Introduction
The Al-Azhar Journal of Agricultural Research (AJAR) is a peer-reviewed publication dedicated to disseminating high-quality research in the field of agriculture agricultural and biological sciences.
The Al-Azhar Journal of Agricultural Research covers a wide range of topics in the agricultural and biological sciences. It welcomes original research papers, review articles, and short communications that present innovative approaches or methods. The significance of the results for the scientific community or the agricultural sector should be clearly stated. Contributions that do not meet these criteria will not be considered for review and publication.
The journal accepts different types of papers with specific word limits. Original research papers should preferably be no more than 7000 words, including tables and illustrations. Major review articles can be up to 10,000 words, while short communications should be around 3000 words, excluding references. Short communications describe work that may be of a preliminary nature but still deserves immediate publication.
The Editor-in-Chief has the discretion to decline formal review of a manuscript under certain circumstances. These include when the topic falls outside the scope of the journal, lacks technical merit, lacks novelty for an international readership, provides only marginal results, or is poorly written.
All submissions considered suitable for review undergo a rigorous evaluation process. They are reviewed by two or more referees to ensure accuracy and relevance. Revision of the manuscript may be required based on the referees' feedback. Accepted contributions may undergo editorial changes to adhere to the journal's style. Revised manuscripts should be submitted promptly after receiving the referees' reports. If the revised version is submitted more than four months later, it will be treated as a new submission and undergo a full re-review.
To submit an article to the journal, authors should follow the online submission process.
The journal's homepage (https://ajar.journals.ekb.eg/journal/authors.note) provides step-by-step guidance for creating and uploading the necessary files.
Before submitting their work for review, authors should carefully check their submission using the provided checklist. This ensures that all required components are included. The corresponding author's contact details, including email address and postal address, must be provided. All relevant files, such as the manuscript, figures, and tables, should be uploaded. Keywords and continuous line numbering should be included in the manuscript. Figure and table citations in the text should match the files provided. If applicable, supplemental files should also be included.
Authors should consider additional factors, such as conducting spell and grammar checks, ensuring accurate citation of references, obtaining permissions for copyrighted material, and providing a statement on competing interests, even if there are none. Referee suggestions and contact details should be provided as per the journal's requirements.
Please refer to the information provided on our website regarding publication ethics (URL: https://ajar.journals.ekb.eg/journal/process?ethics).
Authors are required to disclose any financial or personal relationships with individuals or organizations that could potentially influence their work. This includes employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, grants, or other funding. The declaration of interest should be included in two places: 1. A summary statement on the title page or manuscript file, indicating any declarations of interest or stating "Declarations of interest: none" if applicable. 2. Detailed disclosures in a separate Declaration of Interest form, which becomes part of the journal's official records. It is important to provide consistent and matching information in both places.
The following guidelines pertain to the writing process and not the use of AI tools for data analysis in research. When authors employ generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, they should use these tools solely to enhance readability and language. It is essential to exercise human oversight and control during the application of these technologies. Authors should thoroughly review and edit the output, as AI-generated content may sound authoritative but can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be credited as authors or co-authors. Authors must disclose the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in their manuscript by following the provided instructions. A statement regarding their use will appear in the published work. Please note that authors bear ultimate responsibility for the content of their work.
By submitting an article, authors affirm that the work described has not been previously published, except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture, or an academic thesis.
To ensure transparency, corresponding authors are required to specify the contributions of co-authors using the relevant CRediT roles. These roles include conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, software, supervision, validation, visualization, roles/writing - original draft, and writing - review & editing. It is not necessary for all roles to apply to every manuscript, and authors may have contributed through multiple roles.
Authors should carefully consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of original submission. Any additions, deletions, or rearrangements of author names should only be made before the manuscript is accepted and with the approval of the journal Editor. To request such a change, the corresponding author must provide (a) the reason for the change and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors indicating their agreement with the addition, removal, or rearrangement. In cases of adding or removing authors, confirmation from the author being added or removed is required.
Exceptions to changes in authorship after acceptance are only considered in exceptional circumstances. While the Editor reviews the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published online, approved requests will result in a corrigendum.
Please provide information about the source of financial support for your research and/or the preparation of your article. Additionally, briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in the design of the study, data collection, analysis and interpretation, report writing, and the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no involvement in these aspects, please mention that.
Ensure that your text is written in clear and accurate English, adhering to either American or British usage (avoid mixing the two). If you believe that your English language manuscript requires editing to correct grammar or spelling errors and to conform to scientific English standards, you may consider using editing services.
To prepare your article for final publication, please submit the editable Word template files. All communication, including the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be sent via email.
Provide the names and institutional email addresses of potential reviewers. Avoid suggesting reviewers who are your colleagues or with whom you have co-authored or collaborated in the past three years. Reviewers with potential competing interests should also be excluded. For a comprehensive and balanced assessment of your work, suggest diverse candidate reviewers from different countries/regions than the author group. Consider diversity attributes such as gender, race, ethnicity, and career stage. Do not suggest existing members of the journal's editorial team.
