ISSN 1982-5676 printed version
ISSN 1983-2052 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Editorial policy
• Submission of papers

The aim of Tropical Plant Pathology, an international, bimonthly journal of the Brazilian Phytopathological Society, is to publish results of research on fundamental and applied aspects of plant pathology. Contributions in the field of mycology, bacteriology, virology, nematology and other related fields, epidemiology, plant-parasite interactions, genetics of plant pathogens, physiological and molecular plant pathology, post-harvest and non-infectious diseases and about other topics or strategies promoting plant protection are welcome. Manuscripts on screening for synthetic or natural products and for resistance to pathogens can be accepted as research article only if they provide additional information on modes of action or mechanisms of resistance. Surveys for diseases or pathogens and first reports of plant diseases should be submitted as a "Short Communication".

Although Tropical Plant Pathology is an official publication of the Brazilian Phytopathological Society, it is open to members and non-members of the Society. It is a fundamental condition that submitted manuscripts have not been and will not be published elsewhere. With the acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the publishers acquire full and exclusive copyright for all languages and countries. There is no page charge, except for color plates. Reprints will be provided to authors as a pdf-file free of charge on request.

Manuscripts considered in conformity with the scope of the journal will be reviewed by an Associate Editor and at least two external reviewers. Acceptance by the Editor is based on the quality of the work as a substantial contribution to the field and on the overall presentation of the manuscript.

1 Manuscripts should be submitted to:

Ludwig H. Pfenning, Editor in Chief
Tropical Plant Pathology - Editorial Board
Universidade Federal de Lavras
Cx. Postal 3066
37200-000 Lavras MG, Brazil

2 A submission package sent to the Editorial Office must contain:
a) A covering letter signed by all authors stating that they have approved the submission of the manuscript and that the findings have not been published or are not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
b) A declaration where authors transfer copyright to the Editor, available at the web page;
c) A printed copy of the manuscript, including photographs and other graphic elements;
d) An electronic copy of the text, tables and figures. Formats for text are Word or RTF, in Windows platform. Images in TIFF or JPEG formats should be sent in separate files (For Figures, see detailed instructions in 3.1.h). Mailed disks must be labeled with the first author's last name, platform and software (see detailed instructions below).

Failure to adhere to these guidelines can delay the handling of your contribution and manuscripts may be returned before being reviewed. The Editorial Board appreciates any effort that you make to ensure that the language is corrected before submission.

3 Categories of Contribution

3.1 Research Article

Manuscripts should be written in English in double-spaced, 12-point type throughout, including the References Cited section, appendices, tables, and figure captions; printed on one side only of A4 paper with 2.5 cm margins and marked with consecutive page numbers, beginning with the cover page. Manuscripts written in Portuguese or Spanish will also be accepted.

The following elements must start on a new page and be ordered as they are listed below:

a) The title page must contain: a concise and informative title; the authors' names (first name in full); the authors' institutional affiliation or where the research has been executed, including department, institution, city, state or province and country; different affiliations indicated with superscript numbers; a short running title of about 35 characters, including spaces; the corresponding author's name with e-mail address. The corresponding author is the person responsible for checking the page proofs, arranging for the payment of color illustrations and any other duty related to the correct processing of the manuscript.

b) The Abstract must be a single paragraph that does not exceed 200 words and summarizes the main results and conclusions of the study. It should not contain references. Up to six key words should be included, and these should differ from words mentioned in the title. All manuscripts will include also a title and an Abstract in Portuguese. Manuscripts written in Portuguese or Spanish include an Abstract in English.

