Author Guidelines
JAFS is dedicated to the achievement of the following aims:
a) Highlight and accentuate contemporary leading issues in Agriculture and Food Sciences
b) Demonstrate the nature and solutions of emerging problems in Agricultural Development and Food Science.
c) Act as a forum for the dissemination and discussion of new ideas, policies and practices in public and private sectors, as they relate to Food and Agriculture.
Guidelines for Submission of papers
The Editors welcome critical and research views in Agriculture, Food Sciences and Development issues which have not been previously published elsewhere and which are derived from inside or outside Nigeria. Articles should as much as possibly contain case studies rather than general essays.
Articles should be typed on single line spacing, Time New Roman, Font 12. The full paper should not be more than 12 pages including references and Tables. Additional pages will attract extra charge per page.
Please observe the following guidelines strictly;
(i) Title – This should be on the first line. It should be typed in 12 bold font size and in upper case using Times New Roman. The title should not be more than 2 lines and should not have a full stop at the end. Do not use abbreviations. Do not type anything above the title.
(ii) Authors – Type the names of the authors on the next line in Times 12 font upper case. Give the surname (without title) first, then initials. Use superscript numbers to distinguish authors with different addresses. The names of the authors should be in bold format.
(iii) Address – This should be on the next line Times New Roman 12 sentence case. Give full address and use superscript numbers to distinguish addresses of authors.
(iv) Abstract – The abstract should not be more than 250 words in length; must contain the focus of the paper, the problem statement must be clearly and concisely reflected in the abstract. This should be on Times New Roman, 12 Font, single line spacing and in italics. The major findings, the conclusion and the recommendations must also be stated in the abstract. It must be complete and understandable without reference to the text.
(v) Keywords - List keywords for the work presented (4-5 keywords), separated by commas. We suggest that keywords do not replicate the title.
(vi) Text – Leave one line after addresses and type the abstract with single spacing in Times 12 font and in italics. The text should then follow in Times New Roman 12 font, 1.5 line spacing and be separated into sections introduction, materials and methods, result and discussion, conclusion and references. Each section should be separated by a clear line. Under the introduction, ensure to clearly specify the general and the specific objectives of the study. Furthermore, the result and discussion should be weaved around the stated specific objectives of the study. Section headings should be bold and the text should not be on the same line as the section heading. Tables and illustrations should be numbered and explained in the discussion. All Tables and Illustrations should be placed after the references section.
(vii) References - All references following should be arranged alphabetically at the end of the paper, with the year of publication after authors name (surname) first. Title of articles, books and journal, volume, number publishers and pages should be shown. Let your references conform to the APA reference style 7th edition.
Reference style
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is present in the reference list (and vice
versa).
Text: All citations in the text should refer to:
1. Single author: the author's name (without initials) and the year of publication;
2. Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication;
3. Three or more authors: Works with three or more authors is shortened from the 1st citation. Write first author's name followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication. Do not italicize ‘et al’
Example: Okoroh et al., (2023)
Citations may be made directly or parenthetically. Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples: "as demonstrated (Okeke, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Okeke & Musa, 1995).
Chinedu et al. (2000) have recently shown ...."
List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
One Author
Mark, R. A. (2007). Nutrition in multicultural contexts. Journal of Nutrition: Practice and Research, 59(4), 10-19.
Two to Twenty Authors [List all authors surname and their initials in the reference section]
Nweke, C. J., Abiodun, V. F., Musa, R., Yomi, S. A., Nike, S. G., Mbata, I. N., Salihu, J., Chinedu, D., Okeke, L , Okeke, C. J., Biodun, V. F., Bola, R., Oke, S. A., Ike, S. G., Kunle, I. N., Alihu, J., Chidi, D., Okereke, L , Tiffany, R.S., & Ekong, A. H. (2018). Recollection rejection: False-memory editing in children and adults. Psychological Review, 110(4), 762-784.
More than twenty Authors [List the first nineteen authors, then use elipses before the last authors name]
Nweke, C. J., Abiodun, V. F., Musa, R., Yomi, S. A., Nike, S. G., Mbata, I. N., Salihu, J., Chinedu, D., Okeke, L , Okeke, C. J., Biodun, V. F., Bola, R., Oke, S. A., Ike, S. G., Kunle, I. N., Alihu, J., Chidi, D., Okereke, L , Tiffany, R.S., ..., Gbile, A. Z. (2000). Food security challenges of farming households. Journal of Agriculture and Food Sciences,18(2),43-56.
Web references
URL should not be preceded by ‘Retrieved from’, unless a retrieval date is needed. The website name is included (unless it’s the same as the author).
Example:
Nwanze, E.D. (2018, October 11). Rural communities. FMARD. http://www.fmard.govt.nig/agriculture/ruralcommunities
For ebooks, the publisher should be included.
