African Journals On-line
Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science

Contributions to the Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science are accepted for consideration on the understanding that they are not concurrently being offered elsewhere, in the same or similar form; that the author states the name of the organisation in which he works and the position he holds, or his independent status; that each paper commences with the author's own summary of up to 150 words; and that the author states in which of the following categories he wishes his papers to be assessed.

Original scientific paper. Written in such a way that a qualified research worker, specializing in the same branch of science, is able, simply on the basis of the information given, (a) to reproduce the experiment and secure the results described with equal accuracy or within the limits of experimental error specified by the author; or (b) to check the accuracy of the analyses and deductions on which the author's findings are based; or (c) to repeat the author'sobservations and judge his findings.

e.g.: Ashrif, M. I. & Thornton, I. (1965) Effects of grass mulch on groundnuts in the Gambia, Expl. Agric. 1, 145-152.

Manshard, W. (1961) Land use patterns and agricultural migrations in central Ghana (western Gonja). Tijdschr. econ. soc. Geogr. 52, 255-230.

Provisional communication. Contains one or more novel items of scientific information, but is insufficiently detailed to allow readers to check thesaid information in the ways provided in (a), (b) and(c) above.

e.g.: Brunt, A. A. & Wharton, A. L. (1962) Calonectria rigidiuscular (Berk. and Br.) Sacc., the cause of a gall disease in cocoa in Ghana. Nature, London 193, 903-904.

Ayensu, E. S. (1965) Notes on the anatomy of the Dioscoraeceae. Ghana J. Sci. 5, 10-23.

Subject review article. A survey of one particular subject in which information already published is assembled, analysed, and discussed.

e.g.: Curtis, D. L. (1965) Sorghum in West Africa. Fld Crop Abstr. 18, 145-152.

Evans, D. C. P. (1963) A review of past and present work connected with grassland, pasture and fodder problems in Ghana. Ghana Fmr 7, 28-37.

If, after refereeing, papers are assessed as not being acceptable in any of these categories, contributors will normally be invited either to shorten their papers for submission as Research and Development Notes, or to withdraw them.

Manuscripts must be typed, at 1= or double spacing, on one side of the paper only. There should be a generous margin on the left hand side, and authors should arrange for at least three copies to be typed so that a spare is available for retention after the top copy plus one carbon copy have been sent to theEditors.

Authors outside Ghana should use air mail, and contributors who do not receive an acknowledgement of receipt within 20 days should make suitable inquiries. The acknowledgement will normally state whether or not the paper is to be sent to a referee and how much time must elapse before a decision about acceptance can be taken.

In assessment, preference will be given to authors who write briefly and whose papers are precise and logically planned. The names of referees are not normally disclosed, unless there is a special reason for arranging direct correspondence between a referee and an author.

Illustrations may be submitted in the form of photographs or of line diagrams or both. Number all illustrations Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc. (Note the word 'Plate' is not required). Line diagrams must be drawn in ink on cartridge paper or tracing cloth, preferably by a professional draughtsman or artist, and designed for linear reduction in the ratio of 2:1 or 1=:1 for printing within column width (7.1 cm) or full-page width (14.7 cm). All lettering on diagrams should be in blue pencil (though if the author's draughtsman is skilled in completing diagrams for printing he may work in ink throughout). No diagram should be larger than foolscap size.

Some graph papers reproduce badly. Those printed in light grey are best, and the Editors are willing to assist authors in obtaining sheets if local supplies are unavailable.

Photographs must be black and white glossy prints of good definition, similarly designed for reduction 2:1 or 1=:1, if possible. If only part of a print is to be used, hold the face of the photograph against a window, lightly draw a line in blue pencil on the reverse side to indicate the area to be printed and shade the part to be masked.

Captions for each illustration must be typed out in full at the end of each paper (after the References). On the illustration itself, only the Fig. number is required, on the reverse side in the case of photographs (write lightly) and underneath in the case of diagrams. See that each Fig. number is specifically mentioned in the text and indicate in the ms. where each illustration is to be placed by writing Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc., in the margin.

Tables, whatever their length, should be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. Complicated tables are best submitted on separate sheets of paper and, because it is not always possible to place them immediately adjacent to the relevant text, tables similarly require mention by number in the passage to which they refer. ALWAYS check the typed numerals in tables very carefully against your original data.

Headings must be consistently arranged in a logical sequence of diminishing importance for each main section of a paper, e.g.CENTRE CAPITALS (for a first-value heading)

Side heading with capital(s) and lower case, underlined (second value)

Shoulder heading, ditto, run in at the beginning of a paragraph (third value)

Consistency in spelling, numeration, and abbreviation should be checked before the ms. is typed. Follow the Oxford English Dictionary and precede all units of measurement with an arabic numeral, but spell out up to nine elsewhere, e.g. write 3 cm, 87 g and 109 s, spell out three experiments but write 87 observations and 109 specimens. All units of measurement must as far as possible be in metric form. Where the use of non-metric units is unavoidable, metric equivalents should be given. Use standard abbreviations throughout.

Latin names of plants, animals, pathogens, and pests should be used in preference to local common names on first mention, but the latter may be used thereafter. Authors should themselves decide in which papers it is necessary to quote authorities. The rule-of-thumb procedure is that authorities need not be quoted if the text is descriptive, but that they must be quoted if any degree of precision is required in the identification of species, sub-species, and varieties. In the latter case, quote authorities on first mention only.

Proofs. Authors will normally be told in advance when proofs are expected (though such notice cannot be guaranteed). A period of 2 weeks is assumed to be adequate for their inspection, and authors who fail to return their proofs to the Editor's desk within 1 month of their despatch from Accra will forfeit the right to make corrections. Only minimal amendment to the original wording is permitted, and the Editors reserve the right to levy a charge per corrected line when excessive amendment is requested by the author. Please use standard proof correcting marks.

In the case of papers with two or more authors, one proof is sent to each author. But the senior author is responsible for collating the corrections provided by the other author(s), and the proof which he returns is the one that will be forwarded to the printer.

Papers should be submitted to: FJK Adotevi, Technical Editor, Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science, CSIR, PO Box M32, Accra, GHANA

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