Guide For Authors

 

NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE

A national research journal on the soil as a natural resource

Published by Soil Science Society of Nigeria

ISSN– Online 2736-1411; Print 2736-142X

DESCRIPTION

This Soil Science Society of Nigeria-affiliated journal examines the soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the use and management of lands for crop production.

Manuscripts that contain information on new knowledge, new concepts, new understanding or novel technology in soil related issues will be considered in this journal. Original research papers must include some novel ideas and be scientifically sound and of good scientific quality. Review, original research articles and position papers that cover aspects of soil science that promote our discernment and comprehension of chemical, physical and biological processes and their interactions which define and control soil function, development, and distribution within the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum will be considered in this journal.

Benefits to authors

The journal will provide many author benefits, such as free PDFs, a tolerable copyright policy, exclusive discounts on SSSN publications, etc.

Please read our guide for authors section for information on article submission. If you require any further information or help, please send an e-mail to the editor-in-chief.

AUDIENCE

Soil Scientists, Agricultural Engineers, Agronomists, Weed Specialists, Soil Conservationists.

INTRODUCTION

An international journal on research and development on the soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the use and management of soils for crop production. Published as a flagship journal of Soil Science Society of Nigeria (SSSN).

Types of paper

1. Original research papers (Regular Papers)
2. Review articles
3. Short Communications
4. Book reviews

Original research papers are to report the results of original research. The work should not have been antecedently published in another journal.

 Review articles should cover subjects within the scope of the journal which are of interest. They may be submitted or invited.

A Short Communication is a brief but complete description of an inquiry, which will not be included in a later article. Short Communications should be as well documented, both by reference to the literature and description of the experimental procedures used, as a regular paper. They should use up more than six printed pages (about twelve manuscript pages, including references, tables, and figures).

Book Reviews will be accepted in the journal on a range of relevant books which are not more than two years old. Book reviews are solicited by the Editors-in-Chief. Please contact the Editors-in-Chief.

Submission checklist

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

• E-mail address
• Full postal address

All necessary files have been uploaded:

Manuscript with the author(s) contact details

The same manuscript without author(s) information (Blind copy)

• Include keywords
• All figures (with relevant captions)
• All tables (with titles, description, footnotes)
• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
• Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print

Further considerations

• The manuscript has been ‘spell-checked’ and ‘grammar-checked’
• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for the use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
• Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements

 

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information pages on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication.

Declaration of interest

All authors must 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. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double-blind) or the manuscript file (if single-blind). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: ‘Declarations of interest: none’. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal’s official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches.

Submission declaration and verification

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 copyright holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service.

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or deletion of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.

Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor reviews the request, publication of the paper will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any applications approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a Journal Publishing Agreement form.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article.

 

Author rights

As an author, you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, then this should be stated.

Open access

This journal is an open access journal

Subscription

• Articles are made available to subscribers through our universal access programmes.
• Open access publication fee payable by authors.

Article processing charges

All articles published in our journal is open access and freely available online, immediately upon publication. This is made possible by an article-processing charge (APC) that covers the range of publishing services we provide. This includes provision of online tools for editors and authors, article production and hosting, liaison with abstracting and indexing services, and customer services. The APC, payable when your manuscript is editorially accepted and before publication, is charged to either you, or your funder, institution or employer. The corresponding author of the manuscript is responsible for making or arranging the payment upon editorial acceptance of the manuscript.

The APC payable for an article is agreed as part of the manuscript submission process. The agreed charge will not change, regardless of any change to the journal’s APC.

Upon editorial acceptance of an article, the corresponding author will be notified that payment is due. You need to arrange payment. We advise prompt payment as we are unable to publish accepted articles until payment has been received.

Payment can be made by any of the following methods:

1. Credit card – payment can be made online using a secure payment form as soon as the manuscript has been editorially accepted. We will we send a receipt by email once payment has been processed.
2. Invoice – payment is due within 30 days of the manuscript receiving editorial acceptance. Receipts are available on request. Please note that payment other than by credit card carries an administrative surcharge.

Article processing charges are:

   Twenty Thousand Nigerian Naira (NGN 25,000.00) – For Nigerian Authors based in Nigeria or

   Sixty US Dollars ($ 60.00) – For Author’s outside Nigeria

• The Author is entitled to post the accepted manuscript in their institution’s repository. The published journal article can be shared publicly, for example on ResearchGate or Academia.edu.

Language (usage and editing services)

Please write your text in good English (British usage is accepted). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English.

Submission

Authors are urged only to submit manuscripts that are ready and mature. Authors should not anticipate that reviewers would do authors jobs. Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor’s decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.

