ISSN 0120-9965
printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Editorial policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Submission of manuscripts
• Cost of the publication

The Agronomia Colombiana is a scientific-technical publication of the agricultural sector of Colombia edited by the Agronomy Faculty of the National University of Colombia, Bogota campus. It is directed to the researchers of agronomy science, extension workers, and other professionals involved in the development of science and applied technology for the benefit of crop production and farmer section. The journal has three publications a year with an objective to transfer the results of research in the various areas of tropical agronomy. The journal accepts for publication original unedited papers in physiology, nutrition and fertilization of crops, genetics and breeding, entomology, phytopathology, integrated crop protection management, agroecology, weed science, geomatics, soils, water and irrigation, post-harvest and agro-industrialization, rural and agro-enterprise development, agrarian economy, and commercialization of agricultural products. The articles must be submitted according to the rules established in the instructions for the authors. If the articles fulfill the minimum criteria, the manuscripts will be sent to three expert reviewers in the specific area of knowledge, two of them external of the National University and one belonging to the research and teaching staff of the University. If the article is accepted for publication, the author must make the suggested corrections in the period indicated by the Editor. If two of the reviewers consider that the manuscript do not have a scientific level acceptable for the publication, the article is rejected. Finally, the Editorial Committee reserves the right to accept or reject the submitted manuscripts.

The contents of articles/manuscripts submitted to the Agronomía Colombiana must not have been previously published in a refereed publication and submission to the Agronomia Colombiana implies no concurrent submissions to other journals. The manuscripts already published in other journals, technical or extension reports will not be accepted. The Agronomía Colombiana publishes the articles of the following types accordingly to Publindex, Colciencias.

• Research papers dealing with scientific or technological study : the document presenting detailed results of the original investigation project. The structure of the article generally includes three essential parts: introduction, methodology (materials and methods) and results and discussion.

• Technical papers : papers reporting significant new findings that do not warrant standard full-length treatment with the usual main headings or that provide scholarly commentaries, corrections, criticisms, or alternative interpretations of results presented in published papers.

• Review articles : documents of limited scope on timely subjects written for a general, albeit well-informed, audience. The review article should analyze, systematize, or summarize the published or non-published results about an area of science or technology with the purpose of providing information of the current state and perspectives of development of a particular research. The review article should be supported by not less than 50 references.

Format and organization of text

The article length should not exceed 6.500 words or 25 pages double-spaced, on 8.5 in . × 11 in . (or ISO A4) paper, typed with Times New Roman 12 and having margins of 3 cm (upper part), 2 cm (bottom), ad 2,5 cm (left and right). Tables and figures (graphics, drawings, schemes, diagrams, photographs, and maps) must be typed on separate pages, placed after the list of references, and numbered with Arabic numerals (Table 1, Table 2, ..., Table n; Figure 1, Figure 2, ..., Figure n) in the order cited in the text.

The text and tables should be prepared using processor MS-Word®. The tables and original diagrams should be submitted in original manuscript-ready form and also in format MS-Excel®. Other figures including photographs and drawings should be submitted as originals or scanned copies en digital JPG (o JPEG) format with a preferred resolution of 600 x 600 dpi (minimum 300 dpi). The photographs should be preferably submitted as slides. As a general rule, the tables and figures should be only submitted in black and white with exception of those utilized for cover pages of the Journal or in the cases when it is absolutely necessary to present them in color and than granted by the editor, or than the costs of color publication is covered by the authors. The four printed manuscript copies, three of which should not contain the author names, should be accompanied by a respective magnetic copy of the manuscript (CD) and information about the authors as stated at http://agronomia.unal.edu.co/rac.htm.

Languages, unites, and style

The official languages of the Journal are Spanish, English, and Portuguese. The metric system (SI) should be consistently utilized through the manuscript. All abbreviations should be explained in full length when first appeared in the manuscript. The style of writing should be impersonal, in the past time, avoiding conjugation of words in the first or third person of single or plural.

Title and authors

The title should not exceed 15 words and should be accompanied by the respective translation into Spanish. The scientific name of plants and animals should be italized and written in Latin with generic name starting with a capitalized letter. Under the English-written version of the title, the authors should be listed in the order in which they contributed to the investigation and preparation of the manuscript. The affiliation and addresses should not appear at the head of the printed article. Indicate in a footnote of the first page current affiliations and addresses (including city, state, institution, and e-mail addresses) for each author.

Abstract, resumen , and key words

The "resumen" should be written in Spanish or Portuguese, according to the language of the article, and the "abstract" should include its translation into English. Articles in English should include a Spanish abstract. Both texts should contain accurate descriptive words that will draw the reader to the content including the paper's premise, content, methods, and significance. Include why your paper is of interest to both your sub-discipline and the scientific community in general. The abstract should be written in one concise paragraph and include no more than 250 words. Provide a list of up to six key words that may not appear in the title. When translated into English, the key words equally may not appear in English-written version of the title.

