INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

  1. Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted on OJS platform system and should follow these guidelines.

 

  1. Aims and Scope

Weed Control Journal publishes articles covering all aspects of weed science, including:

  • Weed control in agricultural, non-crop areas, and in natural ecosystems.
  • Integrated approaches for weed control.
  • Invasive plant control.
  • Herbicide selectivity.
  • Herbicide mixture interactions.
  • Reports of new weed problems.
  • New technologies for weed control.
  • Chemical weed control may also be accepted, provided there is clear relevance to weed science technology.
  • Efficacy e characteristics of new herbicides.
  • Herbicide ecotoxicology.
  • Surveys, education, and extension topics related to weed control.
  • Regulatory aspects of weed control.

 

  1. Language and Quality of Writing

Manuscripts can be submitted in Portuguese, Spanish or English.

For manuscripts submitted in English, if the author’s native language is not English, the quality of scientific writing in for this language must be certified by a verified editorial certificate provided by a professional service. Alternatively, if the authors have experience in scientific writing in English (e.g., native speaker, proficiency certificate, the graduate diploma obtained in an English-speaking institution, and other proof of English skills), they need to include a statement stating that in the cover letter.

The contacts below are suggestions of companies that provide English translation or editing of manuscripts in Weed Science.

 

  1. Types of articles

Research Articles: This kind of article should present novel and unpublished data with proper statistical analysis and preferable be repeated either in time or space (year, growing season, or locations). The final text, excluding tables and figures, should not exceed 7,000 words.

Review Articles: Review articles should be based on a critical description and analysis of the literature, presenting results from other experiments, and criticizing and comparing results presenting new insights into important issues within the Journal scope. The final text, excluding tables and figures, should not exceed 8,000 words.

Short Communication: brief communications where immediate publication is justified because they report a remarkable fact, with no sufficient volume of information to constitute a full scientific article.  The text should not exceed 3.000 words.

 

  1. General Information
  • The documents must not have been previously published and cannot contain information published in another Journal or Book. An exception is made to those abstracts in conference proceedings, with a maximum of 250 words.
  • For manuscripts with more than one author, the corresponding author, who submits the paper, is responsible for obtaining the co-authors’ agreement.
  • Make sure to read and to follow all the instructions to avoid affecting the speed of the process.
  • Failure to return the correction or other requests within the established deadline will result in the manuscript rejection, regardless of the decision made in their processing.
  • Suggestion of three reviewers is required. The suggested reviewers must not be co-author of other manuscripts in the past or have any conflict of interest with the authors. This information will be requested during the submission process.

 

  1. Cover Letter to the Editor

When submitting the manuscript, the corresponding authors must include a Cover Letter in the Comments to the Editor space of the submission form. In the letter, the authors should present their work and explain its main contribution to advancing knowledge in Weed Science. The cover letter should indicate that the manuscript has not been submitted or under review in another journal. The letter should also include any statements regarding the processing of the article, conflicts of interest, and a statement that all authors are aware and agree with the submission of the paper.

In the cover letter of the returning manuscript after reviewers, the authors must state all changes in a point-by-point response. Each major request must be described followed by the response to question or suggestion and indicating in which line of text the question was addressed.

 

  1. Presentation of Documents and Formatting

7.1. General Formatting

  • The manuscript should be formatted in page size A4 with a left margin of 3 cm and remaining margins of 2.5 cm; font type Arial, size 11; 1.5 line spacing; pages and lines numbered sequentially. Tables and figures should be included in individual pages at the end of the manuscript.
  • Authors must submit the figures in editable format.
  • The text must be submitted in a Word file document (The system cannot handle another document format).
  • Author and co-authors’ names should be entered into the submission form in the same order they appear in the paper.
  • The total number of authors should not be more than eight (8) authors. An exception can be made based on a request with justification to the editors on the cover letter. Changes in authorship are not possible, with exceptions accepted upon request based only on the inclusions of new experiments or specific data analysis.
  • The review is single-blinded, meaning that the author’s name and affiliation need to be included in the submitted manuscript.
  • A maximum of 30references will be allowed per article, except for literature reviews, which will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
  • Following international recommendations for Journal self-citation, only up 15% of the total number of citations in the manuscript can be from publications from Weed Control Journal or the former name Revista Brasileira de Herbicidas. We recommend all the authors check the percentage of the references from Weed Control Journal before submitting them to the system.
  • Tables and equations must be editable. Equations should be typed in the Equation Editor (MS Word) or compatible software.
  • Line numbers must be continuous throughout the text.

