Submissions

Author Guidelines

Authors' guidelines  

Agronomía Mesoamericana Journal originated in the XXXV Meeting of the Central American Cooperative Program for the Improvement of Crops and Animals (PCCMCA, in Spanish), held in Honduras in 1989. The purpose of this organization was to share research results in these annual meetings. The first volume was published and distributed in 1990, during the XXXVI Meeting of PCCMCA in El Salvador. Nowadays, its objective is to disseminate scientific information, presented in Spanish or English, and through the publication of articles, short communications, technical notes, and literature reviews, dealing with food and agricultural sciences from anyplace in the world, emphasizing in tropical and subtropical areas, especially from Mesoamerica and the Caribbean area.

Agronomía Mesoamericana journal publishes original articles on basic and applied research in food science, technology and engineering; specifically in topics that link food science and engineering with primary agro-industrial production and agricultural and veterinary sciences. The works may be related to microbiological, chemical, sensory, nutritional and physiological aspects of food. All papers should focus on the novelty of the research performed.

In accordance to the norms of the Agronomía Mesoamericana Journal, the authors of scientific documents have the following rights over their published work: may perform public presentations, prepare secondary documents, reproduce and distribute them. Users of the journal can mention the information contained in the published material (as long as they cite them correctly, otherwise they recur in plagiarism) for teaching and research purposes.

The acknowledgment of document’s reception date will be granted after the completion of the Author’s Instructions and Format Guide, that can be found in the journal site.      

All the documents for publication must be submitted electronically; authors should register before in the following link: http://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/agromeso/user/register. Additionally, authors have to confirm that the documents are original, unpublished, and were not proposed partially or completely to another journal. Every publication is going to be disseminated in printed and electronic formats, including the internet, according to the disclosure regulations and rights transfer from authors.

Agronomía Mesoamericana does not charge for submissions, editing, or publication. All documents will be peer-reviewed by external experts, with experience on the study subject; these will be selected based on their academic formation and publications in scientific journals.

Peers will analyze the documents in order to determine the validity of the proposed objectives and methodology, and the obtained results, as well as its contribution or impact to the scientific field. They will be granted a month to provide the review results. If the process is delayed, other specialists will be chosen, and the author(s) would agree for an extended review process, or to withdraw from the current editing process. Once the final document has been approved, the final version will be sent to the authors for a final review and approval, in a maximum term of five business days.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to classify the documents according to their impact and content.

Document types for publication in this Journal, since volume 28(2) of 2017.

Article: is the result of an in-depth and detailed innovative investigation with new contributions to science. Must present an original and/or a new topic, or a new approach, when dealing with topics already discussed. It may carry out a new or different methodological application, which should be well-supported. The structure presents the following elements of an article, including title, the authors’ full names and affiliations, summary and correctly translated abstract, keywords, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and cited literature (relevant and recent citations must not be omitted). It also must include an appropriate number of tables, and substantial and relevant figures that demonstrate and enhance the merits of the document for a publication in an indexed journal. The article is a text with academic character that demands the compliance of certain norms about its general structure and content. These fundamental aspects are determined by the type of readers and divulgation media. The use of a specialized language and formal tone, in which the article is written, enhances access to the information, and therefore, its comprehension. The text is carefully written to avoid unnecessary subjects, in order to communicate its content in a clear, summarized way, and will consider the essential citations and references. The document will contain information about every topic that was included int the research, and will avoid to fractionate it to originate two or more articles. The articles should not have an extension less than thirty pages (Word document). A single trial, conducted in a specific locality, during only one time of the year, with a specific or restricted genetic crop, plant or animal, pathogen or other, could only be considered as a preliminary work, to support a more complete future investigation, and could not be accepted as an article.

