Journal policy

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Journal policy

Policy Document of Journal of Agriculture and Food
Review Policy Journal of Agriculture and Food (JAF) follows the following procedure for peer review:
• All the submissions are initially screened for suitability of publishing in JAF
• Selected articles are sent to one local professional and one foreign professional for reviewing the articles.
• Comments and suggestions by local and foreign reviewers are sent to author(s) for revising the manuscripts accordingly within specified time period.
• Articles are rejected on the basis of reviewers’ comments, lacking originality, lacking interest of readers, scientific flaws and beyond the scope of JAF
• Reviewing process may take longer time as it depends on reviewers’ reports. Selection of Reviewers JAF selects those reviewers who are qualified, experienced, expert and well known in their field.
Originality of Manuscripts JAF accepts and considers manuscripts having following characteristics:
• Content of articles should be original material produced by author(s).
• Article should not be submitted for publishing elsewhere or in any other journal.
• Author(s) have to provide after signing an undertaking that material of the article is not copied from any source and material included in the article is the contribution of the author(s) and is being duly acknowledged.
• For any type of plagiarism in the manuscripts, the author(s) will be considered the sole responsible.
• Articles will be considered for publishing after filling and sending the originality and authorship certificates.
• In case of any violation of policy rules, the editor reserves the rights to take legal actions accordingly.
Guidelines For Authors Article Format
The main structure/style of the manuscript (sub-headings are optional) shall be as follows: Title (font size 12, Times New Roman): Active verbs are used instead of complex noun-based phrases. It is around 10 to 12 words long and summarizes the main idea or ideas of the study. Abstract (150-200 words): It discusses a compact view of the research problem, purpose of study, research design and key findings. Keywords (Three - Five): It does not use words or phrases from the title and supplements the title's contents. These are descriptive, representing key concepts and nouns. Introduction (and background): It describes the purpose, scope, context, significance, background, hypothesis(es), question(s), brief methodology, outcome(s), and outline of the remaining structure/organization of the article. Literature Review (relevant literature/sources) It gives description, summary, and critical evaluation of sources explored in relation with research problem(s) being investigated. Conceptual and Theoretical Framework (or Model): The conceptual framework presents/makes the construction of the study clearer, cleaner, and more straightforward; and the theoretical framework within it explains the relationships that are explored within the study.
Research Methodology (methods and materials): It describes the actions taken for investigation of the research problem and the rationale for the application of the specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process, and analyze the information applied to understanding the problem. Data and Results (if applicable): It reports the results of the study based upon the methodology(ies) being applied, and in a logical sequence without bias or interpretation, if data is generated from the author’s own research. Analysis and Discussion (and findings): It interprets and describes the significance of findings in light of what was already known about research problem(s). It explains new understanding or insights being emerged based on studying the problem. It is connected to introduction through research questions or hypothesis(es) and the literature reviewed. Conclusion (suggestions and future direction): It helps the readers to understand why the research should matter to them. It gives a synthesis of key points and, (if applicable), suggests new areas for future research.
References (list of cited sources): It is compulsory to follow the format of APA 6th Manual. Prepare manuscripts according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association using the 6th edition.
Acknowledgement (if any) Appendices/Annexures (if any)
Paper Review Policy
Journal of Agriculture and Food follows the following procedure for peer review:
• All the submissions are initially screened for suitability of publishing in Journal of Agriculture and Food.
• Selected articles are sent to one local professional and one foreign professional for reviewing the articles under double blind peer review system..
• Comments and suggestions by local and foreign reviewers are sent to author(s) for revising the manuscripts accordingly within specified time period.
• Articles are rejected on the basis of reviewers’ comments, lacking originality, lacking interest of readers, scientific flaws and beyond the scope of Journal of Agriculture and Food.
• Reviewing process may take longer time as it depends on reviewers’ reports.
Selection of Reviewers
Journal of Agriculture and Food selects those reviewers who are qualified, experienced, expert and well known in their field. Journal of Agriculture and Food discouraged reviewers who are biased, non-serious and do not provide potential, constructive and specific feedback on articles sent to them. Journal of Agriculture and Food acquires consent by signing a consent letter from reviewers before sending them articles.
Originality of Manuscripts
Journal of Agriculture and Food accepts and considers manuscripts having following characteristics:
• Content of articles should be original material produced by author(s). All articles submitted to Journal of Agriculture and Food will be screened against plagiarism check through turnitin software. Submitted article should have maximum of 19% similarity index. Editor will screen the submitted article and author(s) will be intimated if manuscript had higher similarity index. .
• Article should not be submitted for publishing elsewhere or in any other journal.
• Author(s) have to provide after signing an undertaking that material of the article is not copied from any source and material included in the article is the contribution of the author(s) and is being duly acknowledged.
• For any type of plagiarism in the manuscripts, the author(s) will be considered the sole responsible.
• Articles will be considered for publishing after filling and sending the originality and authorship certificates.
• In case of any violation of policy rules, the managing editor reserves the rights to take legal actions accordingly.

Publication decision
Publication decision will always be based on the originality of the research and importance to readers and researchers. The Editor will not be involved in the decision about the paper, in which he/she has a conflict of interest. The Editor will be guided by the journal policies under the umbrella of COPE, and will be responsible for final decision. Editor will be assisted by associate editors or reviewers to reach final decision.
Fair play
The Editor will assess submitted manuscript on academic merit solely, regardless of authors’ ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, nationality or political views.
Confidentiality
The Editor, the Editorial Board members and Editorial staff are responsible for not disclosing of any information about the submitted manuscript to anyone except authors, referees, editorial board adviser and publisher.
Disclosure and Conflict of interests
Unpublished data from submitted manuscripts must not be used by the Editor, the Editorial Board members or Editorial staff for personal advantage or be transferred to third parties (without written consent of the authors).
The Editor will not publish the materials if the submitted material was found to be plagiarized, fabricated and falsified. Accepted papers are published under Open Access route, authors’ copyrights are reserved.
Complaints during peer review process
The Journal of Agriculture and Food welcomes complaints from authors and will try our best to solve complaints and improve the policies for satisfaction of authors. Authors may send complaints to editor ([email protected]) and members of advisory board of Journal of Agriculture and Food.
Complaints may arise due to
1. unhappiness or dissatisfaction regarding the publication and policies of the journal.
2. Long delay in publication or replies related to the author.
3. The complaint may also be about the decision of the editorial board member or editor regarding the manuscripts of the author.
4. May be about the rude responses or a misjudgment of the editorial board member.
We aware about following misconducts could arise during peer review
1. Complaints from the author.
2. Complaints about plagiarism.
3. Duplicate publication or submitting the article to various journal at the same time.
4. Research results misappropriations.
5. Complaints regarding the research errors and fraud.
6. Violations of research standards.
7. Conflicts of interest.
8. Bias behavior of reviewers.
Publisher and Journal Policies for post publication handling of errors and malpractices by authors:
All article published by Journal of Agriculture and Food published constitutes the Version of Record (VoR) is the final, peer reviewed, and citable version in the scholarly record. It include abstract, text, references, table, illustration and supplementary data.
This version of record can be subjected to change due to information received from authors, readers and editorial board members about presence of errors in the articles which may affect the interpolation and final outcome of the study. The change(s) will be done after careful consideration by the Editor based on the facts and in accordance with guide lines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
These changes will be linked with original article to provide full information to the readers. Post publication notices will be in the of a Correction notice, an Expression of Concern, a Retraction and in extreme cases as Removal of article. All these measures (permanent and transparent) will be taken to protect integrity of the scholarly record. These post publication notices will be made full accessible for the readers.
Correction notice
A Correction notice will be issued to correct an an error or omission which can impact the outcome of the article. However, in this case scholarly integrity of the article remains intact. Examples for such type of corrections include mislabeling of a figure, missing key information on funding or competing interests of the authors. Major errors will accompanied by a separate correction notice. Issued correction notice should provide clear details of the error and the changes which were made to the Version of Record. Publisher will correct the online, issue a separate correction notice and linked it the corrected version. The correction notice will be permanently available online.
Retractions
A Retraction notice will be issued due to major error which invalidates the conclusions in the article. Article may also be retracted due to misconduct or publication misconduct has taken place. It include publication research without required ethical approvals, fabricated data, manipulated images, plagiarism, duplicate publication or affecting the peer review process. The decision to issue a retraction for an article will be done in accordance with COPE guidelines. Editor and Staff of publisher will jointly inquire the misconduct. Author (s) affiliated institute will also be informed if it is considered necessary. Authors and institutions may request a retraction of their articles if their reasons meet the criteria for retraction.
The following measures will be under taken on articles for which the decision of retraction was undertaken by the publisher:
1. A water mark of “Retracted” will be added to the published Version of Record of the article.
2. A retraction statement notice will be issued and linked to the retracted article.
3. The statement will be permanently available for the readers online website of the journal.
Expressions of concern
Expression of Concern notice will be issued for the articles where concerns of a major nature have been raised. These include serious research or publication misconduct. However, the outcome of the investigation is inconclusive and may take time to reach a decision. Expression of concern will be issue for time being and retraction or correction notice will be issued along with expression of concern linked with original article. All these notices will be linked with original article and permanently available for the readers through online version of the issue.
Article removal
An article removal will be issued in extreme cases where the problems are very serious in nature and which may not be addressed by a Retraction or Correction notice. Journal will consider removal of a published article in condition such as:
1. Article may cause serious damage or risk for the readers to be followed or
2. Article violate the rights to privacy of the study participants.
3. Article may damage other legal right or court order
Article subjected to removal from the website will be followed up by the removal notices.
Addenda
An addendum is a notification of an addition of information to an article. Addenda do not contradict the original publication and are used to update or add some key information then, this can be published as an addendum. Addenda will be peer reviewed and will be considered by the Journal editor. It will be electronically linked to the related published article.
Comments are short articles to comment on a published article. The comments will be subjected to a peer review and will be shared with the author(s) of article to submit an answer. Author response will also be subjected to peer review and shared with the commentator. Commentator will submit a rejoinder. The rejoinder may be subject to peer review and shared with the authors of the published article. No further correspondence will be considered for publication. The editor may reject correspondence at any point before the comment, response and rejoinder are finalized. The comments, and rejoinder will be linked with the original article and permanently made available on the online issue of the journal.