Journal of Crop and Weed, published since 2005, is the official peer reviewed publication of Crop and Weed Science Society. The Crop Science editorial board consists of the Executive Editor, Associate Editors and Editorial Board Members. The Journal is available both in Online (ISSN 2349 9400) and Print (ISSN 0974 6315) version. The Journal is abstracted at CABI and AGRICOLA. The journal has been awarded a score 5.46 by NAAS in 2020 and is also ranked by Index Copernicus International (ICV 2019 74.54). The Journal has been evaluated by Infobase Index with impact factor 2.93 at 5.0 scale. The Global Impact Factor of the Journal is 0.632, Cosmos Impact Factor is 5.963 and International Scientific Index is 1.437. The Journal has been accepted at Open Academic Journal Index (CGIJ OAJI: 0.201) and added to the data base of the Electronic Journals Library. The CODEN code of the journal is JCWOAT. The Journal has also been forwarded to Thomson Reuters for Indexing. The journal is published triennially (April, August and December in a calendar year). Special issues are also published. The Journal presents a concrete repository accessible by the international user community that work on or having interest in sustainable development in agricultural and allied sector.
Journal of Crop and Weed aims at a pivotal point through which researchers/investigators and others become interested in publishing their research findings of importance to the improvement, production, protection, marketing, utilization, sustainable management of environmental and natural resources for the benefit of humanity and sustainable maintenance of life on this planet. Articles in the journal are of interest to researchers, policy makers, educators, and practitioners. Therefore, the journal aims to provide a bird's eye view of the latest research and advances in the field of agriculture and allied sectors. This journal seeks to provide the latest research and the best practices in the respective fields. The journal provides theoretical and pragmatic viewpoints on rural development and also provide guidance to the user to inform their practices. The journal incorporates various advanced integrated research systems and applications.
The journal publish original research works in the form of full paper, review article and short communication relating to the study on agri-horticultural crops, weeds, soil, microbiology, agro-forestry, animal husbandry, poultry, fishery, environment, biotechnology, tissue-culture, nanotechnology, biodiversity of plants, animals and microbes, sericulture, socio-economic analysis, extension methodology, statistics, ICT, ITKs, remote sensing and GIS and other agriculture and allied topics. For consideration as full paper, the journal invites quality article based on at least two years of experimentation, particularly the articles based on field trials. Review articles are received by invitation.
The Editorial Board of the "Journal of Crop and Weed" invites recently published books for review. The books will be reviewed by the eminent teachers/scientists of the respective discipline. Authors and Publishers are requested to send the book for review to the Chief Editor, Journal of Crop and Weed, Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, BCKV, P.O. Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, Pin 741252, West Bengal, India.
1. TITLE PAGE
(a) Title: The manuscript title should be concise, specific and informative. Avoid abbreviations and formulae wherever possible. Times New Roman Font, 14 pt size, Bold, Sentence case, Double spaced, Centre alignment. A short running title may also be given.
(b) Author(s) name: All authors of a manuscript should write their full name ( Times New Roman Font, 12 pt size, Bold, Uppercase/All caps, Double spaced, Centre alignment. Where available, please also include ORCiDs of the authors.
(c) Corresponding author: The name of the corresponding author should be prefixed with an Asterisk (*). The corresponding author will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility also includes answering any future queries about the manuscript. The active email id of corresponding author should be given at the end of the addresses. Ensure that the e-mail address and contact details given are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
(d) Address: Complete address of the institution(s) should be given for all author(s) in the same order of list of authors. The respective address of co-authors should be prefixed with superscript numerals. Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Italics, Sentence case, Double spaced, Centre alignment. If the address of any author(s) is changed during the peer review process, the updated address should be given in the revised manuscript.
N.B. Please note that no changes to name of authors, sequence of authors and their addresses can be made after the paper is accepted. All such changes (if any) should be made in the revised manuscript before a final decision to be taken by the Chief Editor.
