Author Guidelines
Authors are requested to follow these instructions carefully. Manuscripts not prepared accordingly will be returned to authors and this will inevitably lead to a delay in the editorial processing of the manuscript.
Aims and scope
SAJEST is an independent publication of the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE). The Journal acts as a platform for scientific inquiry and exchange of ideas, as well as a teaching tool through the publication of well-researched peer-reviewed articles of the highest quality, covering the broad areas of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, and Science. The Journal welcomes the submission of manuscripts that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence.
Types of contributions
Three types of scientific contributions are considered for publication:
1. Full length research papers describing complete investigations. Papers should be between 6 500 to 10 000 words; including references, figures, and tables. Manuscript must not have been published previously, except in the form of a preliminary communication. The manuscript must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
2. Short Communications describing results that are brief and timely. These manuscripts should bear the words "Short Communication" immediately above the title on the first page. They should also be subdivided into titles sections but should not exceed 2,500 words and contain no more than three figures and tables.
3. Review articles will normally be invited by the Editorial Board. Authors wishing to submit a review article should send an abstract and brief outline of its contents to the Editor-in-Chief before the full manuscript is submitted. Review articles are limited to two for each issue of the Journal.
General Terms of Publication
The submitting author (listed as the corresponding author) accepts the responsibility of having included as coauthors all persons appropriate and none inappropriate. The submitting author certifies that all coauthors have seen and approved the final draft copy of the manuscript and agree with its submission and publication by SAJEST. The inclusion of authors should be based on actual contribution to the manuscript and the submitting author should indicate the contribution of each author.
It is the authors’ responsibility to obtain permissions for reproduction of figures, tables, or text from published work. The publisher of a journal or book is the copyright owner from whom the written permission must be obtained. Manuscript and artwork will not be returned following publication. It should be noted that after acceptance of a paper changes or additions to the manuscript and its data is not permitted.
SAJEST publishes articles in British English. Manuscripts must be grammatically and linguistically correct and this is the responsibility of the author(s). Authors less familiar with English are advised to seek the help of English-speaking colleagues and professionals.
Submitted manuscripts will be subjected to peer review. Authors will be notified of the result of the review within two to three months after submission. Revised manuscript, as a file, on which all alterations are clearly marked and visible, should be submitted within a reasonable time. The revised manuscript must be accompanied by a point-by-point letter summarizing the changes that have been made in response to the reviewers’ comments. Before publication authors will receive proofs via email in PDF format. The proofs should be carefully read and corrected if necessary.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, all authors will be asked to transfer copyright agreement to Editor-in-Chief through signing a Copyright Transfer Agreement Form. This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of the research information. The publisher allows authors to reprint their paper without request or fees.
Format and Style of Manuscripts
The manuscript must be typed in a concise form in 1.5 line spaced format (including references, tables, legends, etc), with Times New Roman font of 12 pt. It must be paginated and between 6500 and 10000 words. The manuscripts should be submitted in MS Word format (See Paper template).
Title: A concise title in connection with the contents of the document should be provided. The title should be concise and informative and without abbreviations and formulae where possible. This should be followed by names of the authors starting with the family name first and initials of given names. Present the authors’ affiliation address below the names. Indicate all affiliations with superscript numerals immediately after the author’s name and also in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation and include the fax and/or telephone number and the electronic address of the principal author/investigator. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, a ‘Present address’ may be indicated as a footnote to that author’s name.
Abstract: The full-length manuscript must include an abstract with between 250 to 300 words and short communications should have a maximum of 150 words. The Abstract gives the most important points of the document. It should state the scope of the research; summarize objectives of the research, the methods used, the results obtained and the main conclusions. Abbreviations should not be used in the abstract. No references should be cited in the abstract.
Keywords: Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of six (6) keywords. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
Introduction: The introduction must clearly present the nature and extent of problems studied. It must refer to the former work most suitable (in connection with the subject) without making a full review of the literature or a detailed history of the research question. The references cited should not be more than ten years old. There must be a clear justification of the relevance and the objectives of the research and hypothesis.
Materials and Methods: The material and methods must be presented in a sufficiently detailed way to be reproduced by other scientists in the same field. The repetition of the methods and well-known techniques can be avoided by referring or citation to the works describing them in detail. Important modifications of published procedures should be mentioned briefly. For special materials and equipment used in the study, the manufacturer’s name and if possible the location should be provided. The methods should be written in the past tense. Clearly state the statistical programme and methods used to analyze the data.
Results: The results can be combined with the discussion in exceptional cases e.g., in a short communication but in full research manuscript it should stand alone. The results should be presented with clarity and precision. The results can be presented in text, tables or figures when necessary, but the same data can not be presented in different formats, for example, in both table and figure form. The author must avoid repeating in text the information presented in the tables. Include only tables or figures that are necessary, clear and worth to be presented in the manuscript. Give a clear narrative description of the most important findings shown in tables or figures before the tables or figures are presented. In the text refer to every table or figure by a number. Do not start a sentence by a numeral even if followed by a unit. In the text, authors shall use ‘to’ instead of a dash to express a range. The results should be written in the past tense when describing findings in the author(s) experiments. Previously published findings should be written in the present tense.
For objects (graphs, charts and diagrams), all characters, lines, arrows, borders and figures should be big enough to permit reproduction when the object is minimized to a size suitable for inclusion in the journal (a minimum of 12 pt for lettering). Illustrations (graphs, charts and diagrams) should be also submitted in any of the following electronics formats: eps, tif, gif, or jpeg.
