Journal of Seed Science
|
The Journal of Seed Science (JSS) is an official open-access journal of the Brazilian Association of Seed Technology (Associação Brasileira de Tecnologia de Sementes – ABRATES) that has had exclusive online circulation since 2017. |
Brief Background
|
The Journal of Seed Science (JSS) is an official scientific publication of the Brazilian Association of Seed Technology (ABRATES), dedicated to publishing original research related to seed science and technology. It is a continuation of the Revista Brasileira de Sementes (Brazilian Seed Journal), established in 1979. The name of the journal was changed in 2013 when the periodical was considerably restructured, with all the articles published exclusively in English in an electronic format, though the printed version was also maintained. It has circulated exclusively in an online format since 2017. A quarterly publication schedule was maintained until 2020; and beginning in 2021, JSS came to adopt an annual continuous publication system. |
Open Science Compliance
|
JSS follows a series of open science practices. The journal is published under the Gold Open Access model, in which the articles are freely available for reading and downloading, and content can be copied and shared according to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 copyright policies. The journal also requires indication of the role of each of the authors in multiple authorship articles. The editor’s name is published in each article. If there is previous agreement from reviewers and author(s), the content of the reviewers’ suggestions can be accessed. All articles are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), and all authors must be registered with an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) identification number.At the time of submission, authors should complete Open Science Compliance Form. |
Ethics in Publication
|
JSS complies with the SciELO Guidelines on Best Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publication, as well as the ethical principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), to ensure editorial policies committed to ethical publication standards, encouraging identification of plagiarism, unfair practices, and possible ethics violations. Abiding by best ethical practices in research is the sole responsibility of the author. |
Focus and Scope
|
The Journal of Seed Science is a scientific publication dedicated to dissemination of original research related to seed science and technology. The objective is to share advances in knowledge in this area with the Brazilian and international agricultural community. The journal includes research on seeds and their characteristics, morphology, physiology, production technology, processing, storage, and germination. |
Digital Preservation
|
JSS follows the guidelines defined in the SciELO Program Digital Preservation Policy. |
Indexing Sources
|
Bibliographic Journal Information
|
Websites and Social Media
|
Preprints
|
JSS supports the best practices of Open Science, which provide greater transparency to the entire publishing process. Therefore, JSS encourages submitting complete manuscripts to the SciELO Preprints repository prior to or at the time of their submission to the journal. Preprints are considered the author’s version of the manuscript before the peer-review process, posted on an open-access website. They are not considered formal publication and do not affect submission of any manuscript to JSS. Once the manuscript is approved and published by JSS, it is the author’s responsibility to report the DOI of the final publication to the preprint repository. The journal has adopted the double-blind evaluation method as a standard. However, in the case of preprints, it is not possible to ensure anonymity of the authors, and thus evaluation may be single-blind or open. |
Peer Review Process
|
JSS has adopted an anonymous peer-review process to ensure impartial judgment and the quality of the articles published. Soon after submission, the editorial committee makes a preliminary evaluation of the manuscript to determine whether it can proceed to the review process, considering the journal’s policies, relevance criteria, compliance with guidelines, and similarity checks (to detect plagiarism). Upon meeting these requirements, the manuscript is assigned to an Associate Editor, who evaluates the scientific merit specific to the topic of the manuscript and who has the same decision-making authority of whether to accept it for publication or not. If the manuscript is deemed appropriate, the associate editor selects at least three ad hoc specialist reviewers for evaluation. The Associate Editor makes the final decision on the manuscript, which can be accepted, rejected, or returned for minor or major revisions. All processing and revision is managed using the OJS system. The data, opinions, and concepts presented in the articles, as well as the accuracy of the bibliographic references, are the sole responsibility of the author(s). Transparency and Openness in Peer-Review Policies: Disclosure of the Responsible Editor(s): JSS publishes the names of the editors responsible for evaluation in the final article. This practice strengthens the journal’s commitment to editorial integrity and acknowledges the editors for their crucial role in maintaining the quality standards of the publication. At this time, the journal does not offer reviewers the option of direct dialogue with the corresponding author, with disclosure of identities or not, nor does it offer the option of publishing article approval reviews with or without identification of the reviewers. Double-blind evaluation is the standard review method adopted by the journal. However, in the case of preprints, it is not possible to ensure the anonymity of the authors and, thus, the evaluation may be single-blind or open. |
