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Journal of Agricultural Sciences

About the Journal

The Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka is a peer reviewed journal aiming to publish high quality articles on topical issues in Agriculture. The journal provides a forum for Sri Lankan and international scholars especially in Asia and Africa to publish authoritative and well referenced articles in agriculture related areas. The journal publishes original research works, book reviews, short communications, and comparative articles. JAS is published by the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka.

The Journal of Agricultural Sciences - Sri Lanka is included onDOAJ, AGORA

The Journal of Agricultural Sciences- Sri Lanka is also available at https://jas.sljol.info/ under SCOPUS journals

 

Focus and Scope

The Journal of Agricultural Sciences is a peer reviewed journal aiming to publish high quality articles on topical issues in Agriculture, and publish three issues of the journal annually; 1st January, 1st May and 1st September. The journal provides a forum for Sri Lankan and international scholars especially in Asia and Africa to publish authoritative and well referenced articles in agriculture related areas. The journal publishes original research works, book reviews, short communications, and comparative articles.

Research papers submitted for publication should have a sound disciplinary basis, although cross disciplinary contributions are also accepted. Papers submitted for publication are strictly double blind peer reviewed.

Submitting an Article Online

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Author Guidelines

Policy for Publication Fees
There is no publication fee or manuscript processing fee for this journal until 01st March2024.

Please read following guidelines carefully before you prepare amanuscript for this journal.

Plagiarism Policy
The Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka does not allow any kind of plagiarism, manipulation of data or figures, provision of incorrect information and any kind of copyright breach. All the manuscripts will undergo complete plagiarism check before sending for peer review. An article plagiarized more than 10% (Similarity Index), observed by editors, peer reviewers or by editorial staff at any stage of publication process would be rejected and authors are notified the same.

Types of Manuscripts Accepted
The Journal of Agricultural Sciences - Sri Lanka is an international peer reviewed journal that provide a forum to publish authoritative and well referenced articles in agriculture and allied disciplines. The journal publishes original research work, reviews, short communications and comparative articles on Agriculture and other related fields in agricultural sciences. Research papers submitted for publication should have a sound disciplinary basis, although cross disciplinary contributions are also accepted.
Papers submitted for publication are strictly double-blind peer reviewed.

Peer Review Process
Manuscripts submitted by the authors are subjected to an initial screening based on appropriateness of the theme and quality of the content of the manuscript. Manuscripts which arenot according to the author guidelines will be returned to the author without processing further. Those manuscripts that have passed the initial screening then undergo a doubleblind peer review process. Two subject experts will be assigned as reviewers by the Editor in Chief in consultation with the Managing Editor to carry out the
review based on evaluation criteria. Based on the evaluationreports of the

Conditions for submission
The language of publication is English. The manuscript should be written in clear, accessible language, which can be understood by those outside the author’s area of specialization. Submission of a manuscript to The Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka implies a commitment to publish in this journal. Authors undertake that the manuscripts submitted have not been previously published and are not currently under consideration for publication by another journal. Exceptions may be made in case if abstract published in the proceedings of a conference or translated from another language with permission. All the authors who submit manuscripts to the Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka are strongly requested to follow the author guidelines strictly. Manuscripts not prepared according to the author guidelines will be rejected without further processing.

Manuscripts can be submitted online through the website of the Journal of Agricultural Sciences (https://jas.sljol.info/about/submissions/ ) with a covering letter confirming the manuscript originated from original research not submitted for publication or already published elsewhere.

Authors are requested to follow the format of manuscript strictly adhering to following guidelines. For proper understanding of correct form of manuscript refer an article available in the journal website ( https://jas.sljol.info/). The main text should be double-spaced with 2.5 cm-wide page margins and all tables must be in Microsoft Word format (Version 98 or newer) only. Manuscripts should be prepared as single-column documents. Manuscripts should contain tables, figures, photos etc. in the text where they are intended to. However, same figures, photos etc. should be submitted separately and prepared in JPEG file type. Times New Roman fonts must be used throughout the text including table and graphs. Justify all paragraphs including figure legends. No indents, line breaks, section breaks and unnecessary spaces in text should be included. Page number should be at the bottom right corner.

Assemble sections of your manuscript in the following order: (1) Title Page; (2) Abstract; (3) Main text; (4) References; (5) Tables; and (6) Figures (submitted separately, one figure per page along with figure legends in JPEG file type). Include references to the figures in the text in appropriate places with figure numbers. Specific guidelines for the sections are given below.