2. ABSTRACT
(a) Abstract: A concise and factual abstract must be given after the title page. Write the heading as ABSTRACT (Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Uppercase/All Caps, Double spaced, Centre alignment). The body of the abstract (Times New Roman Font, 9 pt size, Italics, Sentence case, Double spaced, Justify alignment) should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions (not exceeding 150 words). An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if extremely essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s) and give the fill reference in the reference section. Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
(b) Keywords: Start with ‘Keywords:’ (Times New Roman Font, 9 pt size, Bold, Sentence case, Double spaced, Left alignment), followed by 5-6 keywords suitable for indexing in alphabetical order (Times New Roman Font, 9 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Left alignment).
3. INTRODUCTION
A brief introductory paragraph (Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Justify alignment, First line of each paragraph should have 0.2 inch indentation) without heading and explaining the rationale and objective of the paper with pertinent review of research work should be provided. No need to write the heading “Introduction”. After keywords, just start writing the introductory paragraph. The introduction should not be too lengthy.
4. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Write the heading as ‘MATERIALS AND METHODS’ ( Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Upper case/All Caps, Double spaced, Left alignment). It should provide adequate information on the materials used and techniques followed in sufficient detail to permit the work to be repeated. The year of experimentation, location of experiment (preferably with geographical coordinates and elevation), treatment details, experimental design and statistical methods employed for the collection and analysis of data, etc. should be provided. All information (techniques, analysis protocol, experimental design and statistical methods, etc.) should be supported with references, wherever applicable. Methods that are already published should be summarized and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described. The body of the Materials and Methods should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Justify alignment and First line of each paragraph should have 0.2 inch indentation. The equations/formulae (if any) should be given using ‘Equation Tab’ or ‘Text Box’ available in MS Word Menu. For more than one equation/formula, each equation/formula should be numbered as ---1, ---2, ---3 and so on. Please give the equations/formulae as editable text and not as images. All measurements should be given in SI or SI-derived units. The following examples may be followed: 10 Kg ha-1, 2.5 mg ml-1, etc. The scientific name of plants, insects, microbes, etc. should be given on their first mention in the manuscript and wherever necessary. Similarly, the active formulation of commercial products should be mentioned in this section.
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
(a) Results and Discussion: Write the heading as ‘RESULTS AND DISCUSSION’ ( Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Upper case/All Caps, Double spaced, Left alignment). Subheadings (if any) should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Italics, Sentence case, Double spaced, Left alignment. The Results and Discussion part should be combined to avoid repetitions and written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Justify alignment and First line of each paragraph should have 0.2 inch indentation. This should illustrate the results obtained and the logical explanation for the said results in a clear and crisp language. This section should also explore the significance of the results of the work in relation to other relevant and recent published works should be highlighted as discussion. Same data should not be presented in table and figure simultaneously. The article should end with definite conclusion drawn from the results obtained in the light of rationale of the study. The results and discussion should preferably be supported by tables and figures. The number of tables and figures should be clearly mentioned in the relevant section of the text as Table X and Fig. X.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
If any, a brief acknowledgement may be given. Write the heading as ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ( Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Upper case/All Caps, Double spaced, Left alignment). The acknowledgement should recognize the physical support, funding support, administrative help, analytical service, technical guidance, etc. received by the authors. The body of the acknowledgement should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Justify alignment. This statement is optional.
7. DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
All authors mandatorily disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Write the heading as DISCLOSURE STATEMENT ( Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Upper case/All Caps, Double spaced, Left alignment). The statement should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Justify alignment. A sample disclosure statement is as given below:
“The author(s) declare(s) no known conflict of interests that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.”
8. REFERENCES
(a) Citation in text: All citations in the text should refer to:
Reference to a journal article
Pihur, V., Datta, S. and Datta, S. 2008. Reconstruction of genetic association networks from microarray data: a partial least squares approach. Bioinformatics, 24(4): 561–568.
Reference to a journal publication with an article number
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J. and Lupton, R.A. 2018. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 19, e00205.
