Author Guidelines

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GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

Accepted types of document 

The Revista Ciência Agronômica (RCA) journal accepts the following types of documents for evaluation and publication, in accordance with the guidelines of SciELO and the editorial scope of the journal:

Original Article

Manuscript resulting from unpublished scientific research, with original contribution to the advancement of knowledge in Agricultural Sciences, presenting clear objectives, adequate methodology, consistent analysis of results and discussion based on scientific literature.

Review Article

Analytical and critical study that systematizes the state of the art on a topic relevant to Agricultural Sciences, accepted exclusively within the scope of special issues proposed and coordinated by the journal’s Editorial Board.

Scientific Communication

Concise report of original, partial or preliminary research results, with scientific relevance, accepted exclusively within the scope of special issues proposed and coordinated by the journal’s Editorial Board. 

Authors’ Contributions

The Revista Ciência Agronômica (RCA) journal adopts the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) for the declaration of the individual contributions of the authors. All manuscripts must have the “Authors’ contributions” section, which explains the roles played by each author. Authors’ contribution must be informed first in the metadata of the OJS system, at the time of submission, preferably according to the CRediT taxonomy. After acceptance of the article, this information must be inserted in the final text of the article, in the “Authors’ contributions” section.

Contribution Roles (CRediT):

• Conceptualization
• Methodology
• Software
• Validation
• Formal analysis
• Investigation
• Data curation
• Writing – original draft
• Writing – review and editing
• Visualization
• Supervision
• Project administration
• Funding acquisition

Article Submission Format

The manuscript must be submitted in a single file, without identification of authorship, to ensure double-blind peer review. The text must contain the following sections, in this order: title; abstract; keywords; introduction; material and methods; results and discussion; conclusions; authors’ contribution; availability of data; and references. Where applicable, acknowledgments, appendices or annexes, and specific ethical statements may be included. Authors’ contribution must be informed first in the metadata of the OJS system, at the time of submission, preferably according to the CRediT taxonomy. After the acceptance of the article, this information must be inserted in the final text of the article, in the “Authors’ contributions” section. Information about authors, affiliations, ORCID, contact email, funding, conflicts of interest, and use of artificial intelligence tools should not be included in the submitted manuscript, and should be informed exclusively in the metadata of the OJS system.

The metadata (title, abstract and keywords) must have a version in English, when the language of the text of the submitted work is different from English.

• Title (Portuguese and English): Must be written with only the initial letter capitalized, in bold and centered on the page with a maximum of 15 words. A numbered footnote, extracted from the title, should contain information about the nature of the work (if extracted from thesis/dissertation, if funded research etc.) and references to collaborating institutions. The subtitles: Introduction, Material and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgments and References should be written in capital letters, in bold and centered.

• Abstract (Portuguese and English): Should be clear, easily readable, and provide excellent comprehensive summary of the paper containing up to 250 words.

• Keywords (Portuguese and English): must contain three to five terms for indexing. The terms used should not appear in the title. Each keyword should start with a capital letter and be followed by a period.

• Authors’ names: Authors with a compound last name must present their identification in a clear and standardized way, according to SciELO guidelines, in order to avoid inconsistencies in indexing and citation. It is recommended to use capital letters, hyphens or other resources that clearly indicate the reference last name, maintaining the same standard in all records in the OJS system.

Examples:

Maria Cristina LOPES LOBATO

João Paulo SILVA-SANTOS

Ana Beatriz ALMEIDA SOUZA

• Authors with full affiliation: To ensure double-blind peer review, in the first version of the submitted article, the authors’ names and footnote should be omitted. Only in the final version should the article contain the name of all authors with identification in a footnote, including the title. The identification of the authors must be informed exclusively in the proper fields of the online system. Registration and login of the responsible author are mandatory for online submission of articles and for monitoring the progress of the submitted article. Co-authors must be registered in the online submission system. The identification of the authors must be informed exclusively in the proper fields of the OJS system, with complete institutional affiliation (institution in full, unit/department when applicable, city, state and country). Manuscripts that do not comply with this guideline may be returned for adaptation before the evaluation. The list of authors cannot be added after submission and/or registration.

