Checklist for submission
California Agriculture is now managing the peer review of manuscripts online here. Click on the “Submit article” button on the lower left-hand side of the screen, and follow the instructions. If you are using the system for the first time, you will be asked to choose a password. If you have any questions about online submission, contact Janet White at jlwhite@ucanr.edu or (510) 665-2201.
If you prefer not to submit online, please e-mail the manuscript to calag@ucanr.edu and jlwhite@ucanr.edu.
If you do not agree to the electronic transferal of your manuscript, we will send out hard copies. If you prefer to submit by mail, send the cover letter and three copies of the manuscript to: Editor, California Agriculture, University of California, 1301 46th St., Building 478, Richmond, CA 94804-4600.
In preparing the manuscript, please:
- Double-space the whole manuscript, and include all tables, figures and captions at the end.
- Use a 12-point font, such as Palatino or Times New Roman.
- Leave margins that are a minimum of 1 inch.
- Include continuous line numbering and page numbers.
- For the purposes of double-blind peer-review, remove all identifying information regarding all authors and co-authors.
All manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter. The cover letter should include:
- The names, addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and affiliations of all authors.
- The headline (title) of the paper and a statement of its main point.
- The total number of words (including text, references, and figure and table legends) in the manuscript.
- A statement that the material has not been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. If you are planning simultaneous submission of the manuscript with a technical or trade journal, please disclose this information and/or contact the Executive Editor or Managing Editor.
- A statement specifying when data was collected. If the final data was collected more than 3 years before submission, please state why they are timely and relevant.
- A statement that you permit the electronic transferal of your manuscript to peer reviewers and Associate Editors.
- A list of photographic illustrations, either available or suggested.
Conditions of acceptance
When a paper is accepted for publication in California Agriculture, it is understood that:
- Informed consent was obtained for studies on humans after the nature and possible consequences of the studies were explained.
- Care of experimental animals was in accordance with institutional guidelines.
- Photos depict situations that conform to relevant regulatory code, if any.
- Authors retain copyright but agree to grant to California Agriculture (and the eScholarship Repository and UC Regents) a nonexclusive license to publish the paper in print and online.
- Authors agree to disclose all affiliations, funding sources, and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias.
- The paper will not be released to the press or the public before publication.
Illustrative material
Captions. Include simple descriptive captions for all graphs, drawings and photos, including as many relevant details as you can. We generally rewrite captions at the final production stage to fit the space available in the layout; you will have the opportunity to approve and/or revise them.
Our practice is to number only charts, graphs and drawings (fig. 1, fig. 2, etc.), and refer to them in text. We do not number photographs or refer to them as figures. Include photo credits if someone other than one of the authors took the photographs.
Color images. We generally run four to six images per article. Submit high-resolution digital images via e-mail or CD. You may also submit 35 mm color slides, preferably originals. We will return your slides after publication. As a last resort, we can scan your good-quality color prints. Please be sure all art is identified and keyed to captions provided.
Digitized images, whether scanned from conventional prints or captured with a digital camera, must provide the resolution needed for our purposes. Digital images must be at least 300 dpi at 4”x 6”. An image captured on a common four-megapixel camera, at its highest resolution, is just sufficient enough to print a two-column photo, whereas an eight-megapixel camera will provide enough “headroom” for us to create a full 9” x 12 “ image. Save the file as a jpeg only as a last resort and then with as little compression as possible. Also avoid converting the image to CMYK; we prefer RGB. If you are unsure of the capabilities of your camera or have questions about content, format or transport of your artwork, please contact Will Suckow, art director for California Agriculture, at (530) 554-2578 or wsuckow@ucanr.edu.
The reproduction process does not improve slide quality but, rather, tends to exaggerate fuzziness and incorrect exposures, so sharp focus and correct exposure are necessities. Be sure that the subject of the photograph stands out clearly against the background, and avoid confusing light patterns.
A slightly “flat” tonal range is preferred. Avoid high contrasts and deep shadows; the printing process exaggerates lights and darks, so much detail will be lost in highlight and shadow areas.