If you have any questions about the editorial process, the status of your manuscripts under review, or need technical support for submissions, please visit our website at https://ajar.journals.ekb.eg/issue_31068_31069.html.
Our journal follows a single anonymized review process. The editor will initially assess all contributions for suitability. Suitable papers are typically sent to at least two independent expert reviewers for evaluation of scientific quality. The final decision on article acceptance or rejection lies with the Editor. Editors do not handle papers they have written themselves, those written by family members or colleagues, or those related to products or services in which they have an interest. Peer review is conducted independently of the relevant editor and their research groups.
Save the template word file in the native format of your word processor. Avoid justifying text or hyphenating words using the word processor's options, but do use boldface, italics, subscripts, superscripts, etc. When creating tables, use only one grid for each table or use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared similarly to conventional manuscripts. Figures, tables, and text graphics should have separate source files, regardless of whether they are embedded in the text. Utilize the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor to minimize errors.
Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections, including subsections. Each subsection can have a brief heading on a separate line.
Outline the importance of the study topics and provide basic information about the study problem. Provide a concise overview of the most significant research articles related to the study, avoiding excessive details or summaries of results, to identify the research gap addressed in your current article. If conducting experimental interventions, discuss the scientific foundation behind the hypothetical theory proposed to address the study problem. Next, establish the objectives and highlight the key points that can be achieved upon attaining the study objectives.
Provide sufficient details to allow independent researchers to reproduce your work. Summarize previously published methods and cite the source. If quoting directly, use quotation marks and provide the reference. Describe any modifications to existing methods.
Present your results clearly and concisely.
Discuss the significance of your results without repeating them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid excessive citations and discussion of published literature.
Conclusions:
Summarize the main conclusions of your study in a short Conclusions.
Ensure your title is concise and informative, avoiding abbreviations and formulas whenever possible. Clearly indicate the given names and family names of all authors, along with their affiliations. Provide the full postal address, including the department, institution, city, and country names, and the email address for each author. Clearly indicate the corresponding author who will handle correspondence throughout the process (who is often the leader of the research team) .
Abstract:
Include a concise and factual abstract that briefly states background of the research problem and the research purpose, the experimental design, principal results, and major conclusions. The abstract should be able to stand alone from the article and should not include references or non-standard abbreviations, unless necessary. It should be written as one paragraph of no more than 250 words.
Electronic artwork
Figure captions
Al-Azhar Journal of Agricultural Research has modified its reference template to match the style of Applied Animal Behavior Science.
In the text, citations should follow the referencing style used in Applied Animal Behaviour Science. Please refer to the Publication List for guidelines: arrange references alphabetically and, if needed, further sort them chronologically. If multiple references from the same author(s) are published in the same year, distinguish them with the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the publication year.
Fahmy, S., Hammad, A.Z.M., Ali, R.A., 2010. The effect of x on y under z condition. J. Sci. Commun. 163, 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.
Fahmy, S., Hammad, A.Z.M., Ali, R.A., 2018. The art of writing a scientific article. Biol. Hepatol Sci. 19, e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.
Ahmed, W., Hassan, E.B., 2010. The Chemicals of Food, fourth ed. Longman, New York.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Metwally, G.R., Adam, L.B., 2020. How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Akbar, B.S., Hany, R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 241–285.
Kamal, R.H., 2000 The Organic Chemistry of the Transition Metals, 3rd ed.; Wiley & Sons: New York.
Wheed, M.S.; Haleem, M.M., 1999. In: Studies in Natural Products Chemistry; Atta-ur-Rahman, Ed.; Elsevier Science B. V: Amsterdam; pp: 3-46.
Jakeman, D.L.; Withers, S.G.E. In: Carbohydrate Bioengineering: Interdisciplinary Approaches In: Proceedings of the 4th Carbohydrate Bioengineering Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden, June 10-13, 2001; Teeri, T.T.; Svensson, B.; Gilbert, H.J.; Feizi, T., Eds.; Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, UK, pp. 3-8.
Supplementary material, such as applications and images, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submit supplementary files together with the article and provide a concise, descriptive caption for each file. If changes are needed, please submit an updated file rather than annotating corrections on a previous version. Turn off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as it will appear in the published version.
Online proof correction:
To expedite the publication process, authors are requested to provide proof corrections within two days. Corresponding authors will receive an email with a link to our online proofing system, allowing them to annotate and correct proofs online. The system resembles MS Word and enables you to edit text, comment on figures/tables, and respond to questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing ensures a faster and less error-prone process, eliminating the potential introduction of errors when typing corrections. Alternatively, authors can choose to annotate and upload edits on the PDF version. Detailed instructions for proofing will be provided in the email, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.
We will make every effort to publish your article quickly and accurately. Please use the proof solely for checking typesetting, editing, completeness, and correctness of the text, tables, and figures. Major changes to the article, as accepted for publication, can only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. Please ensure that all corrections are communicated in one message. Review the proof carefully before replying, as subsequent corrections may not be included. Proofreading is the sole responsibility of the authors.
Al-Azhar Journal of Agricultural Research