Submit your article

Please submit your article via

Referees-

Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of three potential referees. The referees must not have a conflict of interest with any of the authors or the content of the manuscript. For this reason, do not submit referees who are part of your or your co-authors’ institutions, or referees you or your co-authors have collaborated with in the past three years. Ideally, referees from several different countries are invited. Potential referees should be experts in the field of your research, have published peer-reviewed papers on the subject. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.

 

 

PREPARATION

 

Peer review

 

This journal operates a double-blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor’s decision is final.

 

Use of word processing software

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor’s options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts. Note that source files of figures, tables, and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text.

 

To avoid unnecessary errors, you are strongly advised to use the ‘spell-check’ and ‘grammar-check’ functions of your word processor.

 

Manuscripts should be prepared with numbered lines, with wide margins and double line spacing throughout, i.e., also for abstracts, footnotes, and references. Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc. should be numbered. However,in the text, no reference should be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may refer to sections.

 

Article structure

Subdivision – numbered sections

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, …), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to ‘the text’. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

 

Introduction

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

 

Material and methods

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. 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.

 

Results

Results should be clear and concise.

 

Discussion

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

 

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

 

Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

Essential title page information

• Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s)of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors’ affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author’s name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.

 

• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.

 

• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a ‘Present address’ (or ‘Permanent address’) may be indicated as a footnote to that author’s name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results, and major conclusions. 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 essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Acknowledgments

Collate acknowledgments in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

Formatting of funding sources

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder’s requirements:

 

Funding: This work was supported by the Tetfund Nigeria [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz];

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Nomenclature and units

Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI. Abbreviate units of measure only when used with numerals.

Authors and Editor(s) are, by general agreement, obliged to accept the rules governing biological nomenclature, as laid down in the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria, and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

All biotica (crops, plants, insects, birds, mammals, etc.) should be identified by their scientific names when the English term is first used, except for common domestic animals.

All biocides and other organic compounds must be identified by their Geneva names when first used in the text. Active ingredients of all formulations should be likewise identified.

For chemical nomenclature, the conventions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the official recommendations of the IUPAC-IUB Combined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature should be followed.

Math formulae

Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics.

Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separate from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Subscripts and superscripts should be clear.

Greek letters and other non-Roman or handwritten symbols should be explained in the margin where they are first used. Take special care to show clearly the difference between zero (0) and the letter O, and between one (1) and the letter l.

Give the meaning of all symbols immediately after the equation in which they are first used. For simple fractions use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line.

Equations should be numbered serially at the right-hand side in parentheses. In general only equations explicitly referred to in the text need be numbered.

The use of fractional powers instead of root signs is recommended. Also powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp.

Levels of statistical significance which can be mentioned without further explanation are: ^*P <0.05, ^**P <0.01 and ^***P <0.001.

In chemical formulae, valence of ions should be given as, e.g., Ca²⁺, not as Ca⁺⁺. Isotope numbers should precede the symbols, e.g., ¹⁸O.

Footnotes

Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Artwork

Electronic artwork

General points

• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.

Figure captions

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Tables

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes 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. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

References

Citation in text

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either ‘Unpublished results’ or ‘Personal communication’. Citation of a reference as ‘in press’ implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Web references

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Reference style

Text: All citations in the text should refer to:

1. Single author: the author’s name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year ofpublication;
2. Two authors: both authors’ names and the year of publication;
3. Three or more authors: first author’s name followed by ‘et al.’ and the year of publication.Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.

Examples: ‘as demonstrated (Raji, 2000a, 2000b, 1999; Raji and Ogunwale, 1999). Chude et al. (2010) have recently shown ….’

List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc., placed after the year of publication.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:

Anikwe, M.A.N., Obi, M.E., Agbim, N.N., 2003. Effect of crop and soil management practices on soil compatibility in maize and groundnut plots in a Paleustult in Southeastern Nigeria. Plant Soils 253, 457–465.

Reference to a book:

Gajri, P.R., Arora, V.K., Prihar, S.S., 2002. Tillage for Sustainable Cropping. Food Products Press, New York.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

Anikwe, M. A.N., Ikenganyia, E. E., 2018. Ecophysiology and Production Principles of Cassava (Manihot species) in Southeastern Nigeria,in V. Waisundara (Ed.) Cassava. InTechopenUk, pp. 105-122.

Reference to a website:

Cancer Research UK, 1975. Cancer statistics reports for the UK. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/ aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/ (accessed 13 March 2003).

Reference to a dataset:

[dataset] Oguro, M., Imahiro, S., Saito, S., Nakashizuka, T., 2015. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions. Mendeley Data, v1. https://doi.org/10.17632/ xwj98nb39r.1.

Journal abbreviations source

Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Online proof correction

Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail attachment to annotatete and edit proofs on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors.

We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Offprints

The corresponding author will, at no cost, receive a free PDF off a print of their article. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Both corresponding and co-authors may order offprints at any time. Printed copies of full editions where the article appeared could also be ordered by authors.