TITLE PAGE (Page 1)

A separate title page should be submitted. The title page should contain the title, list of authors, their affiliations, full postal address and their ORCID details. The title of the article should be in Times New Roman fonts of size 14, sentence-case (first letter of first word and any proper nouns should be in capital). Non-English words like in vitro, and Latin (scientific) names of plants and animals should be in italics.

List all authors’ names below the title with initials before surname (e.g. A. B. Smith, E. A. Van bethowan and A. B. Martin) and not in bold. One author will need to be identified using a superscript asterisk (*) in the authorship line as the corresponding author. Add a footnote on the title page to identify the ‘Author for correspondence’. Provide full postal address (es) of all authors in sentence case and not bold. In the case ofmultiple authors, indicate each appropriate author by superscripts1, 2, etc. An author should have one postal address only. Include the email address of the corresponding author. The JAS-SL will communicate only with the corresponding author.

Please include ORCID IDs of all authors. All authors are required to sign up for ORCID and submit these to the journal at the time of submission of the manuscript. More information on ORCID is available at https://orcid.org/ Once submitted, thenames, order of authorship and their affiliations cannot be changed, deleted or added. Therefore, please make appropriate decisions prior tothe submissionof themanuscript.


ABSTRACT (Page 2)

The word ABSTRACT at the top should be in capitals. Start text leaving anempty line below the word ABSTRACT and each sub-section. Text should be justified, as a single paragraph with each sub-heading, ideally not longer than 250 words in Times New Roman font size 12. Do not repeat the title of the paper. The abstract should not contain any citations or abbreviations (unless used more than once and defined in full at the first use). Include information about the purpose of the work, how it was done, the main findings and their relevance.

Abstract should be written in the format below under the followingfivesub-headings
Purpose:
Please explain the purpose of the research with the research problem (maximum 60 words)
Research Method:
Please describe the research method and relevant tools (Maximum 50 words)
Findings:
Describe the main findings of the research (maximum 90 words)
Research Limitations:
Describe key limitations of the research (maximum 25 words)
Originality/value:
Describe the practical value of the research (25 words)
Key Words:
Maximum of 6 key wordsitalics andin the alphabetical order.
Authors are requested to follow the above format for abstracts strictly.For review articles, the abstract can be prepared to brief the content of review with no more than 250 words. Key words are according to above.


MAIN TEXT (From Page 3 onwards)
The manuscript should start with the title. Divide the manuscript into thefollowing main headings: INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS and REFERENCES. For review articles however, authors can ignore some sections such as MATERIALS AND METHODS, and RESULTS AND DISCUSSION sections if not relevant and may add a LITERATURE REVIEW.
Only three levels of headings are allowed in the following hierarchy.
(i) Headings: In UPPER-CASE, Times New Roman, font size 12, bold, left aligned, with text on next line, no indents. E.g., INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS
and REFERENCES.

(ii) Sub Headings: In Title-Case, Times New Roman, font size 12, in Italics, bold, left-aligned, with text on next line, no indents. E.g., Assessment on Post-harvest Losses.

(iii) Sub-sub-headings: In sentence-case, Times New Roman, font size 12, in Italics, not bold, left-aligned, Followed by a colon, with text on next line, no indents. E.g., At the wholesale level:

Leave one empty line between text and next heading or sub-heading. No
numbering should be used for headings or sub-headings.

Authors' statement of any conflicts of interest and acknowledgement of sources of funding
Authors' statement of any conflicts of interest in the research and acknowledgement of sources of funding for the research if necessary (heading; bold, title case, Times New Roman font size 12) should be included after the end
of the main text, leaving only one extra line below the main text.

REFERENCES
Refer to the authors and year of publication within the text as follows. (Martin, 2000); (David and Silva, 2010) and in case of three or more authors (Perera et al.,1990). When two or more references are to be cited together, they should be given in the chronological order (Perera et al.,1990; Martin, 2000). All references cited in the text should be presented in the list of references according to following guidelines. References should be indicated in the typescript using the Harvard style referencing giving the author’s name, and year of publication in parentheses. If several papers by the same author and from the same year are cited, they should be denoted with letters a,b,c, etc. after the year of publication, [E.g., (Moore, 2000a), (Moore, 2000b)]. Use justified text. Check references against original sources, paying particular attention to correct full article and journal titles, spellings, accents etc, especially in languages other than English. Include DOIs for references to reduce delays in publication of your article. The references should be listed in full at the end of the paper in the following standard forms.

Books:
Matarana, H. and Varela, F. (1987). The tree of knowledge. 2nd Edition. Boston, Shimbala. 125pp. Surname, Initial. and Surname, Initial. (Year of publication). Title of the book. Edition. Publisher, City, Country. Provide total number of pages in the book or the page range of a section or chapter in the book (e.g., 125pp. or 95-103.).

For chapters within books or proceedings:
Elton, L.A., Narayan, A. and Perera, S. (1992). Models of collaboration and cooperation between Universities from North and south. In: Advanced Study Programmes for Key Persons and Cross-cultural Dialogue North-South-EastWest. Volume 1. (Berendt, B., Lim, A. and Stary, J. Eds.). Publications Saule, Chene, France. 125-140. Surname, Initials. Surname, Initials. and Surname, Initials . (Year of publication). Title of the chapter. In: Title of the book. Volume (if any). (Names of editors of the book. Eds.). Publisher, City, Country. page range of a paper or chapter in the book 125-140.

Journal articles:
Gunadasa, H. and Dissanayake, P. (2012). Optimization of quality in exported Polyscias balfouriana "Marginata" by using different shade levels. Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 7 (2 ), pp. 58–65. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/jas.v7i2.4403 Surname, Initials. Surname, Initials. and Surname, Initials . (Year of publication). Title of the article. Full name ofthe Journal (italic, should not be abbreviated). Volume (issue if any): Page range of the article (First and last page). DOI.

Online Journal article:
Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography. European Journal of Marketing, 41(1), 1245-1283. DOI: 10.1108/03090560710821161 Surname, Initials. and Surname, Initials. (Year of publication). Title of the article. Full name ofthe Journal (italic should not be abbreviated). Volume (issue if any): Page range of the article (First and last page). Web address. Date of reference or down load.

Note: If no DOI is listed, use the periodical's homepage URL (e.g., Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/ (ISSN) 1936-2706

Material from the Internet:
McFarlance, D., Chembez, D and Befecadu, J. (2003). Internet adoption and use of e-commerce strategies. http://www2.aamu.edu/saes/SFRCdocs/PDF/ECOMMERCE_PAPER.p df. 15.09.2011.

Material from Other sources:
Kithamura, P. and Wing, H. (1991). A checklist of North American wild flowers. Miscellaneous Publication Series of the X Research Station, Alberta, Canada. No. 22. 30 pp.

Watanabe, W. and Titt, R. T. (1982). The white willows. Annual Report of the Basketmakers’ Research Institute, 1981-82. Salixville, Australia. 106-107. Weeping, G. J. (1986). Maran: Possible Commercial Uses. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuolya, Sri Lanka. 225 pp.

For anonymous publications, quote in the text as Anon (1992), provide details of such work / publications for tracking purposes if necessary. Unpublished work indicates just as “unpublished” in the list of references. Authors need to include DOIs for references used inthe reference section

Tables (Continue page numbering):
Start each table on a separate sheet, double-spaced. Tables are numbered 01, 02 etc and referred to ideally in the section prior to the table, e.g., Table 01, etc. Captions of tables are in bold, (e.g., Table 01:) with a colon. The descriptive (meaningful) but brief caption should be placed above the table. Caption should be in sentence-case with final stop. Technical, statistical or explanatory details are presented as footnotes to the table using superscripts (Details of ±SE, *. **, P values units etc in footnotes with lower-case, superscript indicator symbols). All the content must be in a table with all boarders. No indents [Tabs] should be used to create a table. Avoid very large, complex tables, and use same type, size and font as in main text. Captionshould be descriptive enough to understand the content by the reader without cross reference to the text. Refer the table in the text as (Table 01. Table 02. etc.). Indicate the position of the table in the text in a separate line as TABLE 01, TABLE 02. etc. for the reviewers and production staff to locate the tables easily.

Figures (Continue page numbering):
Type double-spaced with a colon (e.g., Figure 02:). All numbered Figure legends should be typed together on a separate sheet(s). If Figures are grouped (e.g., several photographs or graphs, histograms etc, label each Panel as A, B, C etc), give a general and a meaningful title and describe each Panel (A, B etc) separately in the legend. All the legends should be clear and readable. For graphs with several symbols, or different kinds of lines, include a description of these (e.g., open circles, filled triangles, dotted lines) in the caption, or provide a key as part of the graph. Caption of figures should be in bold (e.g., Figure 01: Rainfall pattern in the study area). Figure caption should be descriptive enough and meaningful to understand the content by the reader without cross reference the text.

Illustrations (Figures)
In text refer the figure as (Fig. 01. etc.). Position of the figure in the text should be indicated in a separate line as FIGURE 01. etc. Illustrations should be submitted as high quality, computer-generated files (JPEG files are recommended). If there are several related photographs or drawings, assemble them into a composite Figure, and label each Panel A, B, C etc. (not a, b, c, or la, 1b). Micrographs and photographs should include clear scale bars (scale defined in legend). Labelling to describe the units on each axis should be large, parallel to each axis, even-sized, and clear. Use upper- and lower-case lettering, not all capitals, not bold. Lines of figures should be thick enough to clearly visible at printing. Each figure should be marked with its number. For histograms, use black, white or grey columns, not cross-hatching or speckled etc., no colour figures (refer to a recently published article). Authors are requested to send additional high quality colour photograph related to the study to publish as cover page photographs if space permits (no charges will be applied for this purpose).

Notes
Footnotes to the text should be avoided. Cut/ Copy & paste from other documents must be avoided and such practices will be considered as disqualification for publishing an article in JAS-SL.

Author’s requirement to sign up for ORCIDAuthors need to sign up for ORCID and submit these to the journal at the time of submission of the manuscript. More information on ORCID is available at https://orcid.org

All the authors who submit manuscripts to the Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka are strongly requested to follow the author guidelines strictly. Manuscripts that do not comply with author guidelines will be rejected without further processing.

Copyright Notice

•  Copyright on any research article in the Journal of Agricultural Sciences is retained by the author(s).

• The authors grant Journal of Agricultural Sciences a license to publish their article and identify itself as the original publisher. This license permits non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided it is licensed under the same terms and the original work is properly cited.

Submission of an article implies that the authors grant the Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka a license to publish the article and identify the journal as the original publisher.

• Articles in the Journal of Agricultural Science are Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any third party.


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 that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned to authors.

  1. The submission has not been previously published or in consideration by another journal for publishing (or an explanation has to be provided in comments to the Editor-in-Chief).
  2. The submission file should be in Microsoft Word document file format.
  3. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  4. Where available, DOIs for the references have been provided.
  5. The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed according to the guidelines above.
  6. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in theAuthor Guidelines above, which is found in ‘About the Journal’.
  7. If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in ensuring a blind peer review have been followed.


Additional Mandatory Information

Following informationis required.

• Academic discipline and sub-disciplines: (e.g., Agriculture; Crop Science; Livestock Production; Agribusiness etc.)

• Geo-spatial coverage: (e.g., Sri Lanka; South Asia; Europe; Global; etc)

• Chronological or historical coverage: (e.g., Contemporary; Twentieth Century; 21st Century; between 2016 and 2019 etc)

• Research sample characteristics: (e.g., Age; Gender; Ethnicity; etc.)

• Type, method or approach: (e.g., Field study; Experimental, Theoretical, Survey; etc.)

This information should be supplied at a later stage if the manuscript is accepted for publication. Therefore, please keep this information ready.

Contact Email: agriscan@agri.sab.ac.lk

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Publication Frequency

The Journal of Agricultural Sciences- Sri Lanka published three issues a year in January, May, and September.

Errata and Retraction Policy

An erratum refers to a correction of errors introduced to the article by the publisher.

All publisher-introduced changes are highlighted to the author at the proof stage and any errors are ideally identified by the author and corrected by the publisher before final publication.
Authors who notice an error should contact the Coordinating Editor or Editor in Chief of the journal.

Changes/Additions to accepted articles

All content of published articles are subject to the editorial review process, organized by and under the auspices of the Editor in Chief. If the authors wish to add any content to their article after acceptance, they must submit a written request the Editor in Chief and the new content will be reviewed.

  • If the new material is additional to the accepted article, it must be submitted for peer review as a new manuscript, referring back to the original manuscript
  • If the new material should replace the original content of the accepted article, the Editor in Chief may consider the publication of an Erratum or a Corrigendum.
  • Changes to articles after they have been published online may only be made under the circumstances outlined below.
  • An Erratum is a statement by the authors of the original paper that briefly describes any correction(s) resulting from errors or omissions. Any effects on the conclusions of the paper should be noted. The corrected article is not removed from the online journal, but notice of erratum is given. The Erratum is made freely available to all readers and is linked to the corrected article.
  • A Retraction is a notice that the paper should not be regarded as part of the scientific literature. Retractions are issued if there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, this can be as a result of misconduct or honest error; if the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper referencing, permission, or justification; if the work is plagiarized; or if the work reports unethical research.
  • To protect the integrity of the record, the retracted article is not removed from the online journal, but notice of retraction is given, is made freely available to all readers, and is linked to the retracted article. Retraction will be published by the decision of the Editorial team of the journal. In all cases, the retraction indicates the reason for the action and who is responsible for the decision. If a retraction is made without the unanimous agreement of the authors, that is also noted.
  • In rare and extreme cases involving legal infringement, the Editor in Chief on behalf of the publisher will redact or remove an article. Bibliographic information about the article will be retained to ensure the integrity of the scientific record.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Funding of the JAS publication is exclusively from the Sabaragamuwa University funds. Also, research funders should be acknowledged by the authors on all research papers.