Adekunle, F. (2022). Adult ailments. Springer nature. https:/doi.org/10.1003/963-20-321-2223-1
Editorial Policy
As publishers of academic works Journal of Agriculture and Food Sciences (JAFS), our editors and publishing partners subscribe to the principles of academic freedom, editorial independence and the highest levels of research integrity. Our goal is the provision of trusted knowledge to the widest possible audience and to serve academic communities around the world equally. JAFS is committed to compliance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism can apply to all types of content and sources of material. If the content you submit, be that words, data, figures, images or other media, is not your own work, it needs to be fully acknowledged and attributed or it could be considered plagiarism. Use of any material from another source must always be cited and in some cases permission for use may be needed.
COPE guidelines define plagiarism as:
“When somebody presents the work of others (data, words or theories) as if they were his/her own and without proper acknowledgment.”
JAFS does not tolerate plagiarism in any of our publications. We use the plagiarism detection software Turnitin to compare submissions to our journals against a database of 49 million works from 800 scholarly publishers. We will deal with cases of plagiarism according to COPE guidelines.
Submissions that contain suspected plagiarism- will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered once an article has been published, we will follow our guidance outlined in Procedures and processes for handling allegations of misconduct and under the section Corrections, Retractions and Removals. We accept only articles with a similarity score of less than 20%.
If instances of alleged plagiarism are identified by our readers we would encourage them to contact us.
Unpublished material
Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described is not copyrighted, published or submitted elsewhere, except in abstract form. The corresponding author should ensure that all authors approve the manuscript before its submission.
Conflict of interest
When authors submit a manuscript, they are responsible for recognizing and disclosing financial and/or other conflicts of interest that might bias their work and/or could inappropriately influence his/her judgment. If no specified acknowledgement is given, the Editors assume that no conflict of interest exists.
Proofs
After the acceptance of the manuscript, all manuscripts will undergo some editorial modification, so it is important to check proofs carefully. The proof will be sent to the corresponding author via e-mail for proof-reading and correction of minor typographical or grammatical errors before publication. Major corrections are not expected at proof stage. To avoid delays in publication, proofs should be checked and returned within 5 days.
Ethical responsibilities of Author’s
It is important for authors to avoid misrepresenting study results because doing so could undermine the credibility of the journal, the professionalism of scientific writing, and eventually the entire field of science. Following the guidelines of good scientific procedure can assist preserve the integrity of the research and its presentation.
These guidelines include:
• It is not advisable to submit the work to many journals for consideration at the same time.
• The submitted work should be original and should not have been published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work. (Please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid the concerns about text-recycling (‘self-plagiarism’).
• A single study should not be split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time (i.e. ‘salami-slicing/publishing’).
• Concurrent or secondary publication is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. Examples include: translations or a manuscript that is intended for a different group of readers.
• Results should be presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation (including image based manipulation). Authors should adhere to discipline-specific rules for acquiring, selecting and processing data.
• No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own (‘plagiarism’). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given (this includes material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized and/or paraphrased), quotation marks (to indicate words taken from another source) are used for verbatim copying of material, and permissions secured for material that is copyrighted.
Important note: the journal may use software to screen for plagiarism.
• Authors should make sure they have permissions for the use of software, questionnaires/(web) surveys and scales in their studies (if appropriate).
• Research articles must cite appropriate and relevant literature in support of the claims made. Excessive and inappropriate self-citation or coordinated efforts among several authors to collectively self-cite is strongly discouraged.
• Authors should avoid untrue statements about an entity (who can be an individual person or a company) or descriptions of their behavior or actions that could potentially be seen as personal attacks or allegations about that person.
• Authors are strongly advised to ensure the author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors are all correct at submission. Adding and/or deleting authors during the revision stages is generally not permitted, but in some cases may be warranted. Reasons for changes in authorship should be explained in detail. Please note that changes to authorship cannot be made after acceptance of a manuscript.
The journal uses single-blind peer review.
We charge five thousand naira (N5, 000) for the review of each manuscript submitted; on acceptance of the manuscript subject to favourable reviewers’ comments, we charge fifteen thousand naira (N15, 000) for publication. For foreign authors, the Journal charges $100 for articles. However, foreign authors are eligible for a discount at request. Also note that full papers exceeding the required page limit (12 pages including references and Tables) attracts additional charge per page.
Manuscripts are accepted subject to favourable comments by reviewers. Manuscripts should be sent to THE EDITOR, JAFS, FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE, IMO STATE, P.M.B. 2000, OWERRI
Web site: www.ajol.info/index.php/jafs; e-mail: editorjafs@gmail.com
The journal has two volumes annually, i.e. April and October every year.