• Authors’ ORCID: All authors must inform their ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) at the time of manuscript submission, through registration in the journal’s system. ORCID must be reported in full URL format (https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000) and be correctly linked to the respective author. The absence of ORCID may impede the progress of the editorial process. Authors who do not yet have ORCID must register for free at https://orcid.org

• Corresponding author email: The manuscript must indicate a single corresponding author, responsible for all communication with the journal during the editorial process. The email address provided must be valid, active and of regular use, preferably institutional, and must be inserted exclusively in the submission system and not in the article file, in order to ensure double-blind peer review.

• Funding of articles: Authors must inform clearly and completely all funding sources that supported the research and/or the preparation of the manuscript. Information on funding must be inserted exclusively in the appropriate fields of the submission system, and must not be included in the file of the submitted article, in order to preserve the double-blind peer review. The name of the funding agency, the number of the process or project, when applicable, and the identification of the beneficiary, when relevant, must be informed. In the absence of funding, authors must explicitly state that the research has not received financial support.

• DOI registration: Whenever available, the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) must be informed in the bibliographic references, in the standard URL format (https://doi.org/...). The accuracy of the DOIs informed is the responsibility of the authors. The DOI of the published article will be assigned by the Revista Ciência Agronômica journal after approval and publication of the manuscript.

• Language of the articles: For Brazilian authors, the articles will be submitted in Portuguese. If accepted, the articles must be translated into English using a specialized translation service. For foreign authors, the articles will be submitted in English, so those who do not have English as their native language must provide proof of English language review by a specialized company. All articles will be published in English, with translation and/or review paid for by the authors. Proof of translation/review of text in English must be sent through the online system as a supplementary document.

Recommended Text Translation Companies: 

Academic-Editing-Services.com (http://www.academic-editing-services.com/)
American Journal Express (http://www.journalexperts.com/)
American Manuscript Editors (http://americanmanuscripteditors.com/)
Bioedit Scientific Editing (http://www.bioedit.co.uk/)
BioMed Proofreading (http://www.biomedproofreading.com)
Edanz (http://www.edanzediting.com)
Editage (http://www.editage.com.br/)
Elsevier (http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices/)
Enago (http://www.enago.com.br/forjournal/)
JournalPrep (http://www.journalprep.com)
Proof-Reading-Service.com (http://www.proof-reading-service.com/pt/)
Publicase (http://www.publicase.com.br/formulario.asp)
Queen's English (http://www.queensenglishediting.com/)
Stephen Hocker (email@stephenhocker.com.br)
STTA - Serviços Técnicos de Tradução e Análises (http://stta.com.br/servicos.php)

RP Traduções (roqueemmanuel@gmail.com / traducoes.recp@gmail.com)

• Formatting and Length of manuscripts: The submission file must be in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice format. The text must be double-spaced (except Tables); Times New Roman font, normal, size 12, paragraph indentation of 1 cm. All margins must be 2.5 cm. Lines should be numbered continuously. Figures and tables should be inserted in the text, not at the end of the document in the form of annexes. Tables should be prepared in a clear, objective and self-explanatory way, and should be used only when they effectively contribute to the understanding of the results, without duplicating information already presented in figures or text.

Tables: must be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, according to the order of citation in the text; have a concise title, positioned above the table; contain only essential horizontal lines, avoiding the use of vertical lines; use standardized units of measurement in the column headers; present explanatory notes, when necessary, below the table, indicated by superscript letters; employ an adequate number of decimal places, compatible with the accuracy of the data; be explicitly cited in the text. Tables should be inserted in the body of the manuscript, right after their first reference in the text, without identification of authorship. Data from other sources must be properly referenced. Table contents are the responsibility of the authors and should be reviewed for consistency, clarity, and correctness before submission. 

Introduction: must be compact and objective, containing current citations that are related to the subject addressed in the research. Citations present in the introduction should be used to support the discussion of the results, thus creating a contextualization between the state of the art and the discussion of the results. It should not contain more than 550 words. 