Introduction

In the introduction, include the theoretical or conceptual basis for your work, literature review in the studied area, objectives and justification of the research. The scientific and common name of plants should be given along with necessary abbreviations that will further appear in the text.

Materials and methods

In this section, describe the materials used for the study in a precise, concrete, and consecutive order. Add name, city, and country of manufacturers/suppliers after brand names of each chemical. Sources of biological materials, experimental methods, geographical locations, research protocols, and statistical methods should be described.

Results and discussion

Results should be presented in a logical, objective, and consecutive order using text, tables and figures. The last two should be easily understandable and self-explained, although thoroughly cited in the text. The graphics should be two-dimensional and prepared in black and white. The axes of each graphic should be marked in percentages; the curves should be prepared in black, dashed or continuous (- - - - or --------) using designations, such as ?, ?, ?, ?, etc. The tales should contain minimum columns and lines. Discussion should be complete and exhaustive, emphasize the highlights and present them in such a fashion that they are discussed with regard to the literature. Include a summary of conclusions and a take-home message for the generally informed reader. This section should summarize in a brief and concise form the most important findings of the research.

Acknowledgements

If necessary, the authors may acknowledge the researchers or entities that contributed to the concept, financiering or realization of research: specialists, commercial organizations, governmental or private entities, associations of professionals or technicians.

Literature Cited

For bibliographic citations that sustain affirmations inside the text, the system [ author(s), year ] should be used thoroughly. If the publication cited has three or more authors, the citation should include the name of the first author followed by et al. (equivalent to 'and others') in italic letters and the year of publication (eg. García et al ., 2003). The complete list of literature references should be included at the end of the article. The surnames and names of all authors should be listed in alphabetic order by their surnames. When various publications of the same author(s) are cited, they should be ordered chronologically.

Examples of literature citations are given below:

• For books : Author (es), year. Title of the book, edition, publisher and the place of publication, pages consulted (pp. # - #) or total number of pages (# p.). Example: Agrios, G. 1996. Fitopatología. Segunda edición. Editorial Limusa, México D.C. 400 p.

• For book chapters : Author (es), year. Title of the chapter, pages consulted (pp. # - #). In: Surnames and names of contributors or authors (eds.), title of the book, publisher and the place of publication, total number of pages (# p.). Example: Bernal, H. 1996. Chapter 6: Evapotranspiration. pp. 112-125. In: Agrios, G. (ed.). Phytopathology. Second edition. Editorial Limusa , Mexico D.C. 400 p.

• For journal articles: Author (es), year. Title of the article, journal number, volume, pages. Example: García, S., W. Clinton, L. Arreaza y R. Thibaud. 2004. Inhibitory effect of flowering and early fruit growth on leaf photosynthesis in mango. Tree Physiology 24(3), 387-399.

For citations from the Internet: Author(s), year. Title of the article. In: Title of the electronic publication, website o webpage with respective URL, pages consulted (pp. #) or total pages (# p.); date of consultation. Example: Arafat, Y. 1996. Siembra de olivos en el desierto palestino. In: Agricultura Tropical, http://agrotropical.edunet.es. 25 p.; consultation: November 2003.

Procedure. Accompanied letter should be signed by all authors indicating that the article is inedited and the national and international ethic rules are fulfilled, and authors do not have any conflict of interests. This letter should include the name(s) of the author(s), title of the manuscript, number of pages, tables and figures, any additional instructions, telephone, fax, and e-mail for correspondence with the author.

The authors submit to the editor four paper copies of the manuscript with three of them having no author names, and a copy of the manuscript on the magnetic media that should contain the photographs and figures in the original file including the data matrix of Excel.

For more information , correspondence, subscriptions, or library interchange refer to:

Editorial Committee
AGRONOMÍA COLOMBIANA

Facultad de Agronomía

Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Apartado Aéreo 14490, Bogotá, Colombia
Fax: 57-1-3165498

agrocol_fabog@unal.edu.co

According to the resolution No. 94 of 2006 of the Agronomy Faculty Council, the publication cost for authors external to or affiliated with the National University of Colombia has a value of two (28,913 Colombian pesos in 2007) or one (14,456 Colombian pesos in 2007) effective daily minimum wage(s), respectively, for each page published in the journal.

Before the final edition we will inform the authors on the exact value to pay according to the number of pages that will be printed. For example, an article of eight printed pages in 2007 would cost 231,296 Colombian pesos for external authors and 115,648 Colombian pesos for authors internal to the University. For a preparation of invoice, the following information should be supplied: name of the author or institution that is going to pay the invoice, number of national ID card, complete direction, telephone number, and e-mail of the author(s).