The Journal of Agricultural Sciences publishes only original works of the authors that have not been published earlier either in printed format or electronically. All authors of manuscripts submitted to the JAS must confirm that neither the manuscript nor any part of it, regardless of the language in which it was originally written or published, has been published or is under consideration for publication or accepted for publication elsewhere. Further, authors are expected to be knowledgeable of and comply with best practice in publication ethics specifically with regard to authorship, dual submission, plagiarism, manipulation of figures, competing interests and compliance with policies on research ethics.

Authors should be followed applicable copyright laws and conventions. Copyright material should be reproduced only with appropriate permission and acknowledgement. Relevant previous work and publications, both by other researchers and the authors’ own, should be properly acknowledged and referenced. The primary literature should be cited both in the text and in the reference list. Authors should inform editors if findings have been published previously or if multiple reports or multiple analyses of a single data set are under consideration for publication elsewhere. Authors should provide copies of related publications or work submitted to other journals.

Copy rights of the published papers are with the authors and JAS takes the responsibility of publishing the manuscript only. Editors of JAS is devoted not to make any kind of discrimination to the authors on the grounds of gender, age, experience, social status, occupation, sexual orientation, working institution, colour of the skin, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origin. All the papers published by the JAS are solely on merit basis.

Outline

The Journal of Agricultural Sciences - Sri Lanka is a double blind peer reviewed journal dedicated to ensuring the highest values of publication ethics. All stakeholders of the journal such as the Editors, Authors, Reviewers and Publishers have to agree upon the total ethical behavior in this context. The Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractices of The Journal of Agricultural Sciences- Sri Lanka (JASSL) are based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE. (https://publicationethics.org/)

Responsibilities of the Editor in Chief and the Coordinating Editors

  1. Making initial evaluation of the manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic and intellectual merit, without considering the author(s)’ race, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic origin, religious belief, citizenship, political orientation or social class.
  2. Deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal should be sent for reviewers’ evaluation following the initial evaluation based upon the policies and authors’ guidelines of the journal and legal requirements with regard to vilification, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
  3. Ensuring appropriate peer reviewers are selected to evaluate the manuscripts.
  4. Guaranteeing a fair and unbiased double-blind peer review of the manuscripts and ensure all information related to the authors and reviewers are kept confidential and to ensure both authors’ and peer reviewers’ identities are secured.
  5. Provision of direction and guidance to members of the Editorial Board, authors and reviewers on their responsibilities and ethical expectations and also on the description of peer review processes.
  6. Developing and maintaining a database of appropriate reviewers and updating of the same on the basis of reviewer competence, punctuality and responsiveness.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Board

  1. Ensuring the maintenance of overall quality of the journal.
  2. Assuring the international standards of both online and print publications of the journal by providing opinions to the executive editors of the journal.
  3. Making a set of clear guidelines available for authors with regard to subject area of the journal and the overall design of the issues
  4. Establishing the journal policy and ensure the implementation of it.
  5. Assisting to ensure the international recognition and acceptance of the journal
  6. Ensuring the implementation of publication ethics of the journal by all the stakeholders

Responsibilities of the Authors

  1. Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one publication at a time. This is found to be an unethical publishing behavior and is obnoxious.
  2. Authors must ensure and declare that their work is original and that any work or statement from other authors or sources has been appropriately acknowledged and referenced.
  3. Manuscripts submitted by authors for publication in JASSL must be original articles and need to confirm that the submitted works represent their own contributions and that they have not been copied or plagiarized in whole or partially from others’ work and such must not be included with no clear cited sources.
  4. Authors should cite publications that are relevant to the submitted work only.
  5. Should understand and act towards the fact that plagiarism in all its forms that exhibits unethical publishing behavior is unacceptable.
  6. Authors need to submit a written statement that clearly states the manuscript has not been published elsewhere in any form of publishing.
  7. Authorship should be comprised with those who have made a significant contribution to the planning, designing, implementation or interpretation of the relevant research or study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors.
  8. Main author and corresponding author must take all the responsibilities in ensuring all the ethical considerations of the journal.
  9. Main author and corresponding author with the journal should ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included in the list of authors of the manuscript. Total consensus of all co-authors in approving the final version of the paper and its submission for publication should be ensured.
  10. All sources of financial support of the work submitted to the journal should be disclosed and acknowledged.
  11. All the responsibilities with regard to the published material are vested upon the main author and co-authors.
  12. The journal is freely available online. Authors should agree with the open access policy which enables unrestricted access and reuse of all published articles. The articles are published under the Creative Commons Copyright License Policy CC BY-SA. This license permits users to use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided it is licensed under the same terms and the original work is properly cited.

Responsibilities of the Reviewers

  1. Peer reviewers should assist especially the Editor in Chief and Coordinating Editor, and Editorial committee whenever necessary, in making editorial decisions by submitting their recommendations on eligibility and relevance of the manuscripts for publication.
  2. Manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents and should not be discussed on their content with outside parties and should not be multiplied in any form.
  3. If a selected particular reviewer is not competent to review a given manuscript or knows that the timely review of the same will be impossible, should immediately inform to the Editor in Chief and Coordinating Editor without delay, enabling Executive Editors towards calling an alternative reviewer.
  4. Reviewers are requested to report to the Editors if they are aware of copyright breach and plagiarism on the author’s side.
  5. Reviewers must strictly evaluate the manuscripts, only based on content, without imagining the author’s race, age, gender, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, citizenship, political orientation or social class.
  6. Peer review must be done very objectively, with clear logic, so that authors can use them for improving the paper.
  7. Reviewers should not consider any manuscript for reviewing in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, establishments or institutions connected to the manuscripts.

Responsibilities of the Publishers

Publisher of the Journal of Agricultural Sciences- Sri Lanka is the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka

  1. To ensure and secure the autonomy of the decisions of Editorial Board.
  2. To protect the intellectual property rights, privacy of the authors and copy rights.
  3. To assist the Editorial Board to maintain the overall quality of the journal.
  4. To provide necessary logistic support to Executive Editors to maintain publication ethics of the journal.

Archiving Policy

This journal is available for LOCKSS harvesting, to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. See LOCKSS harvesting start page.

Data Set Policy

A submission to the Journal of Agricultural Sciences- Sri Lanka implies that materials described in the manuscript, including all relevant raw data, may freely available to any researcher wishing to use them for non-commercial purposes, without breaching participant confidentiality.

The journal strongly encourages that all datasets on which the conclusions of the paper rely to be available to readers, whenever possible. We encourage authors to ensure that their datasets are either deposited in publicly available repositories (where available and appropriate) or presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files whenever possible. Authors can find Springer Nature’s information (https://www.springernature.com/gp/products/database) on recommended repositories.

Data availability

All original articles must include a data availability statement. Data availability statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found including, where applicable, hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the research or study. According to JAS data means the minimal dataset that would be necessary to interpret, replicate and build upon the findings reported in the article. We accept that it is not always possible to share research data publicly, for instance when individual privacy could be compromised, and in such instances data availability should still be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for access. Data availability statements can take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple datasets):

  1. The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the ………………( name of the repository), and ………………………(Web link to the data base)
  2. The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to (Please give reasons why data are not publicly available) and are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
  3. The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
  4. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
  5. All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and are available with supplementary information files.
  6. The data that support the findings of this study are available with (name of the third party that data are available), however, restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of with (name of the third party that data are available)

The journal also requires that authors cite any publicly available data on which the conclusions of the paper rely in the manuscript. Data citations should include a persistent identifier (such as a DOI) and should ideally be included in the reference list. Citations of datasets, when they appear in the reference list, should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite and follow journal style. Dataset identifiers including DOIs should be expressed as full URLs.

Research data and peer review

Peer reviewers are encouraged to check the manuscript’s data availability statement, where applicable. They should consider if the authors have complied with the journal’s policy on the availability of research data, and whether reasonable effort has been made to make the data that support the findings of the study available for replication or reuse by other researchers. Peer reviewers are entitled to request access to underlying data (and code) when needed for them to perform their evaluation of a manuscript.

Peer Review Process

Manuscripts submitted by the authors are subject to a preliminary screening based on appropriateness of the theme and quality of the content of the manuscript. Those manuscripts that are cleared the initial screening then undergo a double-blind peer review process. Two reviewers in the same or related field are assigned by Editor in Chief in consultation with Coordinating Editor to carry out the review based on the evaluation criteria. Based on the evaluation report of the reviewers, the Editor in Chief and the editorial team then make a final decision for acceptance or rejection of the paper.