c) The text must be as succinct as possible. Text citations: articles should be referred to by authors' surnames and date of publication; citations with two authors must include both names; in citations with three or more authors, name the first author and use et al. List two or more references in the same citation in chronological order, separated by semi-colons. When two or more works in a citation were published in the same year, list them alphabetically by the first author surname. For two or more works by the same author(s) in a citation, list them chronologically, with the years separated by commas. (Example: Barreto et al., 1966a, 1966b, 2000). Only articles that are published or in press should be cited. In the case of "Personal communication" or "Unpublished results", all contributors must be listed by initials and last name (et al. should not be used). Numbers: In the text, numbers nine or below must be written out except as part of a date, a fraction or decimal, a percentage, or a unit of measurement. Use Arabic numerals for numbers larger than nine. Avoid starting a sentence with a number. URLs for programs, data or other sources should be listed in the Internet Resources Section, immediately after the References Section, not in the text. URLs for citations of publications in electronic journals should appear in the reference section.

The text includes the following elements:
Introduction - Description of the background that led to the study.
Material and Methods - Details relevant to the conduct of the study. Statistical methods should be explained at the end of this section.
Results - Undue repetition in text and tables should be avoided. Comment on significance of results is appropriate but broader discussion should be part of the Discussion section.
Discussion - The findings of the study should be placed in the context of relevant published data. Ideas presented in other publications should not be discussed solely to make an exhaustive presentation.
Some manuscripts may require different formats appropriate to their content.

d) The Acknowledgments must be a single paragraph that immediately follows the discussion and includes references to grant support or any technical or intellectual contribution.

e) The References Section: references must be ordered alphabetically by the first author surname; references with the same first author should be ordered as follows: first, as single author in chronological order; next, with only one more co-author in alphabetical order by the second author; and finally followed by references with more than two co-authors, in chronological order, independent of the second author surnames. Journal titles should not be abbreviated. Only articles that are published or in press should be included in this section. Works submitted to a publication but not yet accepted may not be included. Authors should avoid citation of Thesis and Abstracts.

Personal communications and unpublished data must be cited within the text. "Personal communication" refers to individuals other than the authors of the manuscript being submitted; "unpublished data" refers to data produced by at least one of the authors of the manuscript being submitted.

Journal article:
Reis RF, Goes A, Timmer LW (2006) Effect of temperature, leaf wetness, and rainfall on the production of Guignardia citricarpa ascospores and on black spot severity on sweet orange. Fitopatologia Brasileira 31:29-34.

Arnold AE, Medjía LC, Kyllo D, Rojas EI, Maynard Z, Robbins N, Herre EA (2003) Fungal endophytes limit pathogen damage in a tropical tree. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the USA 26:15649-15654.

Chapter-in-book citation:
Campos VP, Villain L (2005) Nematode parasites of coffee and cocoa. In: Luc M, Sikora RA, Bridge J (Eds.) Plant parasitic nematodes in subtropical and tropical agriculture. Wallingford UK. CAB International. pp. 529-580.

Authored book citation:
Agrios GN (2005) Plant Pathology. 5th Ed. Amsterdam. Elsevier Academic Press.

Edited book citation:
Kimati H, Amorim L, Rezende JAM, Bergamin Filho A, Camargo LEA (Eds.) (2005) Manual de Fitopatologia. Vol. 2. Doenças das Plantas Cultivadas. 4ª. Ed. São Paulo SP. Ceres.

Electronic article citation:
CONAB. Cana-de-açucar. Safra 2006 -2007.
www.conab.gov.br/conabweb/download/safra/BoletimCana-Novembro2006-07.pdf

A copy of the first page or letter of acceptance must be provided for any unpublished or in-press article cited. Copies to verify personal communications should also be included.

f) Internet Resources Section: this section should contain a list of URLs referring to data presented in the text, software programs and other Internet resources used during data processing. When databases are cited, date of consultation must be stated.
Sample Internet resource citation:
CoreNucleotides, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez (Dezember 12, 2007)
LEM Software, http://dir.niehs.nih.gov/dirbb/weinbergfiles/hybrid_design.htm

g) Tables. Each table must start on a new page. A concise title should be provided above the table. Tables must be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Each column must have a title in the box head. Footnotes typed directly below the table should be indicated in lowercase superscript numbers. Place tables after the reference section.