Open Data
|
Authors are encouraged to make all content (including data, software codes, and other materials) supporting the text of the manuscript available in open online repositories, such as SciELO Data, either prior to or at the time of publication. Alternatively, authors can state that the data will be made available by the corresponding author upon request. |
Fees Policy
|
No fees are charged for article submission. If the article is accepted for publication, a publication fee is charged as described below: For ABRATES members (who have paid annual fees) – up to six pages in final format: R$ 30.00 per page + R$ 80.00 for each additional page. To become a member of ABRATES, follow the link: https://www.abrates.org.br/sejasocio/ For non-members – up to six pages in final format: R$ 60.00 per page + R$ 160.00 for each additional page. In the case of more than one author, including members, the total value will be divided by the number of authors. In the case of international author submissions, the assessed fee will be converted into U.S. dollars (US$) using the current exchange rate. This fee mainly covers costs on translation to / revision of the English language since the journal accepts manuscripts submitted in Portuguese or English. Other expenses, such as on XML markup, the iThenticate software, and maintaining the JSS offices, are paid through these fees. |
Ethics and Misconduct, Correction and Retraction Policy
|
The Journal of Seed Science is committed to maintaining the academic integrity and quality of the articles published. JSS does not accept publication of articles that have used improper research procedures, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, data falsification/fabrication, and others, and it abides by the following guidelines:
In cases of unethical behavior and misconduct, JSS, through its editors, is committed to taking necessary measures to identify, restrain, and impede these activities. |
Policy on Conflict of Interest
|
Authors must disclose potential personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial conflicts of interest. Reviewers must inform editors regarding any conflicts of interest that may influence analysis of a manuscript and, in such cases, must recuse themselves as disqualified from reviewing it. Similarly, Associate Editors and Editors-in-Chief must not make decisions on manuscripts that may involve conflicts with their interests. |
Adoption of Similarity Software
|
All submitted manuscripts are screened for plagiarism and self-plagiarism using the iThenticate software. Journal staff check for plagiarism and self-plagiarism immediately after article submission. If plagiarism is detected, the Editor-in-Chief will notify the authors, presenting the report generated by iThenticate and requesting necessary modifications. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism are checked once more when the manuscript is accepted for publication. |
Adoption of Software Using Artificial Intelligence Resources
|
JSS has adopted the recommendations of the Guide to the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools and Resources in Research Communication on the SciELO Network na comunicação de pesquisas na Rede SciELO for authors, editors, and reviewers. Thus, the use of tools and resources that assist authors in preparing their manuscripts is recommended, provided they comply with attribution guidelines and scientific ethics and integrity. |
Gender and Sex Issues
|
The JSS editorial team and authors that publish in the journal must observe the guidelines of Sex and Gender Equity in Research – SAGER. |
Copyright
|
Authors of articles published in the Journal of Seed Science retain copyright to their work, licensing them under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which allows any person to access them. In addition, the articles can be reused and cited without restriction, provided the original published work is correctly cited. Thus, the study will have maximum visibility and the authors will receive due credit. Authors grant JSS the right of first publication. |
Intellectual Property and Terms of Use
|
Articles published in JSS are made available on the SciELO website (www.scielo.br) and on the ABRATES website (www.abrates.org.br). All JSS content is licensed by the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which allows unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any means of publication, provided the author and the original article are correctly cited. The opinions and concepts expressed in the articles are the sole responsibility of the authors. The authors are responsible for obtaining permission for reuse of materials protected by copyright (tables, figures, and graphs) in their manuscripts. Authors retain copyrights to their works, licensing them under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license, which allows articles to be reused and distributed without restrictions, provided the original work is correctly cited. JSS encourages authors to archive their accepted manuscripts by publishing them on personal blogs, institutional repositories, and academic social media platforms. Authors can also post their articles on personal social media accounts if they include the complete citation of the version published on the journal website. |
Sponsors and Promotion Agencies
|
In addition to the financial resources generated by publication fees, JSS relies on financial support from the Brazilian Association of Seed Technology (Associação Brasileira de Tecnologia de Sementes - Abrates) and from the following Brazilian government agencies: FAPEMIG – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais
CNPq – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico;
CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior.