Section Policies

Editorial

  • Open Submissions : YES
  • Indexed : YES
  • Peer Reviewed : No

Articles

  • Open Submissions : YES
  • Indexed : YES
  • Peer Reviewed: YES

Instructions to Peer Reviewers

JAS- SL relies on the time and expertise of academic reviewers to maintain its high editorial standards. JAS – SL Editorial Board requests the peer reviewers to ensure the following requirements in a submitted manuscript:

  1. Research or review paper is well designed and executed.
  2. Presentation of methods will permit replication.
  3. Data are unambiguous and properly analyzed.
  4. Conclusions are supported by data.
  5. New knowledge is added to the field of study

Peer reviewers also have important responsibilities towards authors, editors, and readers. Please consider them carefully.

Competence

Reviewers who realize that their expertise in the subject of the article is limited have a responsibility to make their degree of competence clear to the Editor. Although reviewers need not be experts in every aspect of the content, the assignment should be accepted only if they have adequate expertise to provide an authoritative assessment.

Impartiality and Integrity

Reviewer comments and conclusions should be based on an objective and impartial consideration of the facts, exclusive of being bias personally or professionally. All comments by reviewers should be based solely on the paper’s scientific merit, originality, and quality of writing as well as on its relevance to Scope of the JAS – Sri Lanka.

Timeliness and Responsiveness

Reviewers are responsible for acting promptly, adhering to the instructions for completing a review, and completing the review within the requested time frame. These guidelines are adapted from the Council of Science Editors White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications. http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/wp-content/uploads/entire_whitepaper.pdf

Reviewer Responsibilities

  • Provide written, unbiased feedback on the scholarly merits and scientific value of the work, together with rationale for your opinion.
  • Provide your review immediately within 14 days. If you cannot do so please contact Coordinating Editor of JAS-SL.
  • Indicate if the writing is clear, concise, and relevant. Rate the work’s composition, scientific accuracy, originality, and interest to readers.
  • Avoid personal comments or criticism.
  • Refrain from direct author contact.
  • Maintain the confidentiality of the review process by not sharing, discussing with third parties, or disclosing information from the reviewed paper at all.
  • Alert the Editor to any potential personal or financial conflict of interest you may have and decline to review when a possibility of a conflict exists.
  • Determine scientific merit, originality, and scope of the work and suggest ways to improve it.
  • Avoid comments to authors directly on acceptance or rejection of the paper; include such remarks as confidential comments for editors.
  • Note any ethical concerns, such as substantial similarity between the reviewed manuscript and any published article or any manuscript concurrently submitted elsewhere.
  • Ensure that published articles meet standards of the JAS-SL.
  • Protect readers from incorrect or flawed research or studies that cannot be validated by others.
  • Be alert to any failure to cite relevant work by other scientists.
  • Strictly follow the reviewer’s report form given by the Coordinating Editor.

Indexing of Journal of Agricultural Sciences

The Journal of Agricultural Sciences is indexed in the following databases:

Summon Serial Titles (page number 2084)
CAB Abstracts
Index Copernicus
AGRICOLA
AGORA
Research Bible
The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL)
Google Scholar
DOAJ
AGRIS: International Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology
SLJOL
Scirus
Ulrich
OHSU Library
Journals for Free
JournalTOCs
Dayang Journal System
WZB
LAURIER library
Cabdirect
Zurich Open Repository and Archive Journal Data Base
JournalSeek
Journals Metrics

Editorial Board

Prof. Rohana P Mahaliyanaarachchi 

Editor in Chief
Dr. Chandrika Dissanayake  Coordinating Editor
Prof. Buddhi Marambe  University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Prof. WADP Wanigasundara  University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Prof. MJS Wijeratne  University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
Prof. K K D S Ranaweera  University of Sri Jayawardenapura, Sri Lanka
Prof. Gary S. Straquadine  The Utah State University, USA
Professor Deirdre Lemerle  Charles Sturt University, Australia
Prof. Dr. Ir. Sandra Arifin Aziz  Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia
Dr. Md. Giush Uddin Ahmed  University of Rajshihi, Bangladesh
Prof Ekatarina Arabska  University of Agribusiness and Rural Development, Bulgaria
Prof. Dr. Md. Solaiman Ali Fakir  Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh 
Prof. Durga Prasad  Institute of Rural Management Anand, India
Prof. Masayoshi Shigyo  Yamaguchi University, Japan
Prof. Naoki Yamauchi  Yamaguchi University, Japan
Prof. Mirza Barjees Baig  King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Prof. Mahinda Wijeratne  University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka
Prof. Colin N Peiris  NSBM Green Universuity
Prof. U K Jayasinghe Mudalige  Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
Prof. Khan Bahadar Marwat  Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan
Prof. A.A.Y Amarasinghe  Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
Prof. Lal Vidana Arachchi  Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
Prof. M. Esham  Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
Prof. Anil Gunarathne  Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
Prof. Mumtaz A.Cheema  Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Prof. Riaz Ahmad  University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan
Prof. Hao Gefei  Central China Normal University, PR China
Dr. Michael R. Reed