Reference to an authored book
Sadasivam, S. and Manickam, A. 2008. Biochemical Methods. 3 rd Edn., New Age International Publishers, Dariya Ganj, New Delhi, India. pp 20-21.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book
Sharma, S.K., Baranwal, V.K., Roy, S.S., Kumar, P.Vignesh and Prakash, N. 2016. Interactions Among Host and Plant Pararetroviruses: An Ever Evolving Evolutionary Dogma. In: Plant Viruses : Evolution and Management (Gaur, R.K., Petrov, N.V., Patil B.L. and Stoyanova, M.I. Eds.), Springer. pp 73-87.
Reference to a chapter in a souvenir or conference proceedings
Hazra, P. 2019. Smart horticulture for livelihood and nutritional security. In: Abstracts of International Seminar on Agriskills for Convergence in Research, Industry and Livelihood. Crop and Weed Science Society, 28 November to 1 December, 2019. Kalyani, West Bengal, India. pp. 42-45.
Reference to a website
Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. 2021. First Advance Estimates of Production of Foodgrains for 2020-21. https://agricoop.nic.in/sites/default/files/FirstEstimate2020-21.pdf (Last accessed on 30 August, 2021).
N.B. For any other category of publications, closest reference style may be followed.
9. TABLES AND FIGURES
(a) Table: Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. It should be combined to avoid repetitions. Each table should be concise and given at the end of the text (after references). Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place table notes, if any (for describing the abbreviation, alphabetical notations, etc. used in the table) below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article or in the figures. Construct the table in such a way so that it should not occupy much space and can be easily understandable for the readers. Horizontal and vertical lines should not be marked within the table. Please avoid shading in table cells. Each table should contain a self-explanatory heading (e.g. Table 1: Effect of different treatments on growth and yield of paddy). The heading should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Sentence case, Double spaced, Left alignment. Download an article from journal’s website ( https://www.cropandweed.com/) and construct the tables accordingly.
(b) Figure: Provide figure in either TIFF or JPEG format. Please do not embed the figures in the text instead place the figures in separate pages after the tables. Number the figures consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Standard format of graphs should preferably be used and legends (if any) should be given. As far as possible, figure should be constructed in black & white/grayscale mode. Coloured figure should be given if it is absolute necessary. Using 3D bar charts should be avoided if 3D does not add any additional information or clarity. Ensure that each figure has a suitable caption. The caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Explain all symbols and abbreviations used (if any) after the title. If more than one figures are grouped into a single a figure, each sub-figure should be sequentially marked with alphabets as (a), (b), (c)… and described in the figure caption (e.g. Fig. 1: Visualization of the GRN using Cytoscape Software based on different scoring methods (a) Correlation, (b) Partial Least Square, (c) Principal Component Regression, (d) Ridge Regression and (e) Fisher’s weighted method). The figure caption should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Sentence case, Double spaced, Left alignment. The artwork (e.g. image, graphics) should be of minimum 300 dpi resolution. Please do not use any artwork which are optimized for screen use (e.g. GIF, BMP, WPG, etc.) and of low resolution. Please also do not submit any image that are disproportionately large for the content. All maps/satellite images should have a measure of scale (e.g. scale bar), north arrow (or directional grid), and a legend and all print should be legible after 1/4th size reduction. Download an article from journal’s website ( https://www.cropandweed.com/) and construct the figures accordingly. If required, journal may ask you to submit editable file of the figures.
10. ETHICAL STATEMENT
This section will start from a new page.
(a) Animal and clinical studies: Investigations using experimental animals must state in the Materials and Methods section that the research was conducted in accordance with the internationally accepted principles for laboratory animal use and care as recommended by the competent authority (e.g. Office of Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animal (CPCSEA), Govt. of India) along with Approval No. and Registration No. of approving authority. The Editors will reject papers if there is any doubt about the suitability of the animal procedures used.
(b) Biodiversity rights: Each country has its own rights on its biodiversity. Consequently, for studying plants one needs to follow the international, national and institutional rules concerning the biodiversity rights. The author(s) must state that they have not breached any Acts or Rules pertains to Biodiversity rights of any country or state.
