Author guidelines

Journal aim and scope

Agraarteadus | Journal of Agricultural Science is open access, peer-reviewed journal that publishes papers that are accessible to an international audience and indexed by several abstracting and full-text databases like CABI, DOAJ, EBSCO, SCOPUS etc.

Agraarteadus | Journal of Agricultural Science invites scientific articles for publication in the agricultural field. Particularly welcome are papers presenting multidisciplinary research. We encourage submissions of local interest in the agricultural sector of the Baltic Sea region. Additionally, articles investigating practical applications to improve the efficiency, profitability, sustainability, biodiversity and management of rural life in any of its aspects.

The journal is determined to avoid publication bias by publishing negative studies  if the study is well structured.

Agraarteadus is engaged to preserve and develop scientific vocabulary and terminology in a variety of disciplines in the local language. 

Manuscript types accepted

  1. Research articles (template Word 97-2003  or Word 2010- )
  2. Review articles
  3. Short communications (template Word 97-2003  or Word 2010- )
  4. Case studies (template Word 97-2003  or Word 2010- )
  5. Letters to the editor
  6. Book reviews

Research articles – original research not previously published elsewhere other than in a preliminary form.
  

Review articles – submitted or invited summary of the advances within the subjects covered by the scope of the journal and of general interest in the field.
  

Short communication – original and noteworthy observations or development of methods fitting the journal's scope and not fitting the form of a research article. The communication should be presented in a concentrated form with a minimum amount of references (maximum 20). The format is that of a research article, but the abstract should have a maximum of 150 words, and where the Findings replaces the Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, and Discussion. The maximum length of 1500 words, two tables or figures and a maximum of 10 references.
  

Case studies – interesting cases within the scope of the journal that provide new insights into the research area. The form is similar to that of a short communication where the description of Case or Case Series follows an Introduction and replaces the Methods, Results, and Discussion, a maximum of 2,000 words. An abstract should be a maximum of 150 words and the case a maximum of 20 references. Up to 5 figures or tables can be included.
  

Letters to the editor – addressing published material in the journal or for the aim and scope of the journal giving a useful critique and comments. The letters are to function as a useful exchange of viewpoints that further enhance the journal integrity and usefulness to the readers. Maximum 1500 words.
   

Book reviews – of books not older than three years and within the scope of the journal. At the top of review must be the title of the book being reviewed, author (translator if applicable), publisher, year, the number of pages, price (€), ISBN and reviewer(s) name and affiliation. Content must contain information/background about the author (editor), the field the book covers (agronomy, animal breeding etc). A statement about book placement in the general field – compared with another similar book, other books by the same author, the points of similarity or difference. The main objectives of the book should be stated. Discussion about the strengths and weaknesses with examples should be provided. A conclusion highlighting the main points of the review. Keep references to a minimum, but they can be included if you want to rebut some argument of the author’s or point the reader to alternative arguments or findings. Reviewer(s) should avoid long quotations and biographical information about the author that is not related to the book. The length of the review should be up to 1,500 words. The review should be in either Estonian or English.

ETIS classification

Scientific articles published in Agraarteadus are classified as 1.1. category articles according to Estonian Research Information System (ETIS) classification since 2018. "Scholarly articles indexed by Web of Science Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Emerging Sources Citation Index and/or indexed by Scopus (excluding chapters in books)".

How to submit a manuscript

All co-authors must agree to the submission of the manuscript. The author must send the following separate files in an email to:

An article can also be sent through the online submission form .

Cover letter

A cover letter must be included with the manuscript. In the cover letter the authors must describe:

Expenses for publishing in the journal

There are no charges for submitting authors.

Language

The journal accepts articles in English, Estonian, and German. If the articles are not written in English an English summary must be submitted in addition to the Abstract, following the References. A summary is not required for Short Communication.

Please use the standard British English spelling of words such as ‘centre’ or ‘colour’. Where British English has alternative spellings of words such as ‘recognize’/‘recognise’, please use the ‘z’ form, e.g. ‘summarize’. But note that in British English ‘analyse’ is spelt with an ‘s’. Please use ‘for example in the text and ‘e.g.’ in lists of tables/figures. There should be no comma after ‘e.g.’ or ‘i.e.’. 

Ethics

Ethical considerations and experimental permits must be explained in the method section if applicable. Cruelty to animals and lack of required ethical permits where required will not be accepted for publication.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Agraarteadus follows the Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement based on Elsevier  recommendations and COPE's  guidelines. More information 

Format of manuscript

Download and use the provided template suiting the format of your submission (see Manuscript types accepted). In case of doubt, the required formatting is as listed below.

Order of contents (research article)

If needed, please consult ICMJE guidelines  for writing a scientific manuscript.

Acknowledgements

All contributors who did not qualify for authorship (design/sample/analyse, write the manuscript, edit and approve final manuscript). Funding sources, language editing, technical assistance.

Conflict of interests

Authors must declare any possible financial or personal conflicts of interest regarding the reported study. If the authors find no conflict of interest they must state so here.

If in doubt, please consult the ICMJE guidelines .

Author contributions

Using initials of the authors should list the contributions for the manuscript:

If in doubt, please consult the ICMJE guidelines .

Summary

If the publication is not written in English the authors must provide a summary in English.

Citation

The journal uses the Harvard system of citations. E.g.:

Referring to the multiple sources, list them in ascending order by publishing year and by separating them with a semicolon. E.g. (Smith, 2015; Jones, 2016).

Author(s) should avoid an excessive self-citation of their own work.

References

The journal uses Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals . Examples of reference formats can be found here on the U.S. National Library of Medicine website 

Journal names
The names of the journals must be written out in full.

Reference to a journal publication:

Author 1, A.B., Author 2, C. Year. Title of the article. – Journal title, Volume(Issue): Pagination. DOI.

