ISSN 1870-0462
printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

The originals will be presented in Spanish or English language.The manuscripts must be uploaded using the journal submission facilities. When uploading the manuscript the title must be in CAPITAL LETTERS, but only the First letter of each author name and surname must be in capitals. If an author do not have a valid email, please enter a dot (.) and do not leave an empty space.

The original must include tables and/or graphics presented in the position intended to appear in the final version, the items must be included (pasted) in the paper. Please ensure that figures can be viewed in any PC where the program from which the figure was created is not installed.

Use the computer program default page settings, and use as less format as possible. Use italics only for scientific names and Latinized words. i.e. in vitro, in situ, et al. etc.

Use the table tools to create tables. Whenever possible tables should be presented in vertical (not landscape) page format. Table data/information can be in font size 10.

Program for Word processing. Word Windows version should be used. Figures are recommended in GIF or JPG format.

Please ensure that figures can be viewed in any PC where the program from which the figure was created is not installed

The papers will be structured as follows:

Single spaced text, font size 12, page size = letter, upper, lower and right margin size = 2.5 cm, left margin = 3 cm.

For all items, author from non-spanish speaking countries might request a translation for title, summary and key words.

Title in English and Spanish, use capital letters.

Authors, Use bold lower case font except for the initial letter of each name which should be capital. Please write in order = name(s) surname(s).

Addresses of authors (e-mail included), use italic font, lower case, capital letter where appropriate.

Summary and Resumen (between 150 and 200 words), followed by Keywords and Palabras clave respectively. It should concise presenting mainly the objective/hypothesis, main results and conclusion only. No detailed description of methodology is required.

Introduction (summarizing the present situation of the subject and presenting the paper's objective).

Material and methods should be summarized but including all the information for reproducing the experiment.

Results, although a brief description of all results is expected, this section should remark the main results of the experimental work.

Discussion, Must help to understand the causes and implications of the results obtained

Conclusions obtained from the experimental work (basic, applied or both).

The sections Results and Discussion can be presented as a single section using the heading Results and Discussion.

Conclusion and References. When necessary acknowledgements can be included before references.

Authors from non-spanish speaking countries may request help from the editors to translate the summary.

The bibliographical references in the text will be as follows: Ku-Vera (1990), Lee and Storey (1998), Herrera et al. (1970). The bibliographical references will be presented alphabetically by authors by chronological order, adding a letter (1990a, 1990b, 1990c...) if there exists more than one reference of the same year.

Please note that in the references section, year of publication is without brackets.

Journals:

Authors, year, title, journal, volume, and first and last pages will all be indicated.

I.G. Smith, C.S., Morris, A. 2000. The agroecosystems in the tropics. Journal of Agroecosystems. 29:24-56

Note: Journals names should be provided in full and not in abbreviated form.

Book

Authors, year, title, No. of edition (from 2nd edition onwards), editorial, country.

Book chapter

Authors, year, title of chapter, editor, title of book, editorial, country, first and last page of chapter.

E. G. Norton, B.W. 1994. The Nutritive Value of Tree Legumes. In: Gutteridge R.C. and Shelton, H.M. (eds.). Forage Tree Legumes in Tropical Agriculture. CAB International, UK. pp. 177-191.

Proceedings

Authors, year, title, name of event, editor(s) (if appropriate), place and date of event, first and last page.

WWW

When using a valid web reference please provide whenever is possible: Author, year, title and in addition of the above include the www address (URL) and date when consulted.

Sections

In addition to Research papers the following are accepted:

Reviews are welcomed, the paper must be structured to allow maximum understanding of the topic exposed. However it must include; a introduction, conclusion(s) and references. It must include a summary in both languages.

Agroecosystems studies -this is a multidisciplinary section, includes multitrophic research in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and livestock production systems. Agroecosystems studies which not solely describe de current situation but suggest methodological approaches, compare scenarios (SWOT, Ishikawa, etc.), develop models and projections, analyze historical context while giving value to current situation. Local knowledge with new applications or traditional applications with management or technological improvements. Interdisciplinary work to find solutions for natural resources and agroecosystems management. Review of policies, law, etc., novel processes or new perspectives of topics leading to the understanding and development of tropical and subtropical agroecosystems with a proper methodological or scientific support.

The short notes must consist of advances in investigations, their structure will be: Title (Spanish and English), authors, addresses, introduction, material and methods, a joint section of results and discussion, tables and figures (if necessary) and references.

Forum will be used to present brief research report. Papers initially submitted as short notes can be move to this section based on reviewers and editorial assessment when presenting not enough information based on limited datasets but still considered valuable and worth to be published.

Book review covering book relevant to the journal scope are welcome. Whenever is possible the review must be presented in both languages. However, reviews in a single languaje can be accepted (in the book language). Please provide relevant to allow readers to locate the book. e.g. Author, ISBN, Editorial, Year of publication, No. of pages and if appropiate, price.

Letters - Editorial promotting discusion of research topics in agroecosystems. It should include a brief summary (4-5 lines) clearly stating the point raised/discussed.

Al manuscripts (except letters) will be evaluated by a peer review process (at least two reviewers).

Letter will be assessed by the editorial board and some editing/correction might be necessary before publication.

The rejected manuscripts will be returned to the corresponding author quoting the reasons for rejection.

The author must check the files posted on the web page which will be the final version of their papers, and may point out any correction needed.

Article proccessing Fee

The journal will charge $ 100.00 USD as Article Proccessing Fee. This is payable once the manuscript has been accepted and a PDF file is sent to the corresponding author for proof reading. Details for payment will be sent together with the PDF file.

Authors from countries with a Human development index (HDI, http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/) Medium or Low will be charge $50 USD.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1.-The manuscript has not been previously published or it has not been sent for consideration elsewhere at simultaneosly with this submission.

2.-The file is in Microsoft Word or RTF formatt.

3.-If using WWW references, they have been properly referenced.

4.-The text is single or double spaced, single column, font size 12, times new roman. Italics are use instead of underlined. All tables and figures are located as close as posible to its desired location or are presented at the end of the manuscript.

5.-The manuscript follow the guidelines/instructions for authors.

6.-Details of at least two potential reviewers (name, institution, e-mail, expertize area) is provided in the presentation letter. (upload as supplementary file).