Aims and scope

With a focus on the tropics and sub-tropical regions of the world, Experimental Agriculture publishes the results of original research on field, plantation and herbage crops grown for food or feed, or for industrial purposes, and on farming systems, including livestock and people. It reports experimental work designed to explain how crops respond to the environment in biological and physical terms, and on the social and economic issues that may influence the uptake of the results of research by policy makers and farmers. The journal also publishes accounts and critical discussions of new quantitative and qualitative methods in agricultural research, and of contemporary issues arising in countries where agricultural production needs to develop rapidly. There are occasional, often invited, reviews of research.

If your work is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, please note that you will need to add statements to your paper acknowledging funding. More information can be found here.

Preparation of manuscripts

When submitting your manuscript you will need to supply:

1. Manuscript file, with lines numbered, to include a title page with title, authors, correspondence details, abstract (200–400 words), main text, references and captions for tables and figures. Papers should not exceed 7,000 words. Tables and figures should be provided as separate files and numbered as they appear in the text. Further guidelines for suitable electronic file formats can be found here.
2. Covering letter, stating that the manuscript is an original contribution that has not been published elsewhere in substantially the same form, that it is not currently under consideration elsewhere, and that permission has been obtained for any copyrighted material used.

Please add line numbers and page numbers to your paper.

General

Before manuscripts are typed please consult the layout of recent articles published in the journal and ensure that papers, as submitted, conform in detail to the accepted pattern (e.g. style of setting out titles, sub-dividing the text and laying-out tables). Manuscripts which require a great deal of editorial work may be referred back to authors, and their publication is likely to be delayed.

Aim at a concise style. Large bodies of primary data are unlikely to be accepted. Numerical data must not be presented in two forms (e.g. in both tables and graphs). 

Title page 

Give the following details on the first sheet:

(a) A shortened title for running headlines. This should not exceed 48 characters (including spaces). 

(b) The full title of the paper. Where appropriate the title should indicate the crop, the character of the investigation, the factors under review, and the climatic or geographic area in which the research was done.

(c) The name(s) of the author(s) and the address at which the research was carried out. The present address(es) of author(s), if different from the previous item, can be indicated in a suitable footnote.

(d)  Details of the Corresponding Author. 

Summary

Provide a concise factual statement, a maximum of sixteen lines of typescript, of the purposes of the research and of the principal findings. The preparation of the Summary, which requires a great deal of care, is the responsibility of the author(s), not of the Editors.

Introductory statement

The paper should open with a clear statement of the reasons for doing the research, presenting only essential background and not covering either the findings or the conclusions. At the time of first mention of every organism, cite the complete scientific name (genus, species and cultivar where appropriate). The generic name may be abbreviated to the initial thereafter. If vernacular names are used they must be accompanied, when they first appear, by the correct scientific name. Latin names should in italics.

Materials and methods

Present the techniques used in sufficient detail to allow them to be repeated. Where appropriate, the details should include: a clear and concise account of experimental lay-outs; a description of treatments and general management; and a general statement about methods of statistical analysis. Dates should be given for the beginning event of each experiment.

Results

Present the principal findings of the research but do not discuss them. Include assessments of experimental variability (e.g. coefficient of variation) and of the statistical significance of the results, specifying the methods used for the analysis (but without showing any details of the calculations).

Units of measurement: All data must be presented in metric units, although equivalent local units may be given in parentheses when they are first mentioned, if authors consider this essential. Alternatively, conversion factors may be given as footnotes. The system of units known as SI (Système International d'Unités) must be followed as far as possible (see Quantities, Units and Symbols, 2nd edn (1975), The Royal Society).

Tables

Each table must be cited in the manuscript. Tables should have headings describing their content and should be comprehensive without reference to the text.

Figures

We recommend that only TIFF, EPS or PDF formats are used for electronic artwork. For further information about how to prepare your figures, including sizing and resolution requirements, please see our artwork guide. All figures must be cited within the manuscript and be clearly numbered..

The total number of tables plus figures should not exceed six.

Legends. All figure legends to be numbered and provided at the end of the manuscript after the references.

Discussion

Assess the scientific or practical significance of the results and relate them to other work.

Required statements

Acknowledgments

Here you may acknowledge individuals or organizations that provided advice and/or support (non-financial). Formal financial support and funding should be listed in the following section.

Financial support

Please provide details of the sources of financial support for all authors, including grant numbers. For example, "This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (grant number XXXXXXX)". Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma and space, and where research was funded by more than one agency the different agencies should be separated by a semi-colon, with "and" before the final funder. Grants held by different authors should be identified as belonging to individual authors by the authors' initials. For example, "This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (A.B., grant numbers XXXX, YYYY), (C.D., grant number ZZZZ); the Natural Environment Research Council (E.F., grant number FFFF); and the National Institutes of Health (A.B., grant number GGGG), (E.F., grant number HHHH)".

This disclosure is particularly important in the case of research that is supported by industry. Support from industry not only includes direct financial support for the study but also support in kind such as provision of food items, medications, equipment, kits or reagents without charge or at reduced cost and provision of services such as statistical analysis; all such support must be disclosed here. Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement: "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors."

In addition to the source of financial support, please state whether the funder contributed to the study design, conduct of the study, analysis of samples or data, interpretation of findings or the preparation of the manuscript. If the funder made no such contribution, please provide the following statement: "[Funder's name] had no role in the design, analysis or writing of this article."

Authorship

Please provide a very brief description of the contribution of each author to the research. Their roles in formulating the research question(s), designing the study, carrying out the study, analysing the data, interpreting the findings and writing the article should be stated for each author.

References

In the text use the Harvard system of citation. Give the name(s) of the author(s) with the date of publication in parenthesis, e.g. Brown (1937), (Brown, 1937), (Brown, 1927a; Jones and Smith, 1942a, b; Smith et al., 1950). Whenever a paper written by three or more authors is cited the list of names should be abbreviated (e.g. Brown et al., 1980) . The list of References must include all those cited in the text (and vice versa) placed in alphabetical order without serial numbering. All authors names should be given for each paper together with its full title and the full name of the journal in which it was published, thus

Bebawi, F. F. & Farah, A. F. (1981). Effects of nitrophoska and atrazine on relations between Sorghum bicolor and Striga hermonthica. Experimental Agriculture 17:425-430.

Bunting, A. H.( 1970). Change in Agriculture. London: Duckworth.

Hawtin, G. C., Singh, K. B. & Saxena, M. C. (1980). Some recent developments in the understanding and improvement of Cicer and Lens. In Advances in Legume Science, 613-624 (Eds R. J. Summerfield and A. H. Bunting). London: HMSO.

If the list is not in the correct form it will be returned to the author(s) for amendment, and publication of the paper may be delayed. The Editors will not check references: this is the responsibility of authors.