 , not as Ca or table from a book or journal article, should make

CO3 . sure that copyright is not being infringed.
10. Isotope numbers should precede the symbols, e.g. 2. Although in general an author may quote from
18
O. other published works, permission from the holder
11. The repeated writing of chemical formulae in the of the copyright should be obtained if substantial
text is to be avoided where reasonably possible; extracts are taken or tables, plates, or other illus-
instead, the name of the compound should be trations are reproduced. If the copyright-holder is
given in full. Exceptions may be made in the case not the author of the quoted or reproduced material,
326 Guide for Authors / European Journal of Agronomy

it is recommended that the permission of the author Proofs

should also be sought.
3. Material in unpublished letters and manuscripts is One set of proofs will be sent to the corresponding
also protected and must not be published unless author as given on the title page of the manuscript.
permission has been obtained. Only typesetter’s errors may be corrected; no changes
4. A suitable acknowledgement of any borrowed in, or additions to, the edited manuscript will be
material must always be made. allowed.
Elsevier will do everything possible to get your
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European Journal of Agronomy is abstracted/cited in CABS (Current Awareness in Biological Sciences),

Biobase, CAB International; INIST Pascal Database; Chemical Abstracts; Current Contents (Agricultural,
Biological and Environmental Sciences), Ecological Abstracts, Geobase, AGRICOLA.