The author(s) must declare that, “ The study was performed according to the international, national and institutional rules considering animal experiments, clinical studies and biodiversity rights. Necessary approval has been obtained from ___________________ Vide Approval No. ________________ dated ________.”
If the work does not involve any animal experiments or is not related to biodiversity rights, the author(s) should write “ Not applicable”.
Write the heading as ETHICAL STATEMENT ( Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Upper case/All Caps, Double spaced, Left alignment). The statement should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Justify alignment.
11. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT FOR USING THIRD-PARTY MATERIAL
The author(s) must obtain the necessary permission to reuse third-party material in the article. The use of short extracts of text citing the original authors is usually permitted for writing prior art or discussion. However, if author(s) wants to include any other material (e.g. tables, figures, dataset, artwork/photographs, diagram, design, etc.) in the paper which is protected by copyrights, they have to mandatorily obtain written permission from the copyright owner prior to submission and the source of the materials used should be indicated in the article.
The author(s) must declare that “The article contains copyrights protected material and necessary permission has been obtained from the copyright holder”.
In such cases, the journal may request you to submit a copy of the permission letter.
If the work does not use any copyrighted material, the author(s) should mention “The article does not contain any copyrights protected material”.
Write the heading as COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ( Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Upper case/All Caps, Double spaced, Left alignment). The statement should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Justify alignment.
12. AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT
For transparency, we encourage authors to submit an authorship statement file outlining their individual contributions to the paper using the relevant roles: Conceptualization; Data curation; Data analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Literature survey; Manuscript writing, Manuscript editing; etc. Write the heading as AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT ( Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Upper case/All Caps, Double spaced, Left alignment). The statement should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Justify alignment. The statement may be written as follows.
Name of Author A: Idea conceptualization, experimentation and manuscript writing
Name of Author B: Data analysis
Name of Author C: Literature survey and manuscript editing
Name of Author D: …….
13. LIST OF ABBREVIATION
If any abbreviations (other than standard abbreviations) or short name of chemicals/ formulations, etc. are used in the article, the author(s) should provide a list of all such abbreviation along with their expanded form to facilitate the reviewers. All such non-standard abbreviation must be defined at their first mention in the article itself. If the article does not contain any such abbreviation, the author(s) should mention “ Not applicable”. Write the heading as LIST OF ABBREVIATION ( Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Bold, Upper case/All Caps, Double spaced, Left alignment). The list of abbreviation should be written in Times New Roman Font, 10 pt size, Sentence case, Double spaced, Left alignment.
14. SUBMISSION DECLARATION
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the Journal of Crop and Weed. A sample Submission Declaration is as given below.
“I/We hereby declare that
15. LIST OF POTENTIAL REVIEWERS
The author(s) are requested to provide a list of minimum four potential reviewers. However, it is not an indication that your paper will be sent to the same reviewers. The list of reviewers should be furnished in the following format.
S.N. | Name | Designation | Institute | Specialization | Email ID |
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1 | |||||
2 | |||||
3 | |||||
4 |
1. TITLE PAGE
The title page should be prepared as described in the ‘Structure of a Research Article’.
2. KEYWORDS
Author(s) should mention 5-6 keywords suitable for indexing in alphabetical order. Abstract is not required for short communication.
3. MAIN TEXT
Main text should be written within 2000 words including Tables, Figures and References. Author(s) may divide the Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, etc. into different paragraphs but without any Heading. A maximum of 2 tables and/or figures and/or artwork is allowed. The author(s) should avoid large tables or illustration and present only important results/data in tables/figures.
4. REFERENCES
A maximum of 15 references is allowed. Editor may request further reduction, if required.
N.B. Please follow the same guidelines in respect of type, size and case of font, line spacing, paragraph indentation, reference style, construction of tables/figures/artwork, etc. as given in the ‘Structure of a Research Article’.
The author(s) should use the following list to carry out a final check of the article before submitting it to the journal. Please ensure that the following points have been addressed: