Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences
Journal / Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences / Submissions

 

Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences (ISSN 0856-664X) welcomes the submission of manuscripts that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence. TAJAS is a bi annual journal that publishes articles twice a year with two issues, the first and second one is published during June and December respectively. Electronic submission of manuscripts is strongly encouraged, provided that the text, tables, and figures are included in a single Microsoft Word file (preferably in times new roman font). Submissions should be done electronically via e-mail attachment to the Editorial Office at: tajas@sua.ac.tz . A manuscript number will be mailed to the corresponding author same day or within 72 hours

1. Aims and scope

Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences (TAJAS) publishes world class research in agricultural sciences. The journal aims to maximize the quality of the agricultural sector across the globe by focusing on publishing the high-quality articles and provides a platform for scientists and academicians all over the world to promote, share, and discuss various topics and developments in the field of Agricultural Sciences. Specific topics of interest include (but are not limited to) agronomy, modelling of crop, land use, agricultural biodiversity conservation, climate smart agriculture, Irrigation and water resource management, agricultural engineering and mechanization. Other topics are horticulture, plant breeding, Plant pathology, plant genomics, post-harvest technology, Food and consumer sciences, Agroecology and organic farming, soil sciences and soil fertility and pest management, agricultural biotechnology, Digital agriculture (use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and Internet of Things), agricultural economics, marketing and cooperatives, agricultural extension, Rural development, gender and development in agriculture, agricultural policy analysis, horticulture are also given high importance for publication.

2. Types of paper considered for publication

Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences (TAJAS) considers the following types of papers for publication: Full Length Articles (normally 6000-8,000 words; Short Communications; (less than 5000 words); Reviews (minimum of 8,000 words). 

Note: the word count for all article types does not include the abstract, figures, tables, appendices, footnotes, funding, acknowledgements, and references.

3. Changes to authorship:

The list of authors and their order must be presented carefully. Any changes made to the list and order of authors must be done before the paper has been accepted and must be approved by the Editor. The corresponding author should explain the reason for the addition, removal, or rearrangement of the author(s). Written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all the authors is also needed for these changes.

4. Submission declaration and verification:

International journal of Agricultural and allied Sciences: Open access

Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences (TAJAS)

tajas@sua.ac.tz

eictajas@sua.ac.tz

Instructions to Authors

By submitting your paper to TAJAS, you agree that your paper has not been published elsewhere or is not under consideration for publication. You also agree that all the authors approved the publication in TAJAS. If accepted for publication in TAJAS, you give your consent that it will not be published elsewhere in the same form in English or any other language, electronically or otherwise, without the approval of the copyright holder. The originality of the paper may be checked using originality verification services, but all the responsibility of any kind of plagiarism refers to the authors.

5. Policy against misconduct:

TAJAS processes and policies for identification of, and dealing with allegations of misconduct (eg, plagiarism, falsification/fabrication of data, etc.) are handled according to the COPE guidelines by the Editor in Chief of the journal.

6. Organization of the Manuscript

6.1. General organization:

The most preferred organization of a paper is as follows: 

(a) Abstract, in less than 250 words, 

(b) Introduction, in less than two typed pages, 

(c) Materials and Methods, 

(d) Results, 

(e) Discussion,

(f) Acknowledgments, 

(g) Declaration of conflict of interest 

(h) References, 

(i) Tables, 

(j) Figure legends. 

Combining some sections like Results and Discussion is also acceptable. The journal recommends the length of articles should be 8,000 words long in average or within a range of 6,000-10,000 words, excluding references, giving sufficient space for a rigorous approach without superfluous material. The language of the manuscript must be in English (either American or British standard, but not the mixture of both).

6.2. Title Page

Title page is a separated page before the text. It should include the following information: 

1. The title: Title should be concise and informative as much as possible free from abbreviations and formulae. 
2. Author’s Names and Affiliations: Please indicate the given name and family name clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name 
3. Corresponding Author: Clearly indicate who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing, publication and also post-publication. Ensure that telephone numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address. Academic titles such as Prof., Dr., Assoc. Prof. etc should not be included.

6.3. Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required (maximum length of 250 words). The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, methodology, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. Abstract should be concise and informative and should read well as a standalone piece. References should therefore be avoided.

6.4. Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 8 keywords, avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of').

6.5. Abbreviations

Standard abbreviations should be used all through the manuscript. The use of non-standard abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and must be well-defined in the text following their first use. An abbreviations section should be provided in the case of extensive use. 

The Introduction

The statement of the problem in addition to the background of the study should be clearly

and concisely stated. The introduction should:

• Provide background that puts the manuscript into context and allows readers outside the field to understand the purpose and significance of the study
• Define the problem addressed and why it is important
• Include a brief review of the key literature
• Note any relevant controversies or disagreements in the field
• Conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the work and a comment about whether that aim was achieved

6.6. Materials and methods

The Materials and Methods section should provide enough detail to allow suitably skilled investigators to fully replicate your study. Specific information and/or protocols for new methods should be included in detail. If materials, methods, and protocols are well established, authors may cite articles where those protocols are described in detail, but the submission should include sufficient information to be understood independent of these references.

6.7. Results and Discussion

These sections may all be separate, or may be combined to create a mixed Results/Discussion section (commonly labeled “Results and Discussion”. The results and findings should be presented simply and accurately, without extended interpretation, discussion, and speculation, which should be left to the discussion section. Discussions should cover the key findings of the study: discuss any prior research related to the subject to place the novelty of the discovery in the appropriate context, discuss the potential shortcomings and limitations on their interpretations, discuss their integration into the current understanding of the problem and how this advances the current views, speculate on the future direction of the research, and freely postulate theories that could be tested in the future.

7.7.1. Tables and Figures

Tables and Figures should be kept to a minimum, numbered and placed appropriately each on a separate page but cited in the text. The table captions should be placed above the tables.

Tables should be presented in modified text organized in Microsoft Word or Excel spreadsheet and NOT presented as photographs. Only high-quality figures and graphs will be accepted and save with a form of jpeg, png, or tiff. Tables and figures should not present the same data.

Regarding referring to the specific figure or table in the text of the article, please write Figure 1, Figure 2, ... and Table 1, Table 2, ... .

Table entries should be left justified, submitted in the original format. Figures can be submitted in the following formats; tiff, JPEG, .docx, .xls, and .pptx formats. Figures created in MS word, Excel or Power point should be submitted in their original file formats. Figures created in .tiff format should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi when viewed at 10 cm. JPEG Files should be 1MB or larger. All figures created in .eps should be supplied as ‘vectored’ images. Plates (photographs) may only be included if they provide additional, valuable information. Photographs should be submitted in .tiff or .jpg format, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi at a width of 10 cm (1200 pixels wide). Photographs submitted in .jpg format must have a minimum file size of 1MB

8. Disclosure of conflict of interest

Authors should disclose all financial/relevant interest that may have influenced the study.

9. Acknowledgments

Acknowledgement of people, funds etc should be brief.

1. Manuscript typesetting
   File type: Word document
   Font: Times New Roman, point 12
   Spacing: double
   Margins: 1-inch top, bottom, left and right
   Line numbering: Continuous
   Units of measurement: SI
   Scientific names format: Italicized
   Length: Maximum 20 pages.

11. Citations in the text

The following examples for citing and formatting reference entries are in accordance with principles established in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Authors are advised to always consult the most recent Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association at www.apa.org

11.1. One author

Include the author’s surname and the publication year. For example, (Mugula, 2016) or Mugula (2016)

11.2. Two authors

Citations of a reference with two credited authors include the surnames of both authors and the publication year. The surnames are separated by “and” in narrative citations and by an ampersand (“&”) in parenthetical citations. For example, Kanuya and Greye (2016) or (Kanuya & Greye, 2016).

11.3. Citations of a reference with three authors

Include the surname of the first author, followed by “et al.” and the publication year. For example, Maerere et al. (2001) or (Maerere et al., 2001).

11.4. Organisation

Write the organization’s name and introduce an abbreviation that is used instead of the name in subsequent citations. For example Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2021)....

11.5. Multiple citations

Multiple citations in the same parenthetical unit are arranged alphabetically by author surname(s) first. Semicolons separate citations with different author lists. When citations with the same author lists exist, the author surname or surnames appear once, followed by the references’ publication years, separated by commas and ordered among themselves in chronological order. For example (Ishengoma & Ngaga, 2018; Mwamakimbula, 1997, 2015a, 2015b; Monela et al., 1997)

11.6. Citations of work by different first authors with a similar surname

Citations of works of different first authors with similar surnames are distinguished by inserting the first authors’ given‐name initials into the citations. The initials are inserted even when subsequent authors and publication years in citations differ. Narrative: G. R. Nyinondi et al. (2001) and T. J. Nyinondi and Gladwell (2012) Parenthetical: (G. R. Nyinondi et al., 2001; T. J. Nyinondi & Gladwell, 2012)

11.7. Citing the same first authors and same publication years

If multiple references with (a) three or more authors, (b) the same first authors, and (c) the same publication years exist, The surname lists in citations are extended to feature the surnames of enough authors, beyond the first author, to show the differences among these references.

Narrative: Mlozi, Mvena, et al. (2018) and Mlozi, Mvena, et al. (2018)

Parenthetical: (Mlozi, Mvena, et al., 2018; Mlozi, Mvena, et al., 2018)

11.8. Personal communications

To refer to personal communications relating to unpublished material, personal communication etc, use the form ... M. Mwatawala (personal communication, September 3, 2020) or ........ (M. Mwatawala, personal communication, September 3, 2014).

11.9. Secondary citations

Secondary citations can take the form Madalla (2012), as cited in Mbilinyi et al. (2014) or (Madalla, 2012, as cited in Mbilinyi et al. (2014)). The secondary citation should be kept minimum possible or where possible avoided altogether. Citations presented as “personal communications” shall not be allowed.

For a manuscript to be recommended for publication at least 90% of all references cited must be journaled articles and published not older than 10 years. Journal articles may include ones accessed through electronic databases

12. Bibliography

For every source cited in the text, there should be a full citation in the reference list, and vice versa.

Sample formats

Journal article

Author(s) name(s), title, journal name, volume, pages.

Fulani, F. (1900). Publishing in TAJAS. Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences 1(1): 1 – 2.

Book

Author(s) name(s), year, title, publisher, town. number of pages.

Fulani, F. (1900). Publishing in TAJAS. Luguru publishers Ltd, Morogoro. 400 pp.

Chapter in a book

Author(s) name(s), year, title of the article, title of the book, editor(s), publisher, town,

pages.

Fulani, F. (1900). Publishing in TAJAS. In: Publishing in peer reviewed journals (edited by

Someone, A.), Luguru publishers Ltd, Morogoro. pp. 1-2.

Proceedings

Author(s) name(s), year, title of the article, title of the proceedings, pages.

Fulani, F. (1900). Publishing in TAJAS. In: Proceedings of TAJAS workshop, Morogoro,

Tanzania. (Edited by Someone, A), 1-2 January 1900. Morogoro, Tanzania. 1 – 2pp.

Online articles

Author(s) name(s), title, URL, date accessed.

Authors will be required to give evidence of consent co-authors before the paper is published.