Material and Methods: should be combined and not separated. 

Results and Discussion: should be combined and not separated. Tables and figures should be inserted in the text after their first reference. The work must be up to 30 pages. 

• Institutional Ethics Committee Statement: Research involving human beings, animals, genetically modified organisms or any other procedure that requires ethical approval must have been approved by the competent institutional Ethics Committee before the start of the study. Information about ethical approval must be stated in the metadata of the submission system (OJS) at the time of submission. After acceptance of the article, the declaration must be included in the final text of the manuscript, in a specific section, indicating the name of the committee, the institution, the number of the report/protocol and the date of approval, when applicable. When the study does not meet the requirement of ethical approval, the authors must explicitly state this condition. The absence of ethical statement, when required, may impede the progress of the editorial process.

Digital Assets

Graphs, photographs or drawings will carry the general denomination of Figure followed by increasing Arabic numerals and title at the top. Graphs should be prepared using software compatible with “Microsoft Windows”. Figures must be 8.2 cm wide, not exceeding 17 cm. Font must be Times New Roman, size 10, and bold should not be used in the identification of the axes. The Revista Ciência Agronômica journal reserves the right not to accept tables and/or figures with pages in “landscape” orientation or that are more than 17 cm wide. Figures consisting of more than one graph must present the identification of each graph with letters in parentheses located on the upper left side of each graph. Tables and Figures should be inserted right after their first reference.

Note: Figures must also be sent in separate files and with a RESOLUTION of at least 500 dpi through the “Transfer Supplementary Documents” field.

Equations: must be typed using Word’s equation editor, in Times New Roman font. Equations should be given an increasing Arabic numbering. The size standard should be:

Integer = 12 pt

Subscript/Superscript = 8 pt

Sub-subscript/Superscript = 5 pt

Symbol = 18 pt

Sub-symbol = 14 pt

Citations and References

The Revista Ciência Agronômica journal adopts the author-date system, according to ABNT NBR 10520:2023 – Information and documentation – Citations in documents.

Form of presentation

The author's surname must be written with the first letter in uppercase and the remaining letters in lowercase.

Examples:

• Santos (2002) or (Santos, 2002).

Two authors

• Pereira and Freitas (2002) or (Pereira; Freitas, 2002).

Three authors

• Cruz, Perota and Mendes (2000) or (Cruz; Perota; Mendes, 2000).

More than three authors

Use et al.:

• Xavier et al. (1997) or (Xavier et al., 1997).

Institutional Authorship

When the authorship is institutional:

The indication must be made using the full name of the institution, with appropriate capitalization (uppercase and lowercase letters).

Examples:

• World Health Organization (2010) or (World Health Organization, 2010).
• Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (2010); (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, 2010).

The form adopted in the reference list must be the same as that used in the text.

If it is a governmental institution of the direct administration, the name of the jurisdiction or higher body should be used:
(Brazil, 1995).

Acronyms

The first time an institution is mentioned in the text, its name must be presented in full, followed by the acronym in parentheses:

Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (ABNT).

NOTE: This rule applies only to the first mention. After that, one can use only the acronym.

Simultaneous citation of several authors

When different works support the same idea, they should be cited in alphabetical order, separated by semicolons:

• (Fonseca, 2007; Paiva, 2005; Silva, 2006).

A PERCENTAGE OF 60% OF THE TOTAL REFERENCES MUST COME FROM INDEXED SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS WITH A PUBLICATION DATE WITHIN THE LAST 10 YEARS. With regard to journals, information on the place of publication can be omitted, but the titles should not be abbreviated. A minimum of 20 and a maximum of 30 references are recommended. 

References must be prepared in accordance with ABNT NBR 6023:2025.

The list should begin with the word REFERENCES, written in capital letters, bold and centered.

References should:

• Be typed in font size 12;
• Use single line spacing;
• Be aligned to the left margin (not justified);
• Be separated from each other by a simple blank space;
• Be presented in alphabetical order by the first author’s last name;
• Contain the authors’ names written in capital letters;
• Inform the DOI whenever available, in URL format (https://doi.org/…).