|
Editors-in-Chief
|
Associate Editors
|
International Associate Editors
|
Technical Team
|
Types of Documents Accepted
|
Authors' Contribution
|
The individual involvement of the authors in the research should be described in terms of Conceptualization, Methodological design, Data collection, Data analysis and interpretation, and Writing and editing, according to the criteria established by the CRediT – Contributor Roles Taxonomy. Each of these topics should be followed by the names of the contributing authors [e.g., Conceptualization: Santos, A.; Pereira, B.C.; Methodological design: Santos, A.; Pereira, A.B.; Data collection: Santos, A.; Data analysis and interpretation: Souza, C.D.; Silva, E.F.; and Writing and editing: Santos, A.; Pereira, A.B.; Souza, C.D.]. |
Manuscript Preparation
|
It is recommended that, before submission, the Author Instructions be thoroughly reviewed to ensure that the article is in accordance with JSS guidelines. Manuscripts outside the guidelines, including the references, will be returned.
Author(s) must strictly follow the guidelines in these instructions. |
Article Submission Format
|
Articles must be typed using Word text editor (DOC or RTF), with a maximum of 20 pages (including figures, tables, and references). Lines should be numbered (maximum of 30 lines per page), double spaced, and with 2-cm margins (A4 paper). A Calibri 14 font should be used for the title and 12 for the text, without insertion of tables and figures, which should be attached at the end of the paper. The article file should be structured according to the following sequence:
|
Digital Assets
|
Tables and figures must be in programs compatible with Windows, such as Excel. Tables in “portrait” format, numbered with Arabic numerals, should be presented with a self-explanatory title with lowercase letters. Vertical lines cannot be used to separate columns; and the date and location of the experiment should not be included. The figures (graphs, drawings, maps, or photographs) should be numbered with Arabic numerals and created in programs compatible with Word for Windows (TIFF 300 DPI); they should be inserted in the text preferentially as objects. The drawings and photographs should be in a high-quality digital format (JPEG 300 DPI) and submitted in the size to be published in the journal. Captions should be typed below the figure and begin with the designation “Figure”, followed by the respective number and text, in lowercase letters. Units of measurement should be written with a space between the numerical value and the unit: e.g., 10 °C, 10 mL, µS.cm-1.g-1. The percentage symbol should remain together with the number, without a space, e.g., 10%. The International System of Units should be used throughout the text. |
Citations and References
|
The journal guidelines are based on the ABNT. Author citations in the text should use the author’s surname, with only the first letter in uppercase, followed by the year of publication. In the case of two authors, the surnames of both should be included, separated by “and”. If there are more than two authors, only the surname of the first author should be cited, followed by “et al.”. In the case of citation of two or more works of the same author(s), published in the same year, they should be identified by lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.) placed immediately after the year of publication. References: At least 60% of the bibliographical references must be of articles listed in the ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, or SciELO (indexed journals) databases, with publication dates within the last ten years. Citations of monographs, dissertations and theses, conference proceedings, and abstracts will not be accepted in the references.
Citations of recent articles published in JSS can be accessed through the website: www.scielo.br/jss. References should be presented in alphabetical order by the surname of the author or of the first author, without numbering; all the authors of the study should be separated by “;”. References should contain hyperlinks.
|
Funding Statement
|
The “Acknowledgment” section should indicate the sources of support of the study, including names of sponsors and contract number (if applicable), together with explanations of the role of these sources. It is recommended that the guidelines provided in these instructions be followed in full by the author(s), according to the model in the link. Thank you for choosing the Journal of Seed Science! |
Contact
|
Journal of Seed Science
ABRATES - Associação Brasileira de Tecnologia de Sementes |
