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(Updated: 2024/05/21)

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Brief Background

 

Scientia Agricola is a journal of the University of São Paulo edited at the Luiz de Queiroz campus in Piracicaba, a city in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Its mission is to publish original articles that contribute to the advancement of the agricultural, environmental, and biological sciences.

Scientia Agricola has been edited since 1992, starting with volume 49. It continues the Anais da ESALQ, whose first volume was published in 1944 (Annals of ESALQ) and incorporates the journal Energia Nuclear e Agricultura (Nuclear Energy and Agriculture).

Scientia Agricola has been exclusively published in its electronic version since 2017, and the printed version being discontinued.

 

 

Open Science Compliance

 

Scientia Agricola offers free public access to its contents by the principle of greater worldwide democratization of knowledge.

Authors must submit an Open Science Compliance Form (OSCF), also available in the 'Submissions' section. Authors may authorize the disclosure of their names when submitting the article, and peer reviewers may authorize the disclosure of their names when filling out the OSCF. 

 

 

Ethics in Publication

 

It is strongly recommended that authors follow the code of conduct of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to ensure an editorial policy committed to ethical publication criteria, which encourage the identification of plagiarism, unfair practices, fraud, possible violations of ethics and initiation of proceedings. 

 

 

Focus and Scope

 

Scientia Agricola is a journal of the University of São Paulo edited at the Luiz de Queiroz campus in Piracicaba, a city in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. It publishes original articles that contribute to the advancement of the agricultural, environmental, and biological sciences.

The journal covers various topics, including Crop and Animal Production, Agricultural Engineering, Agroindustrial Technology, Forestry, and Applications in Agricultural, Environmental, Soil, and Biological Sciences.

 

 

Digital Preservation

 

This journal follows the standards defined in the SciELO Program's Digital Preservation Policy.

 

 

Indexing Sources

   

 

Bibliographic Journal Information

 

Title: Scientia Agricola 
Abbreviation: Sci. Agric.
Published by: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) - Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (Esalq)
Frequency: Annual
Publishing mode: continuous publishing 
Year of journal creation: 1992

 

 

Websites and Social Media

   

 

Editorial Policy

Preprints

 

Scientia Agricola journal supports the good practices of Open Science, which results in a more transparent editorial process. This way, manuscripts deposited in the SciELO Preprints server can be submitted to this journal. However, the journal's Editorial Board will decide on the peer-review process for the manuscripts already posted as preprints. Preprints are considered an author’s version of the manuscript before the peer-review process, posted on a free-access website. Preprints can be posted at any moment during the peer-review process. They are not considered formal publication and will not compromise the submission of any manuscript to Scientia Agricola. Once the manuscript is approved and published by Scientia Agricola, it is the author’s responsibility to communicate the facts to the preprint repository.

 

 

Peer Review Process

 

Scientia Agricola adopts a single-anonymous peer review process to ensure an unbiased judgment and the quality of published articles. The process includes the following steps:

  1. The technical advisory board will first evaluate the manuscript for compliance with Scientia Agricola’s rules and analyze it using plagiarism detection software. Otherwise, the manuscript is returned to the authors for adjustments. Once the requirements are met, the manuscript proceeds to the Editor-in-Chief.
  2. The Editor-in-chief assesses whether the manuscript complies with the journal’s scope and quality standards. At this stage, manuscripts failing to meet these criteria are rejected at this stage. If appropriate, the Editor-in-Chief assigns an Associate Editor, who selects expert reviewers for further assessment.
  3. Reviewers evaluate the manuscript and submit their opinions through the ScholarOne system. 
  4. The Associate Editor makes the final decision on the manuscript, which can be accepted, rejected, or returned for minor or major revisions. This decision is communicated to the authors.

Transparency and Openness in Peer Review Policy:

Disclosure of the Responsible Editor(s): Scientia Agricola publishes the names of the Associated Editors responsible for the evaluation in the final article. This practice reinforces the journal's commitment to editorial integrity of and acknowledges editors for their crucial role in maintaining publication quality standards.

