ISSN 0122-8706
printed version

ISSN-e 2500-5308
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INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

Publication of unpublished articles derived from research and experimentation in different areas within the agricultural sciences and other related sciences. Some of the themes included are: biotechnology, ecology, natural and genetic resources, plant breeding, sustainable production systems, apiculture, forages and protection pastures, plant and animal diseases, insects pests and diseases, weeds and crops, immunology, physiology, reproduction, food science and technology, agricultural economics, soil, fertilization and irrigation. The articles may be of a scientific nature (original research), reviews (providing solutions and new perspectives to the Colombian agricultural sector) and essays (reflection articles) liable to stimulate debate on relevant scientific aspects.

Articles submitted to revista Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria for possible publication must not have been published elsewhere in any language. Exceptions are made, however, to articles that are part of a graduate thesis or a congress abstract. It is understood that the submission of articles to the journal entails the following: 1) that their publication has been agreed upon by all co-authors (if that is the case) and by the authorities in charge of the institution where the research was carried out; 2) that the authors will transfer the pertinent publication rights to Corpoica and its scientific journal, both for the printed and the electronic version.

The text and pictorial materials are to be sent to the journal by e-mail. The presentation of articles must be in line with the following rules, established by the Editorial Committee. Articles not in line with these guidelines will be returned to their authors before they are considered for evaluation. Authors are responsible for the truthfulness of the information provided.

Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria will accept original articles of the following types:

• Articles related to scientific and technological research: such documents convey the outcomes of research projects, ideas and debates in a clear, concise and trustworthy manner. They include four main parts: an Introduction, Methodology (Materials and methods), Results and Discussion, followed by a Conclusions section.
• Articles for reflection (scientific essays): these articles should contain the original ideas and ponderings of the author(s), and therefore reflect his/her/their vision and best judgment on a scientific topic, motivated by his/her/their interest in further exploring reality.
• Review articles: these articles should present a wide overview of a specific area of science from the author´s analytical, interpretative and critical standpoint and with recourse to original sources. They are to include a careful bibliographical support of no less than 50 references.
• Short articles: a concise document presenting the original preliminary or partial outcomes of a scientific or technological research project.
• Case reports: such documents present the outcomes of a research study on a particular situation in order to make known the technical and methodological experiences considered in a given case. This includes a commented systematic review of the literature available on similar cases.

The document and pictures

The official languages used in the journal are Spanish, English and Portuguese. The texts must comply with the grammatical rules of the language in which they are written. Style is to be impersonal (in English, an impersonal writing style is achieved by the use of the passive voice). Following are some general guidelines for the correct use of grammar.

The article is to be submitted in Word format. It must not exceed ten thousand words or 25 pages letter-size with interline spaces of 1,5 cm, with a 2,5 cm margin on each side, and 12-point Arial font.

Title. The title of the article will appear in Spanish and in English, in bold round lettering; no subtitle or abbreviations are used here; if scientific names are present, the accepted rule for their use should be followed.

Authors. Authors are identified by their first and family name(s), without academic titles or work positions, on a horizontal line, in the order of their contribution to the research project and/or the preparation of the article. The relevant information on each of the authors is place underneath: academic degree, work position, name of the employer or the sponsor of the research project, city and e-mail.

Summary. The summary gives a brief description of the problem, rationale, methods used and the most relevant results. No initial acronyms or abbreviations are to be used, nor should any single paragraph exceed 250 words. The article is shown in the original language and in English (Abstract); if the original language is Portuguese, a Spanish translation will be provided as well.

Key words. These are indexing terms which identify the content of the article. Please include at the most six key words not used in the title. These are to be presented in the language of the article and in English; if the original is in Portuguese, the Spanish translation should be provided as well. In order to select key words, it is recommended that you use the descriptors made available in the multilingual agricultural thesaurus Agrovoc, created by the FAO, which embraces terminologies from agriculture, forestry, fisheries, environment and related topics (http://www.fao.org/aims/ag_intro.htm).

Introduction. This section contains the problem, its definition and a review of previous related works; it also includes the goals and rationale for the research project.

Materials and methods. This section describes in a clear, concise and sequential manner the materials (plants, animals, agricultural or laboratory tools) used in the development of the project, procedures or protocols followed and the design chosen for the statistical treatment of data.

Results and discussion. Outstanding results are discussed and contrasted with the most recent literature available on the topic. Results are presented in a logical, objective and sequential manner through texts, tables and pictures; the two latter support tools are always quoted in the text, and their reading and interpretation must be easy and autonomous.

Conclusions. This section lists the most conclusive findings of the research, i.e. those liable to bring a significant contribution to the advancement of the thematic field explored, and also providing direction for future research activities.

Acknowledgements. These are optional; if deemed necessary, acknowledgements are to be given for important contributions in terms of conception, financing or execution of the research job: financers, specialists, businesses, official or private bodies, professional associations as well as field and laboratory workers.

Tables: These are shown in sequence according to the text and consecutively numbered. The title must be descriptive and is placed above the table, with an initial capital for the word Table and the first letter in the title, except for personal names.  Each column has its own title, with initial capitalization and without abbreviations. Explanatory notes and documental sources are mentioned as footnotes to the table. When referred to within the text, these are lowercased and show the corresponding number, e.g. table 1, etc. (do not use the words “previous” or “following”).

