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; 1^st January, 1^st May and 1^st 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

To submit an article online, and to check the status of your submission, you need to have an account with The Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka(JAS-SL). Don't have an account? Register Here -> Start Submission

Author Guidelines

Policy for Publication Fees

There is no publication fee or manuscript processing fee for this journal until further notice.

Please read the following guidelines carefully before you prepare a manuscript for this journal. These new guidelines will be effective from the 01st of September 2025.

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. JAS-SL uses Turn-it-in as the software for similarity checking. An article plagiarized more than 20% (Similarity Index) at the time of submission would be rejected and the corresponding author will be informed. An article that has a similarity index of over 20%, observed by editors, peer reviewers or by editorial staff at any stage of publication process would be rejected and authors are notified the same.

However, the list of references, names of authors and their affiliations would be excluded from the similarity check.

Types of Manuscripts AcceptedThe 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, and short communications 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 aninitial screening based on appropriateness of the theme, and quality and the depth of content of the manuscript. Manuscripts which are not according to the author guidelines will not be processed further and the corresponding author will be informed accordingly.
Those manuscripts that have successfully passed the initial screening will undergo a double-blind peer review process. Two subject experts will be assigned as reviewers by the Editor-in-Chief in consultation with the Managing Editor and Coordinating Editors to carry out the review based on an evaluation criterion. Based on the evaluation reports of the reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial team then make a final decision for acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.

Peer review process would take a minimum of around 8-12 weeks. It is assured that the whole process will not take more than 20 weeks based on the feedback from reviewers.

If the manuscript is accepted with reviewers’ comments, it will be sent to the corresponding author along with the comments. The author will be given a maximum period of two weeks to incorporate the suggested improvements and return the revised manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief. An Author Response Form will also be provided to the corresponding author to indicate all the amendments made by the panel of authors. Authors are kindly requested to follow the guidelines for authors when submitting a manuscript—both initially and finally—and to return the improved manuscript within the specified deadline. All amendments or changes to the manuscript must be shown in red font to facilitate the editorial team in checking whether the revisions are appropriate. Every change made to the original manuscript must be clearly mentioned in the Author Response Form with relevant line numbers, which will help the editorial team to verify the changes efficiently.

Conditions for submission

The language of publication is English. The manuscript should be written in clear and 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 or are not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. 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 which are not according to the author guidelines will not be processed further and the corresponding author will be informed accordingly.

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(1. Original research articles, 2. Review articles, 3. Short Communications).

Please refer to an article already published in the journal website  after 1st September 2025  (https://jas.sljol.info/) for better understanding of correct form of manuscript. Manuscripts should be prepared in Microsoft Word format (Version 97-2003 or newer). The main text should be double-spaced with 2.5 cm-wide page margins all around and all tables must be in Microsoft Word format (Version 97-2003 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 within text should be included. Page number should be at the bottom right corner.

1. ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLES

TITLE PAGE (Page 1)

Assemble sections of your manuscript in the following order: (1) Title Page; (2) Abstract; (3) Main text; (4) List of References; (5) Tables; and (6) Figures.Word limit for an original research article should be less than 6000 words excluding references.

TITLE PAGE (Page 1)
A separate title page should be submitted. Mentionthe article type as ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE on the top right corner. The title page should contain the title of the research article, list of authors, their affiliations, full postal address and their Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) details. The title of the article should be in Times New Roman fonts of size 14pt, title-cased (the first letter of each word in the title should be capitalized except for certain small words like “a,” “the,” “and”, “of”. Eg. Reinforcing Pepper (Capsicum annuum) Growth by Gypsum and Salicylic Acid Under Salinity Stress: an in vitro Analysis. 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 the surname (e.g., AB Smith, EA van Bethowan, AB Martin). Use 12pt font size, Times New Roman, not bold. Only one author should 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 of multiple authors, indicate each appropriate author using superscripts¹, ², etc. An author should have only one postal address. Include the e-mail address of the corresponding author. The JAS-SL will communicate only with the corresponding author. Deletion or addition of authors is not permitted after a manuscript has been submitted.

All authors are required to sign up for ORCID and submit their ORCID iDs to the journal at the time of manuscript submission. More information on ORCID is available at https://orcid.org/. Include ORCID details on the title page.

Once submitted, the names, order of authorship, and their affiliations cannot be changed, deleted, or added. Therefore, please finalize these details before submitting the manuscript.


ABSTRACT (Page 2)

The word ABSTRACT at the top should be in capitals 12pt font size. Start text leaving anempty line below the word ABSTRACT and each sub-section. Text should be justified, as a single paragraphwith each sub-heading, ideally not longer than 250 words inTimes New Roman font size 12pt. 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 followingthree sub-headings. Authors are requested to follow the given format for abstracts strictly.