 

7.2. Tables and Figures

  • In the Text
    • Authors can include only figures and tables which are properly cited in the manuscript;
    • Figures and graphics must be cited in the text in numerical order, without abbreviations; if the figure is identified with a lowercase letter (for example, Figure 1a), it should be cited in the text with the same format;
    • Each table and figure should be placed in a separate page at the end of the manuscript;
    • The table or figure and its respective caption should be self-explanatory, without the need for using the main text for their understanding.
    • The titles of tables and figures should be clear and complete and include the species’ name (common or scientific) and dependent variables.
    • Units of the variables analyzed must follow the International System of Unitsand are positioned at the top of the columns in the tables, outside the table header. In composite units, quantities must be separated by space, and the denominators must be indicated in superscript. Examples: µmol m-2 s-1; mg (g MS)-1.
    • Values represented in tables and figures are indicated according to the English format, with a period (.) separating decimals and with commas (,) separating groups of thousands (1,000 = one thousand; 1,000,000 = one million).
    • Tables must be provided with their respective captions with a period (.) at the end of the caption.
    • Tables should be formatted as follows:
      • Titles must be self-explanatory and contain all the information necessary for understanding the values presented and the statistical analyses used;
      • The content must be editable in the Table option of Microsoft Word, without lateral borders or separation lines between columns;
      • The tables must have only three continuous lines borders (two to mark the table header and one at the end of the table). If necessary, a fourth dashed lines borders can be included to separate the necessary statistical parameters, as shown below:
      • Numbers in the tables must be aligned with the decimal separator in the column.
    • Graphs, drawings, maps, and photographs used to illustrate the text are considered figures.
    • Figures formatting: Figures should be square rather than rectangles. The square format will fit better in a single column in the published paper. We encourage the authors to use colors in the figures. After acceptance, it will be reformatted to the standard colors of the journal (Blue/Brown).
    • Figures must be included in the text as JPG, PNG, or TIFF in high resolution ( at least 300dpi). Figure labels must be typed in Arial font, size 8, regular (not bold). Authors should avoid colors in figures, except for photographs. In the case of composite figures, each section (for example, each graph) should be marked as a separate item (“a, b, c…”), in lower case letters.
    • The figures must be sent in the original editable file (the original format the authors used to create the figures). Scanned figures and tables will not be accepted.

 

7.3. Text Sections

Depending on the kind of manuscript and the language used on submission, it should include different text sections:

Research Article submitted in Portuguese should include:

  • Title
  • Running title
  • Name of all authors (Formatting: Name M. Surname)
  • Affiliations of each authors (Institution, Department, City, State, Country)
  • ORCID and e-mail address of each author
  • * Corresponding author(s) e-mail address
  • Highlights
  • Graphical Abstract
  • Abstracts:divided in sessions (Background; Objective; Methods; Results; and Conclusions). Observation: text must be written in Portuguese.
  • Keywords (terms must be written in Portuguese)
  • Abstracts:(exact translation of the text used in the Abstracts section written in Portuguese for English language)
  • Keywords (exact translation of the terms used in the Keywords section written in Portuguese for English language)
  • Introduction
  • Materials and Methods
  • Results and Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Author Contributions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Funding
  • Conflicts of Interest
  • References

Observations:

For manuscripts submitted in English or Spanish, the translation of the Abstracts and Keywords sections for Portuguese is required.

  • Main heading numbering sessions should start in the Introduction with number 1 (as the example above). Sub-heading can be applied to “Materials and Methods” and “Results and Discussion”, if needed, and can be applied until the third division (Example: 2 Material and Method; 2.1 for sub-heading; 2.1.1 for sub-sub–heading). The text’s main heading should be in capital letters and bold, aligned to the page’s left.

Review article must include Title, Running Title, Authors, Affiliation, Corresponding author(s) e-mail address; ORCID and e-mail address for each author; Highlights, Abstracts, Keywords; Graphical Abstract, 1. Introduction; 2. Materials and Methods (optional); 3. Results and Discussion (optional); 4. Conclusions; 5. Author Contributions; 6. Acknowledgements; 7. Funding; 8. Conflict of interest; 9. References.