Transparency Options in Peer Review: Although Scientia Agricola does not publish the reviewers’ identities and their reports, this procedure will be progressively implemented in the near future.

 

Open Data

 

Authors are encouraged to make available previously or at the time of publication all content (data, software codes, and other materials) underlying the manuscript text in open online repositories such as SciELO Data. Otherwise, authors may declare that data will be available from the corresponding author upon request.

 

 

Fees

 

Scientia Agricola does not charge a fee for submitting, evaluating, or reviewing articles. However, after the journal accepts an article, there is a publication fee of R$ 200.00 (two hundred Reais) per printed page for Brazilians and U$100.00 (one hundred dollars) per printed page for foreigners per article. This fee is to pay for English review, markup XML, and iThenticate software. Other expenses for maintaining the infrastructure of the Scientia Agricola secretariat are also paid with this fee.

 

 

Ethics and Misconduct, Correction and Retraction Policy

 

Scientia Agricola strictly adheres to ethical publication guidelines and combats scientific misconduct. The journal reserves the right to take appropriate action whenever misconduct is detected, which may include immediately rejecting the manuscript, prohibiting future submissions from the authors involved, and communicating infractions to affiliated institutions.

Scientia Agricola strictly prohibits plagiarism and self-plagiarism.

The journal publishes only original articles. Submitting a manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously or dividing the results of a study into several manuscripts is strictly prohibited. Fraud, such as image manipulation, data fabrication, or falsification, will lead to immediate rejection.

Authors should be transparent and responsible when using artificial intelligence (AI). When using AI, authors must include detailed information (name, version, model, and source) about the used technology. When using AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, he production of images or graphics, or the compilation and analysis of data, authors are obliged to make it explicit in the Materials and Methods section. 

When AI is used to paraphrase or improve the author's original content rather than suggest new content, it becomes a similar tool to Grammarly. Scientia Agricola prohibits texts translated by AI.

Authors must disclose the use of AI in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of the main manuscript file before the References section, Declaration of use of AI Technologies.

 

 

Policy on Conflict of Interest

 

Authors must disclose potential personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial conflicts of interest. 

The reviewer must inform the editors of any conflicts of interest that could influence the analysis of the manuscript and must declare themselves unqualified to review it. 

Like reviewers, Associate Editors and Editor-in-Chief should avoid making decisions on manuscripts that conflict with their interests.

 

 

Adoption of similarity software

 

All submitted manuscripts will be subjected to the journal’s screening policy for plagiarism and self-plagiarism using the iThenticate software. The journal’s Secretariat checks plagiarism and self-plagiarism immediately after submission. When plagiarism is detected, the Editor-in-Chief is in charge to inform the authors by presenting the report generated by the iThenticate and requesting appropriate adjustments. 

Plagiarism and self-plagiarism are checked once more when the manuscript is accepted for publication. 

 

 

Gender and Sex Issues

 

The Scientia Agricola editorial team and the authors who publish in the journal, should always observe the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines.

 

 

Ethics Committee

 

Authors must attach a statement of approval from the ethics committee (ex. Environment, Biosecurity, and Animals) of the institution responsible for approving the, research, if applicable. 

The Materials and Methods section must officially state this evidence, describing that the study was evaluated and approved by an appropriate ethical committee (including the process number).

 

 

Copyright

 

The author maintains the copyright over the published article and grants Scientia Agricola the right to first publish it. The articles are licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 open-access license, so anyone can download and read them. Furthermore, the article can be reused and cited if the original published version is cited. This way, the study will have maximum exposure, and the authors will receive due credit.

 

 

Intellectual Property and Terms of Use

 

Copyright terms applied to content published on Scientia Agricola must be clearly stated and differentiated from those applied to the website itself. 

Opinions and concepts expressed in the articles are the authors’ exclusive responsibility. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reuse of copyrighted materials (tables, figures, and graphs) in their manuscripts.

Unless otherwise specified, all journal content and articles published by Scientia Agricola, are published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license. Authors retain the copyright of their works, licensing them under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license, which allows articles to be reused and distributed without restriction as long as the original work is correctly cited.

Scientia Agricola encourages authors to self-archive their accepted manuscripts by posting 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 to the version published on the journal's website.

 

 

Sponsors and Promotion Agencies

 

Scientia Agricola receives accreditation from the USP/Agência de Bibliotecas e Coleções Digitais (ABCD).

 

EDITORIAL BOARD

 

Editor-in-Chief

   

 

Editorial Advisory Board

   

 

Associate Editors

   

 

Technical Team

 

Statistics reviewers

References / Citations

  • Adriana Bueno Moretti, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
 

 

Administrative Board

 
  • Amanda Oliveira Jorge, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Piracicaba, SP, Brazil - Trainee
  • Claudete Pereira Trinca, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
  • Themilin Camille Franco Oliveira, Fundação de Estudos Agrários Luiz de Queiroz (FEALQ), Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
 

 

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

Types of Documents Accepted

 

Scientia Agricola accepts four manuscript categories that can be submitted: original research article, note, review, and point of view. Manuscripts deposited in the SciELO Preprints server can be submitted to this journal.

Original research articles are grouped by subject matter into the following categories: Agricultural Engineering; Agricultural Microbiology; Agrometeorology; Animal Science and Pastures; Biometry, Modeling, and Statistics; Crop Science; Agricultural Ecology; Entomology; Food Science and Technology; Forestry Science; Genetics and Plant Breeding; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology and Biochemistry; Soils and Plant Nutrition; and Zoology.

 

 

Authors' Contribution

 

All manuscripts must have a section describing the each author’s contributions using the relevant CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). The corresponding authors are responsible for providing this information. It is expected that all authors agree with their contributions. Any other contribution that does not meet the relevant CRediT roles should be considered a subject of acknowledgment.

 

 

Manuscript Preparation

 

Manuscript submission

  • Start the submission process by reviewing the Instructions for Authors to ensure that the article meets Scientia Agricola standards. The authors should check the instructions for submitting the original research articles, notes, reviews, and points of view. As these pages are updated periodically, it is strongly recommended that authors read them even if they have done so previously.
  • Please read the checklist carefully before submitting the manuscript.
  • Authors should submit manuscripts online at www.scielo.br/sa by clicking on "Submission of manuscripts".
  • All authors must have an Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID iD), which will be required during the submission to ScholarOneTM.
  • A manuscript submission file in Microsoft Word (or a compatible format) is required. Avoid using word processing features such as automated bulleting and numbering, head and subhead formatting, internal linking, or styles.
  • Publication of a short or extended abstract in a scientific event is not considered a previous research publication. However, research results published previously as a complete manuscript in scientific events will not be accepted.

Cover letter (must be written in English)

  • The cover letter’s content must present the warranty that the manuscript is original, has not been published before, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere in its final form, neither in print nor in electronic format. The corresponding author must sign the cover letter on behalf of all authors. Upload the cover letter in a separate file in the designated area on the submission page.
  • Authors should insert five highlights (maximum 100 characters including spaces for each highlight) explaining the importance of their work and how and why their significant findings relate to the journal’s scope.

Manuscript style

  • Define all abbreviations at first mention in the abstract and text and again in the tables and figures. Once an abbreviation is used, keep it throughout the entire article, except at the beginning of a sentence.
  • The Latin name or binomial (or trinomial) nomenclature and authority must be used at the introduction’s first of all plants, insects, pathogens, and animals.
  • When first mentioned, pesticides’ active ingredient and chemical name must be given.
  • Identify soils using the USDA soil taxonomy up to the second level (suborder) or, if possible, up to the fourth level (subgroup). FAO classification may be used up to the second level. Free translations of soil classifications or names are not allowed.
  • The International Units System must be used in all manuscripts.
  • Check any Greek characters and figures carefully.
  • Spell out numbers one through ten, except when used with units. For decimal quantities <1, place a zero before the decimal point.
  • For the decimal marker, use a period.
  • Denote and interrelate units as positive or negative powers, not with slashes, e.g., kg ha-1, not kg/ha.
  • Leave a single space between units, e.g., g L-1, not g.L-1, or gL-1.
  • Use the 24-h time system, with four digits for hours and minutes: 09h00; 18h30.
  • Dates should be written with the day first, then the month, and the year last: 18 Mar 2000; 01 Feb 1987.
  • Abbreviate month names with more than four letters, e.g., Jan, July, Sept, etc.
 

 

Article Submission Format

 
  • Each manuscript must have a cover page with a simple, brief, clear, and attractive title that tells readers about the research paper. Authors’ full names and institutional affiliations must be in the original language of the institution, except for those that do not have the Latin alphabet.
  • A running title of 40 characters or fewer (in addition to the full paper title) should also be provided.
  • Authors should select a category from the following: Agricultural Engineering; Agricultural Microbiology; Agrometeorology; Animal Science and Pastures; Biometry, Modeling, and Statistics; Crop Science; Agricultural Ecology; Entomology; Food Science and Technology; Forestry Science; Genetics and Plant Breeding; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology and Biochemistry; Soils and Plant Nutrition; and Zoology.
  • The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk, and an institutional e-mail must be provided.
  • Please provide as detailed information as possible regarding author's present institutional affiliation. All authors must have an Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID iD).
  • For Editors and Reviewers to properly analyze the work presented in the manuscript, text and illustrations must be written in concise and grammatically correct English to be understood. USA orthographic and grammatical rules must be applied. Before submitting the manuscript to Scientia Agricola, please ask a colleague proficient in English to review it or send it to a professional editing service that will improve the English, avoiding problems during proofreading.

Manuscripts should be organized as one file containing the main document. MS Word for Windows or compatible software should be used for the main document, with 12-point Times New Roman, 3.0-cm margins, and double spacing. Organize the main document in the following order: Cover Page, Abstract (maximum of 250 words), Keywords (maximum of five), Introduction (30 lines), Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion (no subheadings), Acknowledgments (optional), Authors’ Contributions, Conflict of interest, Data availability statement, Declaration of use of AI Technologies (whether using it or not), References, Figures and Tables with their respective legends.

  • Please keep the manuscript to 30 pages (A4 paper), with continuous lines and consecutive page numbers, including illustrations and tables.
  • A well-founded conclusion at the end of the Discussion should provide closure for the research work. It should summarize the research's findings and importance, discuss unclear data, what contribution the study has made to the existing literature, and recommend further investigation.
  • Tables and Figures must be included at the end of the main document.
  • The corresponding author assumes full responsibility for the manuscript, including compliance with journal policies, and will be the primary contact with the journal office. The submitting author may assume this position if indicated in the cover letter.
 

 

Digital Assets

 

Tables and figures

  • Manuscripts, including material published by other journals or publishers, figures, tables, and images, must be uploaded to the system as a supplemental file.

Tables

  • Number tables sequentially using Arabic numerals; tables should be created with the "Tables" function of MS Word or MS Excel (manuscripts showing tables pasted as figures will be returned to authors).
  • The table’s title should appear immediately above the body of the table.
  • Table captions should not display units.

Figures/Graphs

  • Graphs should be created using MS Excel, font Arial.
  • Supply photographs as tagged image format files [TIFF], 300 DPI, font Arial.
  • Number figures consecutively in the order they appear in the text.
  • Figures should provide enough information that the reader can understand without referring to the text.
  • For figures with more than one panel, designate the panels with capital letters (no parentheses and no periods following letters) in the upper left-hand corner of each panel.
  • The wording in the figures must match the rest of the manuscript regarding capitalization, italics, and symbols.
  • Figures captions should not display units. Instead, it displays units in the axis titles of the figures.

