Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

General Requirements

Submissions must be original, within scope, written in clear English and not under consideration by another journal. Manuscripts should present a defined problem, an explicit contribution, an appropriate research design, transparent analysis and conclusions proportionate to the evidence. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material.

Submission Files

Authors should provide:

• a title page containing the article title, author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs where available, corresponding-author details, acknowledgements, funding, competing interests and author-contribution statement;
• an anonymised manuscript without identifying information;
• editable tables and publication-quality figure files;
• supplementary files, instruments, protocols, data or code where relevant;
• ethics approval and consent information where applicable; and
• a cover letter explaining the manuscript’s fit and contribution and confirming compliance with journal policies.

Manuscript Structure

Original Research Articles should normally include:

1. concise and informative title;
2. structured abstract of 200–300 words (background/purpose, methods, results and conclusion);
3. four to seven keywords;
4. introduction establishing the problem, gap, contribution and research objective;
5. literature review and, where appropriate, theoretical or conceptual framework;
6. methodology, including study location, materials, sampling or experimental design, treatments, measurements, laboratory or analytical procedures and statistical analysis;
7. results, including relevant diagnostic, sensitivity and robustness analyses;
8. discussion that interprets findings in relation to previous evidence and the relevant biological, environmental, nutritional, socioeconomic or policy context;
9. conclusion stating the contribution, policy implications, limitations and priorities for future research;
10. required declarations; and
11. references and any supplementary data, instruments or code.

Alternative structures are acceptable for qualitative, historical, theoretical, legal and other traditions when they fit disciplinary conventions and support a clear argument.

Style and Presentation

• Use British English consistently, except in quotations and official titles.
• Prepare text in an editable Word-compatible format, with continuous page and line numbering.
• Define abbreviations at first use and use them sparingly.
• Report dates, currencies, units, statistical symbols and decimal places consistently.
• Use SI units and internationally accepted scientific names and nomenclature consistently.
• Identify crop varieties, animal breeds, biological materials, study sites and data sources precisely.
• State the software and version used for empirical analysis where relevant.
• Report coefficients, uncertainty measures, sample sizes and exact probability values wherever appropriate.
• Identify tables and figures in numerical order and cite each in the text.
• Provide informative titles, notes, sources and accessible descriptions where needed.
• Avoid unnecessary duplication, rhetorical overstatement and claims of causality unsupported by the research design.
• Use inclusive, respectful and non-stigmatising language.

Referencing

SIJAFS uses APA Style, 7th edition. Authors must ensure that every in-text citation appears in the reference list and every listed reference is cited. Include DOIs as https://doi.org/… links where available. References must be accurate and should prioritise original sources. Fabricated, irrelevant or citation-manipulated references constitute misconduct.

Required Declarations for Published Articles

Every article should carry the following headings, using “Not applicable” or “None declared” where appropriate:

• Ethics approval and consent to participate
• Consent for publication
• Competing interests
• Funding
• Author contributions
• Acknowledgements
• Data availability
• Materials and code availability
• Preregistration or protocol registration
• Use of artificial intelligence tools

Submission Checklist

Before submitting, the corresponding author should confirm that:

1. the manuscript is original, within scope and not under consideration elsewhere;
2. all authors qualify for authorship, approved the manuscript and agreed to submission;
3. the review manuscript is anonymised and the title page is separate;
4. the abstract, keywords, main text, references, tables, figures and declarations are complete;
5. methods, ethics, consent and reporting-guideline requirements have been addressed;
6. data, code and materials are deposited or restrictions are explained in a Data Availability Statement;
7. funding, competing interests, related works, preprints and AI use are disclosed;
8. every citation and reference has been checked for accuracy and relevance;
9. permission has been obtained for third-party copyrighted material; and
10. all files are readable, editable where required and free of identifying metadata in the anonymised version.