Roasto, M., Meremäe, K., Kramarenko, T., Mäesaar, M., Kuningas, M. 2017. Listeria monocytogenes prevalence in ready-to-eat food products. – Agraarteadus, 28(1):25–31. DOI: 10.15159/jas.17.02.

Note: When providing a DOI, please be sure that the label and full DOI are included at the end of the reference (DOI: 10.15159/jas.17.02). Do not provide a shortened DOI or the URL.
For accepted unpublished articles substitute “In Press” for page numbers and/or DOI.

Reference to a book:

Author1, A.B.; Author2, C. Year. Book title. (1st ed.). – Publisher: Publisher Location, Country, Pagination.

Stevenson, W.R., Loria, R., Franc, G.D., Weingartner, D.P. 2001. Compendium of Potato Diseases. (2nd ed.). – American Phytopathological Society: St. Paul, USA, pp. 16–36. 

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C. Year. Title of the chapter. – In Book Title (1st ed.). Editor 1, A.B., Editor 2, C. (Eds.). Publisher: Publisher Location, Country, Pagination.

Lado, B.H., Yousef, A.E. 2007. Characteristics of Listeria monocytogenes important to food processors. – In Listeria, Listeriosis, and Food Safety (3rd ed.). Ryser, E.T., Marth, E.H. (Eds.). – CRC Press: Boca Raton, USA, pp. 157–213.

Reference to a website:

Author, A.B. Year. Title of the document. – https://URL Accessed on Day/Month/Year.

US FDA. 2017. Dietary supplements. – https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm153239.htm Accessed on 30/12/2018.

Note: Web page where no date is identified, the letters n.d. (no date) are substituted in place of a year.
If there is no author, name the company or organization responsible for the content. When there is no author for a web page, the title moves to the first position.

Reference to a dataset:

[dataset] Author1, A.B.; Author2, C. Year. Title of the dataset. – Title of the source. DOI.

Reference to a conference paper or poster presentation:

Author1, A.B.; Author2, C. Year. Title of the presentation. – Poster/oral session presentation at the conference of Name of the conference, Location of the conference, Country.

Reference to conference proceeding:

Author1, A.B.; Author2, C. Year. Title of the presentation. – In Proceedings of the Name of the conference. Location of the conference. Country. Date of the conference. Editor 1, A.B., Editor2, C. (Eds.). Publisher: Publisher Location, Country, Pagination.

Reference to a thesis:

Author1, A.B. Year. Title of a thesis. – Level of the thesis. Degree-granting University, Location of University, Date of completion, Pagination.

Kass, M. 2014. Effect of crude glycerol feeding on feed intake, lactational performance and metabolic status of dairy cows. – PhD thesis. Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia, 26/06/2014, 109 pp.

References in non-Roman languages (Russian, Arabic, Amharic, Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Hindi etc.):

Non-Roman language sources in the references must be transliterated. If you are referring to a source that is in another language, please provide the transliterated title (in the other language) and then the English translation in square brackets. If the reference title was automatically translated from a foreign language into English (by Google Translate, Babelfish, etc.), you need to go back to the original source and use the original title in non-English-language, followed by the English title in square brackets.

Author(s). Year. Transliterated title in original language  [Title translated into English]. – Transliterated publication name in original language [Publication name translated into English]. Volume(Issue):Pages. [In ‘language’]

Krenke, A.N., Khodakov, V.G. 1966. O svyasi povercknostnogo tayaniya lednikov s temperaturoy vozdukha [On the relationship between melt of glaciers and air temperature]. – Materialy Glyatsiologicheskikh Issledovaniy [Data of Glaciological Studies], 12:153–163. [In Russian]

 

Tables

Example

Table 1. Number of different variants of potatoes infected with bacterial wilt
  Samples, N Positive, N Percentage, % 95% confidence interval 
Variant 1 1 000     2   0.2 0.03-0.66
Variant 2  1 000 359 35.9 32.97-38.91
Variant 3  1 000   45   4.5 3.34-5.92

Figures

Example (Põldaru and Roots, 2012)

Example (Põldaru and Roots, 2012)

Equations

Supplementary material

Will only be available in the online version. Datasets, video, and pictures can be accepted. These should be referred to in the article as „Suppl. Mat., Appendix 1“

Taxonomy

Authors must follow the guidelines dictated by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature  for findings in zoology, and guidelines from International Association for Plant Taxonomy  for findings related to the plant, fungi, and algae.

Author rights and copyrights

Authors of accepted articles retain all rights to use, reuse, and distribute the published research as long as the author credits the original publication in this journal. Authors submitting to the journal are expected to follow the general ethical guidelines regarding plagiarism. If in doubt consult the ICMJ guidelines on overlapping publications . Once accepted the journal retains the right to print and distribute the manuscript submitted by the author. For further information please consult ICMJE guidelines .

Agraarteadus publishes open access articles under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution  (CC BY) License which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 

The Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) allows users to

The CC BY license permits commercial and non-commercial re-use of an open-access article, as long as the author is properly attributed. Authors grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified. Use of the article (or part of it) in any medium requires attribution as follows: [Author/Title of Article/Journal Title and Volume/Issue. Copyright (c) [year] [copyright owner as specified in the Journal]. Link to the final article on Agraarteadus website where applicable.

Reviewer report on manuscript

All manuscripts will go through the peer review process, even for invited reviews. The general purpose of a review is to assist the editors in evaluating the worth of a manuscript for publication and to help the author(s) make improvements to the manuscript. We do not release referees' identities to authors or to other reviewers. Our preference is for referees to remain anonymous throughout the review process and beyond. However, the referee may voluntarily sign their comments to the authors. Reviewer report  (RTF)

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