Equations

  • Math equations should be created using the "Equation Editor" function of MS Word or MathType.
  • Use standard text and fonts if some or all the manuscript equations are simple (on a single baseline).
  • Equations should be numbered consecutively, beginning with (1). The number should be enclosed between brackets and set at the right of the equation in the same line. Equations should be referenced within the text as "Eq. (x)." When a sentence is started concerning an equation, it should be spelled out, e.g., "Equation (x)."
 

 

Citations and References

 

Scientia Agricola prohibits authors from citing congress or workshop abstracts, dissertations, and theses. References in any language other than English should be limited to those crucial to the study, up to four references. These references should have an abstract in English and must be cited in the following format: (in Portuguese, Spanish or Japanese, etc., with abstract in English).

Scientia Agricola does not recommend authors cite statistical analyses or software packages as references. These tools should be mentioned in the text (Materials and Methods) by including the specific procedure and the name of the software with its version and/or year, e.g., “…statistical procedures were conducted using PROC NLIN in SAS (Statistical Analysis System, version 9.2)”.

References and citations in Scientia Agricola articles should be formatted in the 'author, year' or 'name (year)' style. Remember to ensure that text citations match the list of references.

Please see the reference and citation examples in the attached table.

 

 

Supplementary Documents

 

The authors should submit the Open Science Compliance Form properly fulfilled.

 

Financing Statement

 

All sources of research support (if any), as well as the project number and responsible institution, must be declared in the Acknowledgments section.

 

 

Additional Information

 
  • Manuscripts that evaluate the bioactivity of chemical and/or biological products, including growth regulators of insects, spiders, fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and weeds, will not be considered for publication in Scientia Agricola.
  • Manuscripts that evaluate tissue culture improvements or protocols based on tests of additives, explants, or growth conditions or that fail to demonstrate a substantial improvement that could not be deduced from the existing literature will not be considered for publication in Scientia Agricola.
  • Field experiments where quantitative crop traits are studied should be replicated in different environments (two years at a single location or two or more locations in a year) to test for treatment x environment interactions. Greenhouse experiments where quantitative crop traits are studied should be replicated once.
  • Manuscripts that report first occurrences or describe pests, pathogens, and diseases will generally not be considered for publication in Scientia Agricola. Exceptionally, these manuscripts could be considered in the NOTE format when: 1) reported organisms are highly relevant to agriculture; 2) the data originated from a broad survey; and 3) organisms/problems are characterized extensively using several methods and aspects under investigation.
  • Manuscripts must follow the criteria established by the International Codes of each area.
 

 

Cover image submissions

 

The cover of Scientia Agricola may feature an image representative of an article published in that issue. Authors are invited to submit scientifically compelling and visually appealing cover images. Images should be high-resolution (300 dpi) and measure 17 x 17 cm. Cover images can be photographs of organisms, habitats, montages of photographs, diagrams, maps, or data. Illustrations need not be reprinted in the article but should represent the work. Images should be original. Upload the image as an additional supplemental file and a separate text file that includes a brief one-paragraph description of the image and its relevance to the published manuscript. If an author does not hold the copyright for a submitted image, he is responsible for obtaining permission to use it.

 

 

Contact

 

Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz"
USP/ESALQ - Scientia Agricola, Av. Pádua Dias, 11, 
Cep: 13418-900 – Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
E-mail: scientia@usp.br
Phone: (+55 19) 3429-4401 / 3429-4486

 

 

Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" USP/ESALQ - Scientia Agricola, Av. Pádua Dias, 11, 13418-900 Piracicaba SP Brazil, Phone: +55 19 3429-4401 / 3429-4486 - Piracicaba - SP - Brazil
E-mail: scientia@usp.br
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