Short Communication must include Title, Running Title, Authors, Affiliation, Corresponding author(s) e-mail address; ORCID and e-mail address of each author; Highlights, Abstracts, Keywords; Graphical abstract; and the text. The text that must not be divided into sections.

 

7.4. Details of the Text Sections

  • Title:The title must reflect the work’s content and have no subtitles, abbreviations, formulas, or symbols. Scientific names should be included in the title only if common-English names of the species are not available. The title must be formatted in upper case, in bold.

 

  • Running Title: a short title for the running header that does not exceed 40 characters, including the spaces.

 

  • Authorship: Authors’ names must each have one surname in full and initials for any further forenames (e.g., John C Smith). Give the full address(es) where the work was, done and the name, address, phone, and e-mail address of the corresponding author.
    • The authors’ list should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how (At the end of the manuscript, each author’s contribution must be presented). All those listed as authors should qualify for authorship according to the following criteria:
      1. Have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and data interpretation;
      2. Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
      3. Given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have contributed sufficiently to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content;
      4. Agreed that authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Anyone who does not meet these criteria but had other participation in the work (for example, partial data collection, in review the manuscript, scientists who helped in the acquisition of funding, chair of department or laboratory head) should be listed, with permission, in an Acknowledgements section. Example: The authors acknowledge Dr. Paul D. Silva for sharing space and equipment in his laboratory to conduct the experiment.

 

  • Highlights: Describe three major highlights of the manuscript, with a maximum of 110 characters each, including spaces. The highlights should be related with the main findings of the study and not about methodology, analysis, or general ideas.

 

  • Abstract: Maximum of 250 words, including the following subtopics:
    • Background: State the importance of the research and present previous findings. The hypothesis must be clear in this part of the abstract.
    • Objective: State the goals of the manuscript.
    • Methods: Summarize the methodology, treatments, and experimental design. Inform if the experiments were replicated in time/growing season.
    • Results: Explain the main findings that lead to the conclusion.
    • Conclusions: List the main conclusions of the manuscript.

Graphical Abstract: A graphical abstract is a visual summary of the main findings of the research.  The graphical abstract is used in the Journal webpage and in the social media to promote the manuscript. The authors should build the abstract with the main take-home message the authors want the readers to take. The figure should be formatted in JPG, PNG, or TIFF in high resolution figure and should measure (265 x 220 pixels).

 

  • Keywords:Keywords must not repeat the title’s words, and the scientific name of the species studied must be included. They must be separated by commas and be in lower case, including the first term. Authors should include three to six terms, considering that a term may consist of two or more words.

 

  • Introduction: The Introduction should be one to two pages long and contain the background and justification for the work, stating the importance of the scientific problem. The information provided in the Introduction should be enough to establish the research hypothesis. Authors should prioritize referencing recent works published in scientific journals, but the citation of classical works is acceptable in a reasonable number. Citation of bulletins or technical circulars (“gray literature”) is not acceptable. In the last paragraph of the Introduction, the authors should present the scientific hypothesis and the study’s objective, as stated in the Abstract.

 

  • Material and Methods: This section should describe the experimental conditions and methods used so that there is sufficient and detailed information for the work to be replicated. Formulas, expressions, or mathematical equations should be placed in their text line, starting at the page’s left margin. Include references for the statistical methods used and report any data transformations. Statistical significance should be indicated as follows: p<0.01 or p>0.05 (letter “p” in lower case).

 

  • Results and Discussion: In the Results and Discussion section, the authors should present the research results and discuss them to evaluate the variables analyzed in light of the study’s objectives. The simple comparison of the results with the data presented by other authors does not characterize their discussion. Speculation must be avoided, and data should not be presented redundantly in tables and figures. The journal does not require a separate Conclusions section, but the authors are encouraged to finish the Results and Discussionsection with a summarized conclusion.