Take several exposures of each desired subject and select the most successful ones (or feel free to let us do the selecting).
Give us as much to choose from as possible. Try to submit both horizontal and vertical format pictures to help with layout flexibility. From our point of view, the more images we have to choose from, the better.
When you know you are going to be writing an article for California Agriculture, try to anticipate your photo needs, especially if you are dealing with seasonal material. It is important to get the photos you need when it is possible to get them. We encourage you to use professional photographers on the campuses.
Photographs and other illustrations are often invaluable, information-laden components of the research articles. When submitting illustrative material, please review the content and consider seeking advice on safety issues, including the depictions of equipment use, pesticide use and food safety.
Figures (charts, graphs, drawings). Figures should supplement, not duplicate, text. As a rule, California Agriculture does not directly reproduce color charts and graphs. Our art director will reformat them, and you will have the opportunity to approve and/or revise them.
For our editing and layout purposes, we ask that you separate them from the text and place them at the end of the manuscript. Number each figure and provide a numbered caption. On each graph, indicate units of measure and make interval marks along both the horizontal and vertical axes (see Council of Science Editors style manual). Where curves or bars need to be differentiated, include the legend to identify them in the graph itself rather than in the caption.
Tables. Tables should supplement, not duplicate the text. They should be understandable when considered apart from the article. Separate them from the text and place them at the end of the manuscript. Your reformatted, edited tables will be included with the edited proofs for your approval.
We use symbols for table footnotes as follows: *, †,‡,§,¶,#,**,††,§§,¶¶,##
References: style guide
As a rule of thumb, we generally allow up to 20 references for research articles and up to 35 for reviews. We will ask authors to trim overlong reference lists.
California Agriculture uses the “name-year system” for citing documents in the text of articles. Basically, references are cited in the text by author name and date of publication and listed at the end of the article in alphabetical order. This system is described in exhaustive detail in the CSE Manual. The following summary outlines the key features of this system, with some modifications specific to California Agriculture.
Beginning in June 2012, the suggested citation to California Agriculture articles uses the abbreviation "Calif Agr" to match the journal's designation on Thomson ISI Web of Science and Web of Knowledge. An example:
- Haroldsen V, Paulino G, Chi-ham C, Bennett A. 2012. Research and adoption of biotechnology strategies could improve California fruit and nut crops. Calif Agr 66(2):62-69. DOI: 10.3733/ca.v066n02p62
Citations
- A citation includes the name of the author(s) of the cited document and the year of publication.
(Brown 1987) - Organizational names cited as authors are generally given in abbreviated form.
(USDA 1991) - If there are two authors, both names are given, separated by “and.” For three or more authors, give the first author’s name followed by “et al.” (not “and others” as recommended by CBE).
(Dawson and Briggs 1986)
(Dawson et al. 1987) - When citing more than one document by the same author(s), give the author name(s) once, followed by the publication dates separated by commas. Use “a, b, c...” to distinguish documents by the same author published in the same year, in order of publication sequence.
(Brown 1987, 1988)
(Smith 1986a, 1986b)
(Dawson and Briggs 1986, 1987) - Use a semicolon to separate citations of references by different authors.
(Brown 1987; Smith 1986)
(Smith 1981, 1987; Dawson and Briggs 1986)
(Dawson GL 1986; Dawson WM 1986)
References
References to documents cited in the text are listed at the end of the article under the heading “References.”
The sequence of references in the reference list is determined by two basic rules:
- Alphabetic order by author surname. Particles such as “de” or “von” are treated as part of the name and govern alphabetization. Initial elements of surnames are alphabetized as written (e.g., St. Louis is alphabetized as “st” not “saint”).
- Publication date (earliest to latest) determines the sequence of references that have completely identical author designations.
Examples of reference sequencing:
Jones GK. 1973.
Jones HP. 1970.
Jones HP. 1971.
Neighbors J. 1876.
[NLM] National Library of Medicine. 1991.
Smith AL. 1986a.
