African Journal of Range & Forage Science

Instructions for Authors

The Journal publishes peer-reviewed Research Papers, Research Notes, Reviews and Commentaries dealing with topics related to range and forage science that contribute to the discipline in an African context. Papers may report the results of a specific investigation, may be speculative in nature, or may review the literature and trends in a particular field. Invited Book Reviews and Letters to the Editor are also published. Further information on the Types of Manuscripts published is available for download below. Page charges of ZAR225 (for African contributors, excl. VAT for South Africa) or USD19 (for other contributors) per page are levied. Page charges are waived for corresponding authors who are Grassland Society of Southern Africa members (with a journal subscription) and for Book Reviews and Letters to the Editor.

Editorial policy: Contributions must conform to the principles outlined in Ethical Considerations in Research Publication available for download below. Submission of a manuscript implies that the material has not previously been published, nor is it being submitted elsewhere for publication. Submission of a manuscript will be taken to imply transfer of copyright of the material to the publishers, NISC. Contributions are accepted on the understanding that the authors have the authority for publication. Material accepted for publication in this Journal may not be reprinted or published in translation without the express permission of the publishers, NISC. The final decision to accept a manuscript rests with the Editor-in-Chief.

Presentation: Before submitting a manuscript authors should peruse a recent issue of the Journal for format and style. Manuscripts must be written in clear English (UK style). Typescripts not prepared in accordance with our instructions will be returned to authors for revision before they are sent to referees. Manuscripts and figures must be submitted in electronic form.

Manuscripts: Manuscripts should be prepared using Microsoft Word (font Arial or Times New Roman, 12 pt) in A4 format with 1.5 line spacing without columns. Number all pages sequentially, including the title page and those containing the references, figure captions and tables. All submissions should be made online at the African Journal of Range & Forage Science ScholarOne Manuscripts site. New users should first create an account. Once a user is logged onto the site submissions should be made via the Author Centre. The journal operates a double-anonymized review process. All information identifying the authord must be removed from the manuscript tet file and included in a separate Title Page file (for content see manuscript format below), which is not accessible by reviewers. 

Statistical analyses: Pseudoreplication should be recognised and treated accordingly. Test results must be reported in full, not p-values alone. Measures of variation and probability should be reported to one decimal place more than the respective means and test statistics.

Manuscript format: The manuscript should be arranged using the following order:
Title page — (a) Title: This title must be brief, sufficiently informative for retrieval by automatic searching techniques, and should contain important keywords. Names of taxa are to be used without author citations. (b) Author(s): Corresponding author must be indicated. (c) Affiliations: The authors' respective affiliation where the work was done. Thecurrent address for an author (if different) can be indicated. An e-mail address for the corresponding author must be provided. (d) Acknowledgements: acknowledge funders and anyone who provided intellectual or technical assistance, or specialist equipment or materials. 

Abstract page — (a) Abstract: This must be a concise statement of the scope of the work and the principal findings. It must not exceed 200 words. It should summarise the information presented in the paper but should not include references. (b) Key words: Up to five additional index words or phrases, not included in the title, must be listed alphabetically.
Main text — The Introduction should outline the problem in general and clearly state the study objectives. References to previous work are only desirable if they have direct bearing on the subject of the paper. A detailed review of the literature is usually inappropriate. Typically, the intermediate sections will be Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. Commentaries and Reviews may have different headings, while Research Notes, Letters and Book Reviews should have no headings.
References — References to literature within an article must be arranged chronologically. References to works by more than two authors should be abbreviated with et al. The list of references at the end of the article must be arranged alphabetically and titles must appear exactly as in the originals. Refer to Reference Exemplars for Authors available for download below:

Bell RHV. 1982. The effect of soil nutrient availability on community structure in African ecosystems. In: Huntley BJ, Walker BH (eds), Ecology of tropical savannas. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. pp 193–216.

Hoffman MT, Cowling RM. 1990. Desertification in the lower Sundays River Valley, South Africa. Journal of Arid Environments 19: 105–117.

Leng RA. 1986. Drought feeding strategies: theory and practice. Armidale: Penambul Books.

Tables — Each table must be accompanied by an appropriate standalone caption. Data may not be presented in both tabular and graphical form. Tables must be formatted to fit the page vertically with a printed width of either 80 mm or 175 mm. Tables may include up to five horizontal lines but no vertical lines.
Figures — Ensure figures conform to the journal style. Pay particular attention to line thickness, font and figure proportions, taking into account the journal’s printed page size. Costs of redrawing figures may be charged. Please refer to Figure Guidelines for Authors: format, style and technical considerations available for download below. For digital photographs or scanned images the resolution should be at least 300 dpi for colour or greyscale artwork and a minimum of 600 dpi for black line drawings. These can be saved (in order of preference) in PSD, JPEG, PDF or EPS format. Graphs, charts or maps can be saved in AI, PDF or EPS format. MS Office files (Word, Powerpoint, Excel) are also acceptable but DO NOT EMBED Excel graphs or Powerpoint slides in a MS Word document, rather send the original Excel or Powerpoint files. More detailed technical information is given in Figure Guidelines for Authors. Illustrations can be reproduced in colour, but only when essential, and subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief. Non-essential use of colour will be charged at ZAR900 (excl. VAT) per page for African contributors and USD75 per page for contributors from elsewhere.

Referees: Before submitting a manuscript authors are advised to have their work reviewed by colleagues in the same field of research. This should be reflected in the Acknowledgements. After submission all manuscripts are critically reviewed by at least two referees on whose advice the Editor-in-Chief accepts or rejects contributions, or returns the manuscript to authors for revision.

Electronic reprints: Authors will be notified by e-mail when their article is available for download from the journal website.

Open access: The Journal is a hybrid journal which allows authors the option of publishing their article Open Access for a set fee. Further details are given on the Open Access at NISC page. 

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