Only documents actually cited in the text must be included.

Presentation example

REFERENCES

BRENNER, J. et al. Phosphorus sorption on tropical soils with relevance to Earth system model needs. Soil Research, v. 57, n. 1, p. 17-27, 2018.

EMPRESA BRASILEIRA DE PESQUISA AGROPECUÁRIA. Sistema brasileiro de classificação de solos. 5. ed. Brasília, DF: Embrapa, 2018.

FERREIRA, D. F. Sisvar: a computer statistical analysis system. Ciência e Agrotecnologia, v. 35, n. 6, p. 1039-1042, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-70542011000600001. 

INSTITUTO BRASILEIRO DE GEOGRAFIA E ESTATÍSTICA. Produção agrícola municipal 2022. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 2023. Disponível em: https://www.ibge.gov.br. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2025.

MISHRA, J.; SINGH, R.; ARORA, N. K. Plant growth-promoting microbes: diverse roles in agriculture and environmental sustainability. In: MISHRA, J.; SINGH, R.; ARORA, N. K. Probiotics and plant health. Singapore: Springer, 2017. p. 71-111.

RICHARDS, L. A. Pressure-membrane apparatus: construction and use. Agricultural Engineering, v. 28, p. 451-454, 1947.

SANTOS, R. D. Manual de descrição e coleta de solo no campo. 7. ed. Viçosa, MG: Sociedade Brasileira de Ciência do Solo, 2018.

SILVA, J. R.; COSTA, M. C. G.; FERREIRA, T. O. Soil aggregation and carbon dynamics under biochar application in tropical soils. Revista Ciência Agronômica, v. 55, n. 2, p. 1-12, 2024. https://doi.org/105935/1806-6690.20240015.

Supplementary Documents 

In order for the manuscript to be submitted for evaluation, the authors must attach, at the time of submission, the supplementary documents described below.

1. Declaration of Originality and Exclusivity

Document signed by at least the corresponding author stating that:

• The manuscript is original and unpublished;
• The manuscript is not being evaluated simultaneously by another journal;
• All authors approved the submitted version;
• The order of authorship was defined by consensus.

2. Conflict of Interest Statement

Document informing the existence or non-existence of financial, institutional, commercial or personal conflicts of interest that may influence the results or their interpretation.

In the absence of conflicts, it should include:

“The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.”

3. Statement on the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors must inform whether they used Artificial Intelligence tools during the preparation of the manuscript, specifying the purpose (e.g., linguistic review).

• AI tools cannot be listed as authors;
• Full responsibility for the scientific content lies exclusively with the authors.

4. Data Availability Statement

In accordance with SciELO’s Open Science policy, authors must indicate:

• The public repository where the data is deposited (with DOI or permanent link); or
• That the data is available upon request to the corresponding author; or
• Reasoned justification for possible access restriction.

5. Authorization to Use Third Party Material (where applicable)

If the manuscript includes previously published figures, tables, maps or images, the authors must attach formal authorization from the copyright holder.

Information to be Entered in OJS Metadata

The following information must be filled in directly in the specific fields of the OJS system, with no need to send it as a supplementary document:

• Authorship contributions, according to the CRediT taxonomy;
• Information on approval by the Ethics Committee, when applicable, including name of the institution and protocol number.

Funding Statement

Provide sources of support for the work, including sponsor names, contract/process number (if any), along with explanations of the role of these sources.

Additional Information

The absence of any mandatory document will imply the return of the submission for adjustments before being sent to peer review.

Submission of the manuscript implies agreement with the editorial policies, principles of research ethics and Open Science guidelines adopted by the Revista Ciência Agronômica journal.

Contact

Revista Ciência Agronômica

Universidade Federal do Ceará, Av. Mister Hull, 2977 – Bloco 847, Campus do Pici – CEP: 60.356-000 – Fortaleza, Ceará, Brasil. email: ccarev@ufc.br, phone: +55 (085) 3366-9702