Tables and figures must indicated where they will be inserted in the text, but must be placed at the end of the manuscript after the list of references. Tables should be numbered and have headings on top of the table whilst figures should be numbered and have captions at the bottom.
Discussion: The discussion must focus on the implications and the practical significance of the findings, their link with the problem of research and their possible limits. It must show the contribution of the publication compared to the former studies on the research problem. Clearly show how your results and interpretations agree or disagree with previously published research. The discussion should not be a repetition of the results. Avoid generalizations and statements that are not substantiated by the results of your work. Relate the results to the research questions and hypothesis set out in the introduction.
Conclusion (and recommendations): The conclusions must be given in a
concise way; it should at maximum be half a page. It must prove the verification of hypothesis, criticize the methodology and if possible give an orientation to further areas of research. The recommendations, if any, will have to be presented in the same form
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements of people as well as information regarding funding sources and approvals obtained for the research should be provided in brief.
References
The reference list must indicate all, but only, works cited in the text of the manuscript. References must not be more than 10 years old. Authors are advised to follow the Journal format for references accurately.
Citations in the text body: References in the text should be cited as either:
…..organic matter was shown to improve soil health in several ways (Lotter, 2003; Rodale and Chenis, 1982)
Or:
According to the USDA (1982) in their report on organic farming………
For more than two authors, use Chinodya et al., 2007.
For personal communication authors, use (Jones, personal communication). Do not list them in the reference list.
Citations in Reference List: References should be single-spaced and in alphabetical order. First lines should not be indented, but second line onwards should be. A blank line should be left between each reference.
Citations should follow the format given below.
Journals:
Staley, T.E. 2003. Growth of perennial forage legumes in acidic soils of the Appalachian
Highlands after liming. Journal of Plant Nutrition 16: 2577-2595.
Lee, S.T. and Lin, H.S. 2005. Using argumentation to investigate science teacher’s teaching practice: The perspective of instructional decision and justifications. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education 3: 429-461.
Ndhlala, A.R., Chitindingu, K., Mupure, C., Murenje, T., Ndhlala, F., Benhura, M.A.,
Muchuweti, M. 2008. Antioxidant properties of methanolic extracts from Diospyros mespiliformis (jackal berry), Flacourtia indica (Batoka plum), Uapaca kirkiana (wild loquat) and Ziziphus mauritiana (yellow berry) fruits. International Journal of Food Science and Technology 43: 284-288.
Books:
Hoveland, C.S. 2009. Legume persistence under grazing in stressful environments of the United
States. In: G.C. Marten, A.G. Matches, R.F. Barnes, R.W. Brougham, R.J. Clemens and G.W. Sheath (Eds). Persistance of forage legumes. American Society of Agronomy. 3rd Edition. New York Press, New York. pp. 375-386.
Elliot, J. and Calderhead, J. (Eds). 2003. Reconstructing teacher education: Teacher
development. 7th Edition. Falmer Press, London. pp. 23-30.
Bulletins, Handbooks and Reports:
Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). 2000. Invasive plant species. Issue
Paper No. 13, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, Ames IA.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS). 2007.
National Range and Pasture Handbook. USDA-NRCS, Washington, DC.
Moyo, P. and Nyamuno, C. 2007. Participatory land use planning in Chiriwo ward, CIRAD
Report, Zimbabwe.
Proceedings:
Ogunniyi, M.B. 2005. Relative effects of a history, philosophy and sociology of science course
on teachers’ understanding of the nature of science and instructional practice. In Proceedings of the Knowledge Production and Higher Education in the 21st Century Conference. 31st August to 2nd September 2005.
Internet:
Rule, L.C. and Lassila, K.E. 2003. Innovative teaching approaches to improve science education.
Retrived from the World Wide Web: http://www.iitapilastate.edu/reports/stafrica/rule.html on 10/06/2013.
Manuscript Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted via email as attachments to Managing Editor at sajestsubmissions@buse.ac.zw. A manuscript number will be mailed to the corresponding author within one week.
Cover Letter
The manuscript should be accompanied by a letter of transmital that should explain state why the paper is suitable for publication in Southern Africa Journal: Agriculture, Commerce, Education and Science and include the following SIX statements:
1. All authors concur with the submission.
2. The work has not been published elsewhere, either completely, in part of in another form
3. The manuscript is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
4. The manuscript does/does not contain experiments using animals. The permission of the national or local authorities (giving the permission) should be stated if the animal experiments are included. If no such rules or permissions have been implicated in the particular country, this must be stated.
5. The manuscript does/does not contain human studies. If such studies are included, it should be stated that the Ethical Review Board (ERB) approval was received for the studies and that the informed consent of all participating subjects was obtained.
Permission statements relating to points 4 and 5 should also be included in the text of the manuscript.
6. The authors must include a list of three to four well qualified reviewers giving their full contact details, telephone and current email addresses. Suggested reviewers must not be from the same institution with the authors and must not have published together with authors before. The editor reserves the right to choose other reviewers than those provided by the authors.
Review Process: All manuscripts are reviewed by an editor and members of the editorial board and or qualified reviewers (2 or 3) suggested by the author(s). The editor reserves the right to choose other reviewers than those provided by the authors. Decisions will be made as rapid as possible. The Editorial Board considers the recommendations given by the Review Editor, makes a decision and the author is contacted. The Editorial Board prepares a decision letter according to the comments of the Referees, which is sent to the corresponding author.
Open Access: One key request of researchers across the world is unrestricted access to research publications. Southern Africa Journal of Education, Science and Technology is fully committed to Open Access Initiative by providing free access to all articles (both abstract and full PDF text) as soon as they are published. We ask you to support this initiative by publishing your papers in this journal.