Director, International Programs for Agriculture, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, U.S.A

Dr. A. K. Srivastava

Principal Scientist (Soil Science),National Research Center for Citrus A
Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Prof. Dr. Joel L. Cuello, Ph.D.

Director,Global Initiative for Strategic Agriculture in Drylands (GISAD)
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, The University of Arizona Tucson, U.S.A.

Dr. Omoanghe S. Isikhuemhen

Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Design, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, U.S.A

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar

Faculty of Industrial Sciences and Technology, Universiti Malaysia PAHANG, Malaysia

Prof. Dr. Juan M. Pulhin

 

Department of Social Forestry and Forest governance, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines, Philippines

 

Prof. Dr. Asaf Hajiyev

Secretary General of Parliamentary Assembly of Black, Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), Academician at Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Azerbaijan

Dr. Michael R. Reed

Professor, Agricultural Economics, Director, International Programs for Agriculture, University of Kentucky, Lexington, U.S.A.


 

Dr. A. K. Srivastava

Principal Scientist (Soil Science), National Research Center for Citrus A Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Prof. Dr. Joel L. Cuello

Director, Global Initiative for Strategic Agriculture in Drylands (GISAD)
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, The University of Arizona Tucson, U.S.A.

Dr. Omoanghe S. Isikhuemhen

Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Design, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State, University, Greensboro, U.S.A.

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar

Faculty of Industrial Sciences and Technology, Universiti Malaysia PAHANG, Malaysia

Prof. Dr. Juan M. Pulhin

Department of Social Forestry and Forest governance,  College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines, Philippines

Prof. Dr. Asaf Hajiyev

Secretary General of Parliamentary Assembly of Black, Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), Academician at Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Azerbaijan

Mr. Prasad C Iddamalgoda

Editorial Assistant
Mr Harsha Udayakantha Peiris  Copy Editor

 

Submissions

Submitting an Manuscript

You can submit your manuscript by e mail to agriscan@agri.sab.ac.lk or can do online submission through visiting to website https://jas.sljol.info/about/submissions/

Archive 

Complete Archives of the Journal can be visited at  https://jas.sljol.info/issue/archive/

2020  
Volume 15, No 1, 2020 January Article 01Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05Article 06, Article 07, Article 08Editorial Foreword
2019  
Volume 14, No 2, 2019 May Article 01Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05Article 06, Article 07Editorial Foreword
Volume 14, No 1, 2019 January Article 01Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05Article 06, Editorial Foreword
2018  
Volume 13, No 3, 2018 September Article 01Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05Article 06, Article 07, Editorial Foreword
Volume 13, No 2, 2018 May

Article 01Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05Article 06, Article 07, Editorial Foreword

Volume 13, No 1, 2018 January

Article 01Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05Article 06, Article 07, Article 08, Editorial Foreword

Complete Version

2017  
Volume 12, No 1, 2017 January

Article 01Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05Article 06

Complete Version

2016  

Volume 11, No 3, 2016 September

Content PageArticle 01Article 02, Article 03, Article 04Article 05Article 06
Editorial Foreword 

Complete Version 

Volume 11, No 2, 2016 May

Content PageArticle 01Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05Article 06,

Article 07Editorial Foreword

Volume 11, No 1, 2016 January

Full
2015  

Volume 10, No 3, 2015 September

Content Page, Full

Volume 10, No 2, 2015 May

Content Page,  Article 01,  Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05Article 06

Volume 10, No 2, 2015 January

Cover PageContent PageArticle 01Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05
Back Cover

2014  

Volume 9, No 3, 2014 September

Cover PageFirst Pages,  Article 01Article 02

Volume 9, No 2, 2014 May

Cover PageFirst Pages,  Article 01,  Article 02Article 03Article 04Article 05
Back Cover

Volume 9, No 2, 2014 January