h) Figures must be numbered consecutively in arabic numerals and may be sized to fit approximately within the columns of the journal. Legends should be typed on a separate sheet, after the reference section. Please insert keys and scale bars directly in the figure. Scanned figures should not be submitted. Images should be in TIFF or JPEG format and provided in separate files. Figures in Word format cannot be published. Journal quality reproduction will require grayscale and color at resolution yielding 300 dpi. Authors should submit bitmapped line art at resolution yielding 600-1200 dpi. These resolutions refer to the output size of the file; if it is anticipated that images will be enlarged or reduced, the resolutions should be adjusted accordingly. Color illustration can be accepted, but authors are asked to defray the cost. Illustrations supplied on disks must follow instructions in item 2 (Submission package).

i) Nomenclature of scientific names should adhere to current international standards as available for public access on the internet.
Plants: The International Plant Names Index, <http://www.ipni.org/index.html>
Fungi: Index Fungorum, <http://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp>
Bacteria: <http://www.isppweb.org/names_bacterial.asp>
Nematodes: <http://www.iczn.org/iczn/index.jsp>
Vírus: according to the International Code for Classification and Nomenclature, published in the 8th. Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses - ICTV (2005).

Latin names of genera, species and infra-specific taxa in the text must be printed in italics; Latin names of species in the text should be followed by the authority only when the species is the subject of the research. When used, authorities should be provided at the first mention of the organism only.

j) Cultures and other reference material. Source and deposit of cultures should be indicated. Authors are encouraged to deposit voucher cultures and specimens documenting their research at certified or recognized institutions and cite the place of deposit in the text.

k) Sequences. Accession numbers cited from Genbank and other databases must be provided and released to the general public together with publication of the article.

l) Data access. Reference should be made to availability of detailed data and materials used for reported studies.

m) Abbreviations and Units: SI units should be used, such as mg, g, m, mm, L, mL, ?L, h, min, s, mol, kg/ha. If a non-standard abbreviation is to be used, it should be defined in full when cited in the text for the first time.

n) Crop Protection Products. Only technical names or names of active compounds should be used. It is not recommended that authors mention commercial names of products or of the companies which produce them, so as not to suggest utilization. Chemical formulas should be written on one line and follow modern nomenclature.

3.2 Short Communication

Present brief observations or results that do not warrant full-length articles. They should not be considered preliminary communications. First reports of plant diseases should be submitted as "Short Communication". These manuscripts may include illustrations of the pathogen, indication of deposit of reference material with public access, including DNA sequences, and documentation as required by specific legislation, as applicable. They should be 12 or fewer typed pages in double spaced 12-point type, including literature cited. They should include an Abstract and "Resumo" , no longer than 200 words each, and with no further subdivision: i.e. with introduction, material and methods, results and discussion in a single section. Up to two tables and two figures may be submitted. The title page and reference section format is that of a full-length article.

3.3 Letter to the Editor
This may relate or respond to recent published items of interest to the area of Plant Pathology. Discussions of political, social and ethical issues of interest to plant pathologists are also welcome in this form.

3.4 Review Article
Review Articles are welcome. Authors should contact the Editor before submission.

4 Proofs
Page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. Changes made to page proofs, apart from printer's or publisher's errors, will be charged to the authors. Notes added in proof require Editorial approval. Proofs should be returned within 72 hours.

5 Reprints
Reprints are free of charge and provided as a pdf-file on request.

6 Authorship
Those who submit papers to Tropical Plant Pathology should respect the value of the research of their peers by not devaluing authorship. Each author should have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the design, conduct, analysis, or interpretation of the study. Each author must approve the final version of the article to be published, and be willing to take public responsibility for their contribution to the paper. In addition, the first author and the corresponding author are expected to take public responsibility for the entire paper.