Figures: graphs, drawings, sketches, flow charts, frequency charts, bars, pie charts, photographs and maps are identified by the word “figure” and numbered in sequence (e.g. Figure 1, etc.). The text for each figure is presented below the image, with an initial capital letter for the word Figure and the first letter in the title. Explanatory notes and documental sources are placed as footnotes to the picture. Original or scanned photographs are to submitted in digital JPG (or JPEG) format, preferably with 600 x 600 dpi resolution (not lower than 300 dpi). Charts will be bidimensional; curve lines are in black color, either dotted or continuous. When referring to these in the text, do not use the words “previous” or “following”, but rather mention their respective number, lowercased. (e.g., Figure 1, etc.).

References. For the presentation of bibliographical references supporting statements included in the text, please use the system author(s), year. The complete list of bibliographical references is given at the end of the article in alphabetical order per author and in round lettering. It should comply with the bibliographical rules issued by the Council of Science Editors (CSE), which are the most commonly used in the fields of biology, chemistry and related subjects.

The general rule is the following: last name and name initials (without commas or dots); authors´ names are separated by commas. Year. Title. Issue, City, publishing House (proper name only), pages consulted or total pages as the case may be. When several publications by the same author(s) are mentioned, these are to be listed in chronological order from the oldest to the most recent. If the publication quoted has more than three authors, this is indicated by the last name of the first author followed by the Latin expression et al. (“and others”) italicized (García et al., 2003).

• Books: author(s). Year. Book Title. Issue, City, Publishing House, pages. For example:
• Book chapters: author(s). Year, Chapter title. In: last name and first name of compilers or publishers. Book title, issue, City, Publishing House, pages in the chapter (pp.). Example:
• Journals: author(s). Year. Title of the article, journal name (volume), number, pages consulted (linked with hyphens). Example:
• Internet quotes: author(s). Year. Title of the article. In: electronic publication name (if applicable), website, portal or page and URL, date of consultation. Example:

Standards of style

• The text is written in round letters (called regular or normal in Word).
• Use the impersonal style, i.e. third person singular (e.g., “It was found that…” rather than “I found that…” or “We found that…).
• The common use of verbal tenses is past tense for the introduction, completed procedures and outcomes; the present tense is used for discussions.
• Common names should be complemented with the scientific name.
• The scientific names for plants and animals are the same in all languages: the family is written in round letters with a capital letter at the beginning; gender is italicized and with a capital letter at the beginning, and the species is also in italics and lowercased. Thus: Family (Solanaceae), Gender species (Solanum tuberosum the first time, following times possibly S. tuberosum).
• The meaning of acronyms and abbreviations is to be fully explained when these are mentioned for the first time in the text.
• Initials that do not form syllables (e.g., ICBF) or have less than four letters (e.g., UN) are written in capitals throughout; however, those forming words and having four or more letters have only the initial letter capitalized (Dane, Unesco).
• Symbols are not followed by a dot; they do not have a plural form or capitalized letters: 1 kg, 25 kg, 1 m, 30 m, etc.
• A space is left between the number and the symbol: 35 g (not 35g), p > 12 (not p>12); except for the following signs: %, +, - (in the case of + and -, only when these refer to positive and negative). Examples: 99%, +45, -37.
• In a series of measurements, the symbol appears at the end: rows at 3, 6 and 9 m (except for the % sign, which is never separated from the preceding number: 14%, 16% y 18%).
• The slash (/) is a linguistic sign meaning per, amongst other uses: three flowers/plant, 4 tablets/day, 2 L/pot, 10 fruits/branch. One of its non-linguistic uses is to express ratios between magnitudes and measuring units: 80 km/h, 10 m3/s, 10 °C/h.
• One of the non-linguistic uses of the dot (·) is to indicate the multiplication of two amounts. In this case, it is kept separate from said amounts and placed at medium height: 6 · 3 = 18; 2 · (x + y) = 30.
• In English, decimals are separated from the number of units by a dot (.).
• Units based on names are lowercased, e.g. one siemens (with some exceptions, as when the symbol is derived form a proper name, e.g. °C, degrees Celsius).
• Measuring units must be converted into the decimal metric system.
• Italics are used for scientific names, book names and foreign words.
• The names of books are written in italics and with an initial capital (except for proper names subject to their own rule).
• Bold type is used for titles, names of pictures, names of tables and the titles of their respective columns.
• The titles and names in pictures and tables are not followed by a full stop.

Measurement units

Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria uses the unit system established in the International Unit System (SI), also called the International Measurement System, used internationally and based on the decimal metric system. The specificities of the agricultural and farming sciences, however, require the use of some specific units not included in the International Unit System (for instance, the surface unit acre). Please refer to the listing of abbreviations and symbols. Following are some abbreviations, initials and measurement units commonly used.

Guidelines for authors can be seen in:
http://www.corpoica.org.co/SitioWeb/Revistas/Autores.asp

Articles submitted for evaluation and possible publication must include: a letter presenting the article, the document proper, author data forms and a “not previously released” statement. These can be downloaded from http://www.corpoica.org.co/SitioWeb/Revistas/Extension.asp)

Please send the documents above to:
Revista Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria
revista_corpoica@corpoica.org.co
snivia@corpoica.org.co
javila@corpoica.org.co
Bogotá, Colombia
Phone: [571] 422 73 00 Ext. 1267, 1271