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 90 words)
Findings and values:
Describe the main findings of the research and the practical value of the research if relevant (maximum 100 words)

Keywords:
Maximum of 6 keywordsitalics andin the alphabetical order. Each word should start with a capital letter and be separated by a comma. Eg: Faba bean, Grain yield, Inter row, Legumes, Rhizobium


MAIN TEXT (From Page 3 onwards)
The manuscript should start with the title. Dividethe manuscript into the following main headings:INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS and REFERENCES.

Only three levels of headings are allowed in the following hierarchy.
(i)    Headings: Use UPPER-CASE, Times New Roman, font size 12pt, bold, left aligned. The text should start on the next line with no indents.

 E.g., INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS and REFERENCES.

(ii)    Sub-headings: Use Sentence case, Times New Roman, font size 12pt, in italics and bold, left-aligned. The text should start on the next line with no indents.

E.g., Assessment on irrigation systems

(iii)    Sub-sub-headings:Use sentence-case, Times New Roman, font size 12pt, in Italics, not bold, left-aligned. The text should start on the next line with 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.

Non-English words, crop cultivar names, village names, town names, local names, and Latin (scientific) names of plants and animals should be in italics.

E.g., Mango cultivar ‘Karuthakolamban’ was used in the experiment; The experiment was conducted in Matara and Kalpitiya areas of Sri Lanka

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, Sentence-case, Times New Roman font size 12pt. 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 & 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). 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). 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 text.
Citing personal communications in the text:Personal communications are only cited in the text; they are not listed in the reference list because readers cannot access the information in them. Give the initial(s) and surname of the communicator, and provide as exact date as possible, within a parenthesis, using the following format:(AS Evans, personal communication, February 10, 2019)

All references cited in the text should be presented in the list of references according to following guidelines.

References should be listed in full at the end of the manuscript under the heading REFERENCES, following the standard Harvard referencing style. References must be indicated in the main text using the author’s surname and the year of publication in parentheses. Use justified text throughout the manuscript.

Authors must ensure that all references are checked against the original sources, with particular attention to the correct spelling of names, full article and journal titles, punctuation, and the use of accents—especially in non-English references.

Where available, include Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to help minimize publication delays. Authors are strongly advised not to use any electronic formatting, such as hyperlinks or other clickable links, in the reference list. References should be typed plainly, consistent with the rest of the manuscript text.

Many authors include linked references that are connected to in-text citations or external sources. This creates difficulties during the review process. To avoid causing inconvenience to reviewers and editors, authors are strongly advised to remove all such links from the references before submission. Failure to do so may result in the manuscript being returned for corrections, leading to delays in the publication process.

Books:
Matarana H, Varela F (1987) The tree of knowledge. 2nd Edition. Boston, Shimbala. 125p.
Surname Initial, 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., 125p. or 95-103.).

For chapters within books:
Elton LA, Narayan A, 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-East-West. Vol 1. (Berendt B, Lim A and Stary J Eds.). Publications Saule, Chene, France. 125-140.

SurnameInitials, Surname Initials, Surname Initials (Year of publication) Title of the chapter. In: Title of the book. Volume (if any).(Names of editors of the book. Eds. If one editor,use only Ed.). Publisher, City, Country. page range of a paper or chapter in the book 125-140.

If an abstract in conference proceedings:

Optiona 1:

Bernard MV, Kumara GD, Edmond H (2024) Climate change adaptation strategies adopted by fruit crops. Fifth International conference of Agricultural sciences (AgInsight-2025). 11th -12th September 2024. Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka 12p.

Surname Initials, Surname Initials, Surname Initials (Year of publication) Title of the abstract. Name of the conference. Date of conference conducted. Location (Institute, Country). Page number where abstract in

Optiona 2:

Bernard MV, Kumara GD, Edmond H (2024) Climate change adaptation strategies adopted by fruit crops. Fifth International conference of Agricultural sciences (AgInsight-2025). (Kumara GDK, Jayasekara N Eds.) 11th -12th September 2024. Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka 12p.

Surname Initials, Surname Initials, Surname Initials (Year of publication) Title of the abstract. Name of the conference. (Editor’s name of Proceedings) Date of conference conducted. Location (Institute, Country). Page number where abstract in

Journal articles:
Gunadasa H, Dissanayake P (2012) Optimization of quality in exported Polyscias balfouriana "Marginata" by using different shade levels. Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 7 (2 ), 58–65. http://doi.org/10.4038/jas.v7i2.4403

Surname Initials, Surname Initials (Year of publication) Title of the article. Full name of the Journal (it alics hould not be abbreviated).Volume (issue if any), Page range of the article (First and last page). DOI

JAS-SL requires that all author names be listed in the reference list—do not use "et al." even when there are many contributors. In some research articles, there may be ten or more authors, and JAS-SL can accommodate the full list. Ensure that no author’s name is omitted from the references.