 

  • Author Contributions: Please inform the contribution of each author to the manuscript. Use initials to refer for each author name. Authors contribution must state the contribution of each authors concerning accordingly to theWeed Control Journal model:
    • Conceptualization of the survey and development of the methodology; data collection and curation; data analysis; data interpretation; funding acquisition and resources; project administration; Supervision; writing the original draft of the manuscript; writing—review and editing. All authors read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

 

  • Funding:Authors must disclose all funding sources. The authors are advised to check if there are any funding agencies’ requirements and supporting institutions to include their grant/process numbers in this section.

 

  • Acknowledgements:Add as necessary.  If the material was submitted to specialists that are not authors of the paper, or if materials or samples were borrowed or obtained from different institutions (museums, herbaria, libraries, and other archives), the authors are encouraged to mention them. Authors should avoid personal statements in this section and attain only aspects that directly affected the article’s research.

 

  • Conflicts of interest: Please state if the authors have any conflict of interest to declare regarding the research.

 

7.5. References

Literature citations should follow the Vancouver (author-date) style, i.e., they should be in lowercase followed by the year of publication. In the case of references with three to six authors, cite the first author in the main text followed by “et al.”, and list all authors in the references section, separated by commas. If there are more than six authors, list the first six authors, followed by the expression “et al.” In the case of several works by the same author, with the same date, lowercase letters are used in the reference, in alphabetical order, following the date, to differentiate the several publications in the bibliographic list, as follows: (1992a,b). Personal communications and unpublished papers or reports should be cited in footnotes and should not appear in the References. Citation of articles published in proceedings of scientific events will no longer be accepted. Independent on the original language, all citations must be in English, stating the original language at the end (see example).

Only references strictly necessary for understanding the article should be cited, up to a maximum of 30 references (see section 7.1 of this document). The list of references should start on a new page.

References should be formatted following the models below, presented in alphabetical order of authors and, within this, in chronological order of publication; the titles of journals should be abbreviated. Include only works cited in the text, tables, or figures, as follows:

 

a. Journal articles:

  • ARTICLES WITH UP TO SIX AUTHORS: Cite all authors
    • In the text: (Maracahipes et al., 2011)
    • In the references:
    • Author(s). Title. Journal abbreviated name. year;volume(issue):pages. Available from: DOI
    • Gaines TA, Sam M. The quick and the dead: a new model for the essential role of ABA accumulation in synthetic auxin herbicide mode of action. J Exp Bot [Internet]. 2020;71(12):3383–5. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa178
    • Observation: Each article must present the valid DOI
  • ARTICLES WITH MORE THAN SIX AUTHORS:
    • In the text: (Kraemer et al., 2009)
    • In the references:
    • Author(s). Title. Journal abbreviated name. year;volume(issue):pages. Available from: DOI
    • Viero JLC, Schaedler CE, de Azevedo EB, Dos Santos JVA, Scalcon R de M, de David DB, et al. Endozoochorous dispersal of seeds of weedy rice (Oryza sativa L.) and barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli L.) by cattle. Cienc Rural. 2018;48:e20170650. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-8478cr20170650
    • Observation: Each article must present the valid DOI

 

b. Books:

  • Citation of books and book chapters should be avoided. However, when such a citation is unavoidable, it must be made as follows:
  • Author(s) of the book. Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher; year of publication.

Senseman S.A. Herbicide handbook. 9th ed. Lawrence: Weed Science Society of America; 2007.

 

c. Dissertations and Thesis:

  • Citation of dissertations and theses should be avoided. Try to cite instead their resulting articles published in full in indexed journals. Cite only very recent dissertations/theses, when articles have not yet been published, as follows:
  • Title [Type of document]. Place: Institution where it was presented; year. Available from: link to the webpage
  • Ribeiro DN. [Characterization of the glyphosate resistance in Lolium multiflorum (Lam.)] [thesis]. Piracicaba: Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz Armando de Queiroz”; 2008. Available from: http://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/USP_057b21cae41e9974c17901e2b25b94fa

 

d. Citing publications original in other languages:

When citing publications original in other langues the authors should cite the title in English between square brackets and the language at the end of the citation. Examples:

  • Avila LA, Marchezan M, François T, Cezimbra DM, Souto KM, Refatti JP. [Injury caused by the formulated mixture of the herbicide imazethapyr and imazapic in ryegrass as affected by soil moisture]. Planta Daninha. 2010;28:1041–6. Portuguese. Available from: http://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-83582010000500012