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To facilitate an editorial decision on the acceptability, or otherwise, of their manuscript, and to speed-up subsequent publication, authors are strongly advised to consult the format of papers in a recent issue of The Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology, and to read the more detailed “Checklist for Preparation of Scripts” accessible through the “Instructions” button on the Journal website (www.jhortscib.com).
Manuscripts must be printed double-spaced in 12 point size Times New Roman with 2.5 cm-wide margins, and submitted in duplicate, with two sets of good quality Figures and Tables each on a separate sheet. Papers may be submitted electronically by e-mail, as attachments to a covering submission letter (see below). Each submitted manuscripts should be no longer than 4,500 words (in total) including Title, author(s)’ names & address(es), Summary and main text, References, and Figure legends. Each manuscript should have no more than five Figures or Tables designed to occupy no more than 2.5 A4 pages (in total) to fit within an overall final limit of 5 published pages. As a guide, the total number of words should be reduced by approx. 500 for each Table or Figure included. Please indicate the total word count on the title page. Text files should be in Word (Version 98 or newer), and Figures should be supplied separately as follows: half-tones (300 dpi at finished/printed size); line-work (1,200 dpi at finished/printed size). No compression should be applied to Figures which should be either Tiff or EPS file types.
Mailed submissions should be sent to: The Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology, Editorial Office, c/o Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom [e-mail: jhsb@warwick.ac.uk]
Submission of a paper will be taken to imply that it describes original research not submitted for publication or already published, elsewhere. Submission will also be taken to imply that all the named co-authors agree to the work being sent out for peer-review and possibly published, and that they have no undeclared competing financial interests.
Pressure for Journal space requires that only substantial contributions to new knowledge in horticultural science and biotechnology can be accepted. Common causes for papers being rejected are: (i) that the studies are too preliminary, for example they report only one season’s data from field trials; (ii) that they report a single small or incomplete experiment that makes a minor or uncertain contribution to new knowledge or understanding; (iii) that the data are statistically insignificant and/or do not support the claims being made; or (iv) they are written so poorly, without reference to these and the more detailed instructions for authors, that they are incomprehensible. In some areas, such as micro-propagation, only papers of wide general interest that describe novel methods or report unexpected discoveries are likely to be accepted for publication. Papers that simply compare known chemicals, rootstocks, cultivars, accessions, or landraces by routine methods, including PCR-based DNA-marker techniques for genetic diversity studies, are unlikely to be accepted – unless they are judged to make a significant contribution to new knowledge, to be of wide general interest, or to contain additional valuable and novel information.
Because of the added cost, rejected manuscripts, Figures etc. are not usually returned to authors, but are destroyed.
The same data should not be presented in both Tables and Figures. A short Running Title of not more than five words is required (in italics) for use as a page header. Each paper must start with a brief but informative and broadly understandable Summary. All cited journal and paper titles should be quoted in full in the References section. Graphs and diagrams should be printed or drawn clearly in black ink on white paper and fully labelled to comply with the format of the Journal. Colour photographs may be included, free of charge, but only where the Editor, Associate Editor and referees agree that this is essential in order to present the experimental evidence clearly. Poor quality lettering, drawings, symbols on photographs, or computer images will be returned to the author for re-working, assuming that the paper is otherwise considered acceptable for publication.
The corresponding author of an accepted paper will receive two sets of page proofs. These must be read carefully to correct any errors and to address any questions from the Editor that are marked on the copy to be returned by first-class mail, airmail or courier service within 3 working days of receipt. Extensive corrections and/or further changes to the text at the proof stage are extremely expensive and, if excessive, will be billed to the author prior to publication. The proof stage is NOT an opportunity for further editing, or for the addition of new (non-peer reviewed) text or data by the author.
The copyright of all articles and illustrations published in The Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology becomes the property of the Journal. Editorial permission is required to reproduce more than a brief summary of the text, or to reproduce Figures etc in further publication(s) or for commercial purposes. After publication, a pdf file of the paper will be sent, free-of-charge, to the corresponding author.
Publication of a paper in The Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology does not imply responsibility for, or agreement with, any opinions, hypotheses or statements expressed by the author(s). Nor is it an endorsement by the Trustees, Editors or Publishers of the Journal for any materials, cultivars, equipment, or protocols described in the paper. Publication merely signals that the paper has been judged, by independent peer-review, to be of sufficient scientific quality, merit and interest to justify its inclusion in the Journal.
July 2007
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