Online Journal article:
Brownlie D (2007) Toward effective poster presentations: An annotatedbibliography. European Journal of Marketing.41(1), 1245-1283. http://doi.org/10.1108/03090560710821161.

Surname Initials (Year of publication). Title of the article. Full name of the Journal (italic should not be abbreviated). Volume (issue if any), Page range of the article (First and last page). DOI

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, Befecadu J (2003) Internet adoption and use of e-commercest strategies. http://www2.aamu.edu/saes/SFRCdocs/PDF/ECOMMERCE_PAPER.pdf. 15.09.2011.

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

Watanabe W and Titt RT (1982) The white willows. Annual Report of the Basketmakers’ Research Institute, 1981-82. Salixville, Australia. 106-107.

Weeping GJ(1986) Maran: Possible Commercial Uses. PhD Thesis, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuolya, Sri Lanka. 225p. (Total pages of the thesis.

For anonymous publications, quote in the text as Anon (1992), provide details of such work / publications for tracking purposes if necessary.

Tables (Continue page numbering):
Each table should be started on a separate page within the manuscript. Tablesmust be numbered sequentially (e.g., Table 1, Table 2, etc.) and ideally referred to in the text in the section preceding their appearance (e.g., Table 1).

Table captions should be in bold (e.g., Table 1.), written in sentence case, and placed above the table with a final full stop. Captions should be descriptive yet concise, allowing the reader to understand the table content without needing to refer back to the main text.

Technical, statistical, or explanatory details should be included as footnotes beneath the table, using lower-case superscript symbols (e.g., ±SE, *, **, P values, units, etc.).

All content must be placed within a table grid with all borders visible. Do not use tabs, indents, or manual spacing to format tables. Avoid very large or complex tables. Use the same font type, size, and style as used in the main text.

Refer to tables in the manuscript text as Table 1., Table 2., etc.

Figures (Continue page numbering):
All pictures, illustrations, graphs, and photographs are considered Figures.
•    Figures may be included within the main text at appropriate locations where they are discussed. In the text, refer to them as Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc. (not as Figure 1, Figure 2).
•    All figure titles and legends should be placed below the respective figures. The figure title should be in bold (e.g., Figure 1. Rainfall pattern in Southern Sri Lanka). Any additional descriptions or legends should appear in regular text (not bold). The title should be descriptive and meaningful enough to allow the reader to understand the figure without referring to the main text.
•    Legends should be clear and readable, using regular (non-bold) text. For graphs with multiple symbols or lines, include a description (e.g., open circles, filled triangles, dotted lines) in the legend or provide a key within the graph.
•    If figures contain multiple panels (e.g., several photographs, graphs, histograms), label each panel as A, B, C, etc. Provide a general, meaningful title and describe each panel separately within the legend.
•    Micrographs and photographs must include clearly visible scale bars, with the scale defined in the legend.
•    For graphs, axis labels must indicate the units, be parallel to the axes, and appear in clear, even-sized lettering. Use a combination of upper- and lower-case letters in bold (avoid all capital letters).
•    Ensure that lines in figures are thick enough to remain clearly visible when printed.
•    For histograms, use contrasting colours—preferably black, white, and grey. Avoid cross-hatching, speckled patterns, or overly complex fills.
•    In addition to embedding figures in the text, authors are advised to submit high-quality figures as separate JPEG or PNG files, without captions or legends.
•    Figures should be created at a width between 80 mm and 180 mm, and at a resolution of 300–600 dpi. Higher-resolution figures are encouraged, as they enhance readability and visual impact.
•    Name the figure files as Fig1.jpg, Fig2.png, etc.
•    All numbered figure titles and legends should also be typed together on a separate sheet(s) and placed after the REFERENCES section.

Writing Units
All units must be written according to the International System of Units (SI units). For example, write 20 mL (not 2omL or 20ml). Ensure there is a single space between the number and the unit symbol. When expressing concentrations such as 1.2 grams per millilitre, write it as 1.2 g mL⁻¹ (with a space between each component).

Writing Scientific Names of Plants and Animals
Authors must strictly adhere to the following internationally accepted guidelines when writing scientific (binomial) names of plants and animals. These standards align with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) for animals and the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN).

General Format
Scientific names must include both Genus and species names (binomial nomenclature).Both names must be italicized, The Genus name is capitalized the species name is in lowercase, the author(s) who described the species must be cited after the species name.