Technical notes: They refer to three document types: 1. Represent significant, urgent, and interesting reports, that should include relevant preliminary results (e.g., describe a new weed, a new wild species, a new pathogen). 2. The development of innovative techniques or methodologies, preferably; or their adaptation, modification, promotion, and dissemination of a scientific nature or interest to the Mesoamerican region. These may include improvement in methods, statistical analyses, field, greenhouse or laboratory apparatus or instruments. 3. Experimental work of various kinds, aimed at demonstrating the importance, potential, timely use, or profitability; for example, "Planting densities for the production of high quality seed", "Containers for the conservation of local germ-plasm grain seed in rural areas", which are of great importance and commercial impact, but does not correspond to the structure of an article describing original research results, in search of new contributions to science or scientific advances. The document should be less than 20 pages (in Word). It can address the results of the practical trial of a very specific problem, based on a general use procedure in the profession. Some examples are:

Blanco, F. A. (2001). Métodos apropiados de análisis estadísticos subsiguientes al análisis de varianza (ANDEVA). Agronomía Costarricense, 25, 53-60.

Gallo, K. P., & Daughtry, C. S. T. (1986). Techniques for measuring intercepted and absorbed photosynthetically active radiation in corn canopies. Agronomy Journal, 78, 752-756. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj1986.00021962007800040039x

Khanizadeh, S., Buszard, D., & Zarkadas, C. G. (1995). Misuse of Kjeldahl method for estimating protein content in pant tissues. HortScience, 30, 1341-1342. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.30.7.1341

O’Reilly, E., & Lanza, J. (1995). Fluorescamina: a rapid and inexpensive method for measuring total aminoacids in nectar. Ecology, 76, 2656-2660.

Lacroix, C. R., & MacIntyre, J. (1995). New techniques and applications for epi-illumination light microscopy. Canadian Journal of Botany, 73, 1842-1847.  https://doi.org/10.1139/b95-196

Meyer, W. S., Reicosky, D. C., Barrs, H. D., & Shell, G. S. G. (1987). A portable chamber for measuring canopy gas exchange of crops subject to different root zone conditions. Agronomy Journal, 79, 181-184. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj1987.00021962007900010037x

Stanhill, G. (1992). Accuracy of global radiation measurements at unattended, automatic weather stations. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 61,151-156.

Bottomley, P. A., Rogers, H. H., & Prior, S. A. (1993). NMR imaging of root water distribution in intact Vicia faba L. plants in elevated atmospheric CO2. Plant Cell & Environment, 16, 335-338. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.1993.tb00878.x 

Literature reviews: Consist of documents that collect and summarize the knowledge in a specific field in the agricultural sciences of the Mesoamerican area. Should have an extension of less than thirty pages (in Word). The National and International Journal Editorial Board may request literature reviews to authors with a well-known trajectory in the respective field of research, that should include background investigation and peer-reviewed publications in the subject area. Reviews submitted by non-requested authors will not be discarded, but in these cases, they are advised to write a request that summarizes the objectives and the outreach of the review. Some examples are:

Sánchez, N., & Jiménez, V. (2010). Técnicas de conservación in vitro para el establecimiento de bancos de germoplasma en cultivos tropicales. Agronomía Mesoamericana, 21(1), 193-205. https://doi.org/10.15517/am.v21i1.11836

Azofeifa, B., Paniagua, A., & García, A. (2014). Importancia y desafíos de la conservación de Vainilla spp. (Orquidacea) en Costa Rica. Agronomía Mesoamericana, 25(1),189-202. https://doi.org/10.15517/AM.V25I1.14220

Analysis and comments: This type of document is an analysis of a specific situation, written by a specialist with a well-known trajectory in the field and with previous publications in indexed journals. It may contain data, points of view, opinions, and it should include a literature review according to the nature and extension of the document. Besides, must include personal observations. It should be less than 20 Word pages. The accepted format structure is: introduction, thematic development, and the literature review. Some examples are:

Rosas, J. C. (2001). Aplicación de metodologías participativas para el mejoramiento genético de frijol en Honduras. Agronomía Mesoamericana, 12(2), 219-228. https://doi.org/10.15517/AM.V12I2.17238

Córdova, H., Castellanos, S., Barreto, H., & Bolaños, J. (2002). Veinticinco años de mejoramiento en los sistemas de maíz en Centroamérica: logros y estrategias hacia el año 2000. Agronomía Mesoamericana, 13(1), 73-84. https://doi.org/10.15517/AM.V13I1.13567

Espinosa-Calderón, A., López, M. A., Gómez, N., Betanzos, E., Sierra, M., Coutiño, B., Avendaño, R., Preciado, E. & Terrón-Ibarra, A. D. (2003). Indicadores económicos para la producción y uso de semilla mejorada de maíz de calidad proteínica (QPM) en México. Agronomía Mesoamericana, 14(1), 106-116. https://doi.org/10.15517/AM.V14I1.11997

In memoriam publications: These are non-formal publications, with the objective to extend recognition to outstanding professionals who have contributed or have had some participation in the PCCMCA. These are included after the index with the title In Memoriam. The maximum length of the document in Word is 3.5 pages. The final edition of this document type will be in charge of the Associate Editor and the Editor in Chief.

Authorship

The author has to include a cover letter and state that the document is original, has not been published or submitted for publication to another journal, except as a summary or as a part of a conference, opinion or thesis; and that it is not being edited by another scientific journal. They have to transfer the publishing rights to Agronomía Mesoamericana, being responsible for the content of their work and indicate it has been authorized by all co-authors. It has to include all authors’ full name, and their official affiliations with city and country. This information should be presented following a specific to general order, for example, the University of Costa Rica, School of Animal Sciences, Nutrition Research Center, San Jose, Costa Rica. 

Authors are the people publicly responsible for the information presented in the document. The author is someone who essentially contributed to:  a) the design and conception of the study, the retrieving of data, and analysis and interpretation of that data; b) the document writing and the critical review of a substantial part of its intellectual content; c) the final approval of the corrected version that will be published. The requirements stated in a), b), and c) should be fulfilled simultaneously. The exclusive participation in the retrieving of financial support, data or coordinating the study, or the general supervision of the investigation group, does not justify the authorship, (this was taken from the author’s instructive of the Colombia Médica journal (http://colombiamedica.univalle.edu.co/informacion.html).

The documents submitted for publication should have the authorization of the institution or company where the investigation was performed. Furthermore, the journal will assume that all the authors have authorized its submission for publication.

The main author should state in the cover letter if the document is an article, a technical note, and analysis and comments, or a literature review; however, the decision about its classification will be taken based on the peers’ review and the agreement taken by the members of the Journal´s National and International Editorial Council. The Editorial Board will reject the documents with only one study period (period or year), widely studied crops and well-known techniques (for example, sowing times, planting distances, NPK fertilization), or if the investigation was concluded more than ten years ago.

Plagiarism detection policy

Agronomía Mesoamericana uses Turnitin^® to detect text similarity/plagiarism. If a document is found to have complete or partial reproduction of other studies, the due process will be followed. In such a case, the authors must provide exonerating evidence or a correction of the document should be made. Subsequently, the Editorial Board will evaluate the evidence and the corrections proposed, and will define a decision for rejection or continuing the editorial process.

Communication with authors during the editing process

Authors will be granted with a period of five business days to send the document changes and editions made once the reviewer comments have been sent by the Journal editor. If after this period no reply has been received, the editorial process will be ended for that document, and, after a period of thirty business days, the document will be definitely rejected as the journal’s norms were not accomplished. Once the final and technical edition of the corrected version has been made by the Journal´s editorial team, the document will be sent to the authors for a final review, and they should state their approval through email or a formal letter, or may add any few reviews that may have been found. The author has a maximum period of five business days in which they may approve the publication of their document, or the editorial process could be suspended.

Product names

The Journal does not accept the use of commercial names of pesticides, equipment or foods, with the exception of specific formulations that could affect the results. Pesticides’ names must be written with the common name followed by the chemical, that should be included in parenthesis.

Journal distribution: electronic versions

Agronomia Mesoamericana is an open access journal and every person is able to access its contents  here: http://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/agromeso/index 

 Suggested document format

Only documents prepared in Microsoft Word, Arial font, size 11, 1.5 spacing, 1” inferior and superior margins, and 1.2” left and right margins will be accepted. They will be sent through the electronic site of the journal, after registering as an author in the following link http://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/agromeso/user/register. Authors should observe the following format instructions:

• TITLE: The title must be concise and should not exceed a total of fourteen words (a higher number of words will be valued when the common and scientific names of the species studied are included). It should describe the content of the publication and be related to the objective, the results obtained and the conclusions of the study. It may also indicate if the work is part of a thesis, project, among others. 

Avoid the following words: “Study of”, “Investigation on”, “Observations on”, and any other similar words that represent generalities that do not contribute to the usefulness of the title, for example: “Studies on the weed's population of the Central Valley”. Do no use abbreviations neither.

As a reference to the title, the authors should state if the document is part of an investigation project and/or thesis. Additionally, information of the financing entity or the performing institution, including the city and country name, have to be included.

• SUMMARIZED TITLE: as a page header, less than eight words long.  
• AUTHORS: This section should include all authors complete names (names and last names, no abbreviations). If the author decides to include only one last name (in case of Latin American authors), they have to indicate this decision when they send the document to the Journal. Affiliated institution name, postal, and email addresses for authors must be included as a footnote. The document first author will be considered as the principal contributor of the submitted document. The total author number must be a maximum of  six.
• ABSTRACT: Should be easy to understand and there has to be no need to read the whole work. Its format should indicate each part: Introduction / Materials and methods / Results / Discussion and Conclusion. The introduction should be brief, include the main objective of the study. Materials and methods should indicate the site of the event, place, country, the execution period, and the methodology.  Results include only the main results obtained. Discussion and conclusions include only what is related to the title and the objective of the study, and avoid any information interpretation by the reader. Like all the text of the document, the summary must be written in past tense. Avoid acronyms or little known abbreviations, as well as their excessive use. Do not include references or bibliographical citations, figures or tables, and abbreviations that are not included in any international regulations, and if their meaning has not been previously indicated. The maximum size will be 300 words (based on the Word word counter), a single paragraph with single line spacing.
• KEYWORDS: A minimum of four keywords has to be included, they may be compound words but should not be part of the title. They are used in indexation and for bibliographic information selection purposes. As a reference, authors can consult the FAO AGROVOC Thesaurus (http://www.fao.org/aims/ag_intro.htm?searchtext=) and the agricultural thesaurus from the National Agricultural Library de United States Department of Agriculture
  (http://agclass.nal.usda.gov/). Avoid the use of these general words: performance, variables, plant, differentiation, tropic, crops, etc.
• RESUMEN:  This is the Spanish translation of the Abstract, including the title of the paper and keywords. 
• ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS: Agronomía Mesoamericana will only accept the measurements from the International System of Units.

• INTRODUCTION: It includes the purpose of the investigation, the most relevant precedents related to the research topic and its objectives. The importance of the problem within the field of study, and limits for the research. All the information must be supported with scientific citations that can be easily reached through documentation centers, libraries or online. For citations in the text of two or more authors, the particle “et al.” should be used after the first last name, for example, a) “… the methodology proposed by Gómez et al.”. b) “…this method is similar to the one used by other authors (Hartman, 1974, Jackson et al., 1977)”. Every mention of animal or plant species must include their complete scientific name the first time is cited, and when it is part of what’s being studied in the paper, it must also include its biological classification. Afterwards, every mention of the scientific name will only have the initial of the genus and the species. Every mention of the scientific name must be in italic (check the terminology in Association for Plant Taxonomy plant, International Code of Botanic Nomenclature). The generic names used as vernacular do not need a capital letter, for example, bean, corn, among others. Figures and charts should not be included in this section.   
• MATERIALS AND METHODS: These are the basic elements of the research and the ones that generate the results. Materials (soils, plants, seeds, cows, goats, etc.) must be clearly described: full scientific name (International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, 2012). Physical, chemical, and soil type analysis. Name of the variety, cultivar, or the number collected in wild plants (location of the herbarium). Origin of the seed, quality used, and the seed origin and availability should be indicated. Characteristics of the animals used, which includes its origin, type, age, among others. As well as the control (s) used. The methods must clearly indicate the variables that are being measured and their instrumental precision, this requires that the experimental design, experimental unit, sampling method and type of data analysis ought to be included in this section. Also, the treatments description and the evaluated variables. Cultural practices and experimental handling. Besides, the place and period where the investigation was undertaken and the climatic conditions, if necessary. As an example of drought tolerance in plants, the water availability to the plant, the type of soil and moisture retention during the experiment, as well as the relative humidity and room temperature should be included if necessary.
• RESULTS: They should be outlined and as precise as possible. They must begin with the main result according to the investigation main objective. Data deriving from the application of the proposed methodology shall be very clear, complete and following a logical order, and at the same time concise, based on findings or facts, and not suppositions, and must be expressed separately in figures or charts (include in an additional file the data that originated them, for formatting purposes). The text should not include the same information that is in figures or tables. The information obtained through the analysis of variance will be described in the text. This way, it only shows the essential information, and should not be left to interpretation or information  by the reader.
• DISCUSSION: The obtained information will be analyzed in this section. The information will be compared with similar studies, and justify the results obtained about possible significant differences. When comparing the results with similar investigations, an interpretation and clarification on similarities or differences have to be found (for example: because of the site, the genetics, employed methodology, among others). The significance of the results must be discussed and explained, as well as those that were found unexpected or contradictory. Follow-up studies on what was obtained can be proposed. Commercial recommendations on a very specific study will not be allowed. Literature review to justify the study, should be included in the introduction.
• CONCLUSIONS: Conclusions should be presented in a very concise and clear writing, stating the evidence that supports them. They must be consistent with the study’s objectives and respond to them. A summary of the results or text repetition of other parts of the paper will not be allowed.
• TABLES, FIGURES, PHOTOGRAPHS, DRAWINGS, AND MAPS: Tables should have a descriptive title, independent from the text. It must clearly identify the information given, place (s) where it was done, period or year of execution. Images, photographs, drawings, and a map will qualify as figures. Tables and figures must be presented preferably in a simple and comprehensible format, avoid those complex or difficult to understand, or based on general information that was not put through a due synthetizing process (the author is the one responsible for analyzing and summarizing the obtained information). Authors should be attentive to use the best way to communicate their results, and should not repeat information in tables and figures. Photos must be sent in a separate file, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and in JPG, EPS o TIFF format. They must be legible. Tables, figures, photos or maps must appear immediately after their mention in the text. Under no circumstance, they will be accepted as an annex or appendix. Avoid the use of abbreviations in the titles of every column in the table. Abbreviations of any type included in the body of the table or figure must be clarified, with the exception of those that are universally known. Big tables of more than one page of extension are not supported, and those that span a page must be justified. We recommend that tables should be drawn only with the most representative data and indicate the most important variations. Finally, very small tables with little information are not accepted, data should be included in the text.

Enumeration of tables and figures (including photographs) will be done independently and exceptionally, it will be placed in a space of the width of a journal column; this way, figures and tables must be generated in such a format that allows them to be reduced in width without losing readability. Charts with image format shall not be sent.

• REFERENCES: These should contribute substantially to the study subject knowledge and should be as recent as possible. They also have to be of easy access through documentation centers, libraries or online services, and must be cited based on the norms of the American Psychological Association (APA 7). Every bibliographic reference that is included in the text (introduction, materials and methods or results and discussion) has to be in this section. Every citation must include every author, year of publication, complete title of the paper, and information of the document where it was published, editing, editing house, place of publication, volume, and number of pages (when it refers to a specific chapter). The names of the authors must be in lower case letters, the last name should come first and then the name initial. Personal communications are not part of the cited literature, therefore, are included within the text. Citations obtained from the internet should be, preferably, periodical publications, electronic journals or books.

Before submitting any document, the author should verify that they accomplish the editorial norms included in this guide.