Smith AL. 1986b.
Stickley BT. 1977.
St Louis CH. 1972.
Vandelow MB. 1965.
von Grautschwitz ETA. 1990.
General format for references
Journal articles:
Author(s). Year. Article title. Journal title volume (issue):pages. URL (date and year accessed [if appropriate]) AND/OR doi:##/###
By including an article's digital object identifier (DOI) in your citation, you enable your reader to easily retrieve further information about the article online. Many research databases and online journals now list DOIs. California Agriculture welcomes and encourages the use of DOIs in reference to journal articles.
Books:
Author(s) [or editor(s)]. Year. Title. Place of publication: publisher name. Number of pages.
Parts of books (e.g., chapters):
Author(s) of the part. Year. Title of the part. In: editor(s). Title of the book. Place of publication: publisher. Pages of the part.
Electronic resources:
Author of article/name of site. Year. Name of article/Web page. URL (date and year accessed [if appropriate]) AND/OR doi:##/###
Author names are given as follows: The surname comes first, followed by initials, with no punctuation. For two to four authors, all authors are listed and their names are separated by commas. For more than four authors, the first three author names are listed, followed by “et al.”
In titles of articles, only the first word and proper nouns and proper adjectives are capitalized. Titles of books are italicized and capitalized. Titles of journals are abbreviated (except single-word titles), usually using standard abbreviations given in the CBE Manual.
For pagination, inclusive pages are given. Duplicate digits are not repeated, for example, “137–9” (for 137 through 139), “1196–201” (for 1196 through 1201). If possible, separate page numbers with “en” dashes.
For URLs beginning with “www,” do not include “http://”; include it with all others.
California Agriculture welcomes and encourages the use of digital object identifiers (DOI) in addition to or instead of URLs in references to electronic resources. The DOI will appear as the live link "CrossRef" following the reference appearing in the electronic journal.
Note on referencing California Agriculture articles: In 2002 (Volume 56), California Agriculture began using continuous page numbering for the first time. Articles published in California Agriculture prior to 2002 must be referenced using a volume, issue and page number. This remains the preferred format; however, articles published in 2002 and after may be referenced using volume and page number only.
Examples of references
Calflora. 2005. The Calflora Database, Berkeley, CA. www.calflora.org/index0.html (accessed March 25, 2005).
DiTomaso JM, Gerlach JD. 2000. Centaruea solstitialis L. In: Bossard CC, Randall JM, Hoshovsky M (eds.). Invasive Plants of California’s Wildlands. Berkeley, CA: UC Pr. p 101–6.
Ellstrand NC, Scheirenbeck KA. 2000. Hybridization as a stimulus for the evolution of invasiveness in plants? Proc Nat Acad Sci 97(13):7043–50.
Gerlach JD. 1997. How the west was lost: Reconstructing the invasion dynamics of yellow star-thistle and other plant invaders of western rangelands and natural areas. In: Kelly M, Wagner E, Werner P (eds.). Proc California Exotic Pest Plant Council Symposium, Vol 3. p 67–72.
Maddox DM, Mayfield A. 1985. Yellow starthistle infestations on the increase. Cal Ag 39(6):10–2.
Robbins WW, Bellue MK, Ball WS. 1941. Weeds of California (1st ed.). California State Department of Agriculture, Sacramento, CA. p 395.
[USDA] US Department of Agriculture. 2005. Vegetables 2004 Summary. National Agricultural Statistics Service. http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/fruit/pvg-bban/vgan0105.pdf.
Villegas B. 2001a. Releases of the flower weevil, Larinus curtus, for the biological control of yellow starthistle in California in 2000. In: Woods DM (ed.). Biological Control Program Annual Summary, 2000. California Department of Food and Agriculture, Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services, Sacramento, CA. p 47.
Zeiner DC, Laudenslayer WF, Mayer KE, et al. (eds.). 1990. California’s Wildlife(Vol. 3): Mammals. California Statewide Wildlife Habitat Relationships System. California Department of Fish and Game, Sacramento, CA.