E.g.

Solanum tuberosum L.
Homo sapiens L.
Bombyx fortunatus Moore & Hutton, 1862
Felis silvestris Schreber, 1777
Bombyx mori L., 1758

Author Name Conventions
If the species was originally described by Carl Linnaeus, abbreviate as L.
For all other authors, use the full name or surname, with the year of description where appropriate.

Use parentheses around the author’s name if the species has been moved to a different genus from its original classification.

E.g. Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck

Placement of Author Names
Include the author's name and year only in the title and the first mention of the species in the manuscript.Omit the author name in subsequent references throughout the manuscript.


Abbreviation After First Mention
After the first full mention, abbreviate the Genus name if the context is clear.

E.g.  Escherichia coli → E. coli

Subspecies, Varieties, and Forms
If applicable, include additional taxonomic ranks such as subspecies, variety (var.), or forma (f.).

E.g.  Brassica oleraceavar. capitata L.
Zea mays mexicana L. (here, mexicana is the subspecies)

Cover Image Submission (Optional):
Authors are encouraged to submit an additional high-quality colour photograph related to the study for possible use as a cover page image, if space permits. There are no charges for this optional submission.

Notes
Avoid using footnotes within the text. Cutting, copying, and pasting content from other documents is strictly prohibited. Such practices will result in disqualification from publishing in JAS-SL.

2. REVIEW ARTICLES

Assemble sections of your manuscript in the following order: (1) Title Page (2) Abstract (3) Main text (4) References (5) Tables and (6) Figures.TheMaximum word limit is less than 7000 words excludingreferences.

TITLE PAGE (Page 1)

Indicate REVIEW ARTICLE at the top right corner.
Follow the same guidelines as those provided for original research articles.

ABSTRACT (Page 2)
There are no specific guidelines; however, it is advised to follow the same structure as for original research articles.

Purpose:
Clearly explain the purpose of the work along with the research problem (maximum 60 words).
Research Method:
Describe the research methods employed in developing the review article and any relevant tools used (maximum 90 words).

Findings and values:
Summarize the main findings of the review and highlight the practical significance of the content, if applicable (maximum 100 words).

Keywords:
Maximum of 6 keywords italics and in the alphabetical order. Each word should start with a capital letter and be separated by a comma. Eg: Faba bean, Grain yield, Inter row, Legumes, Rhizobium

Main text
There is no specific format for review articles. The maximum word limit is less than 7,000 words, excluding references. Authors are free to adopt a format that best suits their review. When using headings, subheadings, and sub-subheadings, follow the same guidelines as outlined for original research articles.

References, Tables and Figures

Follow the same guidelines as those provided for original research articles.

3. SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

Short communications should not exceed 2,500 words and may include up to two figures or tables. The number of references should be fewer than 10. Short communications must report completed work—not preliminary findings. A short communication generally takes one of the following forms:

A thorough reanalysis of previously published work.

A contribution that may not fall under "standard research" but is still relevant to a broad audience.

A concise summary of research findings that are both significant to the community and appropriate for the journal.

Assemble sections of your manuscript in the following order: (1) Title Page (2) Main text (3) References (4) Tables (Maximum 2) and (5) Figures (Maximum2).

TITLE PAGE (Page 1)
Indicate SHORT COMMUNICATION at the top right corner.
Follow the same guidelines as outlined for original research articles.
Abstract is not required.

Main text
There is no specific format for short communications. Authors are free to use a structure suitable for the content. When using headings, subheadings, and sub-subheadings, follow the same formatting guidelines as those provided for original research articles.

References, Tables and Figures
Follow the same guidelines as those provided for original research articles.

All authors submitting manuscripts to the Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka are strongly advised to strictly adhere to the author guidelines. Manuscripts that do not comply with these guidelines will be rejected without further processing.

Research Ethics Clearance

For any research involving human participants or animals, authors must provide documented evidence of ethical clearance obtained from a recognized ethics review committee or relevant institutional authority.

In cases where the research involves the capture, handling, or use of wildlife—particularly species that are legally protected—authors must submit both the ethical clearance certificate and the official permission granted by the appropriate regulatory body or authority in the country.

Manuscripts lacking the required ethical approvals will not be considered for publication in the Journal of Agricultural Sciences – Sri Lanka (JAS-SL).

Copyright Notice

• Copyright on any research article in the Journal of Agricultural Sciences–Sri Lanka is retained by the author(s).
• The authors grant Journal of Agricultural Sciences–Sri Lanka 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-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 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, DOIs for the references have been provided.
4. The text is double-spaced; uses a 12pt font size; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed according to the guidelines above.
5. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines above, which is found in ‘About the Journal’.
6. 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

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/