The scientific articles and literature review articles should not exceed 20 pages and 12 for technical notes. The articles must be transcribed into a PC-compatible word processor (OpenOffice Writer, Microsoft Word, or RTF) using Arial font, 12-point size, and double interline spacing.

The layout of the page should include the following parameters: letter-sized paper (8.5" x 11" or 21.59 cm x 27.94 cm), leaving wide margins (2.5 cm) and including numbering of continuous lines and pages.

Articles must be divided into sections in the following order: title in Spanish, title in English, title in Portuguese, full name of the authors (first and last name or as normally written in their publications) ordered according to the importance of contribution to the research or in the preparation of the article and not in alphabetical or rank order; institutional postal address; ORCID ID permanent digital identifier of the authors; authors’ email specifying the corresponding author; abstract; keywords; abstract in the second language; key words in the second language; abstract in Portuguese (resumo); key words in Portuguese (palabras-chave); introduction; materials and methods; results and discussion; conclusions; recommendations (optional); acknowledgment (optional); source of funding (optional); references.

Authors from Eurasian, African and Brazilian countries are requested to clearly indicate their first and last name.

The names and email addresses provided to this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes set forth therein and will not be provided to third parties or for use for other purposes.

Only uppercase letters must be used to start titles, subtitles, paragraphs, after period and followed by proper names.

Bibliographic citations shall be made in the text of the article and not in footnotes. Citations must not be used in the resumen, abstract and resumo.

Citations will follow the author-date format with the author's surname in lower case, followed by the year.

For example:

Jiménez, 1997 → Jiménez (1997), (Jiménez, 19979)

When the author of the citation appears in his publications with the first and second surname joined by a hyphen, the same format will be used to cite him, followed by the year.

For example:

Jiménez-Pérez, 1997 → Jiménez-Pérez (1997), (Jiménez-Pérez, 1997)

The documents with two authors are cited by their first surnames joined by ‘‘y’’ in Spanish and ‘‘&’’ in English.

For example:

Ewel y Madriz, 2007 → Ewel y Madriz (2007), (Ewel & Madriz, 2007).

When the bibliographic citation is authored by more than two authors, the surname of the first author followed by et al. (abbreviated locution in Latin "and others") will be cited.

For example:

Avilán, Leal and Batista, 2020 → Avilán et al. (2020), (Avilán et al., 2020).

To cite several works by an author or group of authors from the same year, the author's first surname in lower case must be used, followed by the year and the alphabet letter in lower case consecutively, a, b, c....

For example:

Avilán, 2020 → Avilán (2020c), (Avilán, 2020c).

The use of citations of citations is not allowed.

It is suggested to cite self-authored sources (self-citation) to avoid problems of self-plagiarism

1. Title

It should be short, explanatory, and must indicate the essence of the work in no more than 15 words. It must not contain the scientific and common names of the organisms cited. It will not include abbreviations or acronyms, except those known by the entire scientific audience. It must not begin with grammatical article, verb, or action. Avoid phrases like: Aspects of, Comments on, Research of, Studies of, Preliminary Studies on, Notes on, Comments on, as well as ambiguities, dates, localisms and formulas. The titles written in the Spanish, English and Portuguese languages must be included.

2. Abstract

It must have a maximum of 250 words (150 for technical notes), including: justification, objectives, materials and methods, results and conclusions. It must be written in a single paragraph at double space. The abstract must be written in past tense. At the end of the abstract, three to five keywords must be placed that are not included in the title and that identify the content of the scientific, review or technical article. Written abstracts must be included in Spanish, English and Portuguese languages.

3. Introduction

It must include the research problem, its relevance and justification, a brief review of the updated literature of the topic under study and/or supporting theories, and it must conclude with the purpose of the research. The introduction must be written in present verbal tense.

In revision articles, the body of the text may contain easily understood subtitles.

4. Materials and methods

Materials used in the development of research, including trademarks (if any), must be mentioned. Indicate the agroecological zone, laboratory condition or controlled space where the study was performed, population, sample and sampling. Data collection techniques and study variables. Describe unusual or novel methods and techniques, as well as modifications used. Conventional methods and techniques will be described by reference. The design of the research, the methods of statistical analysis and the software used in the research must be specified.

In this section, the wording must be sequentially and in past tense, so that the methodology can be repeatable. References to tables, figures and diagrams can be done.

In the review articles this section will be named as "Methods" and it must generally indicate the sources of information used to prepare the review, whether the author has used personal references or if he/she has consulted with other experts.

5. Results and discussion

The journal uses the format of results and discussion in the same section. The results must be analyzed based on supporting theories and previous research, statistical analysis and they must be related to mechanisms and specific processes to the area of study and must be written in the past tense. It is important to end this section with a paragraph reflecting the practical or theoretical implications of the research.

In the review articles, this section will be named as "Discussion" and it will be written in present tense. It is necessary to clarify the evidence that supports any key statements contained in the review, as well as the robustness of the evidence (published essays, systematic reviews, observational studies, opinions of experts). In those topics where the evidence is poor or has poor quality, it should be indicated. The body of the text may contain easily understandable subtitles and these may be written as questions.

6. Conclusions

They must respond or be consistent with the stated objective. Some concluding statements of their revision should be outlined in the review articles. The conclusions will be written in the present verb tense.

Recommendations (optional)

Funding source (optional)

Indicate in a paragraph prior to the literature cited the funding source for the research presented, if applicable.

9. Literature cited

9.1. Literature cited will be limited exclusively to works cited in the text, preferably based on indexed journals and books, and they will be presented according to APA standards (American Psychological Association) seventh edition (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/exampleshttps://normas-apa.org/referencias/)

9.2. The literature cited must be easily accessible to any reader; the circulation citations such as degree thesis, abstracts of scientific events, mimeographs, must be avoided. When restricted circulation citations are used, these must have online access, through URL, DOI, EOI, ePUB, among others. Citations from personal communications, interviews, press releases or news items are not allowed.

9.3. Internationally accepted conventional abbreviations must be used for journal names and periodicals publications (refer to https://portal.issn.org/).

9.4. The journal suggests authors to use bibliographic managers of recognized preference and international importance (Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote, among others), for the correct elaboration of the literature cited.

10. Tables, figures and diagrams

10.1. Tables, figures, and diagrams must be included in the body of the article immediately after the paragraph in which they are mentioned for first time. Tables will be titled at the top and the figures, photographs and diagrams will be titled at the bottom.

10.2. Figures and diagrams must be made with black lines on a white background. Tables, figures and diagrams will be identified by Arabic numerals (without using the symbol N°), in consecutive order, indicating the respective source when they are not of their authorship and including a legend that clearly describes what it refers to, without the need to use the text of the article for their understanding.

10.3. The tables must be elaborated using the table preparation tool of the word processor used, with the lines and columns necessary to record the variables and parameters desired, without loading unnecessary or duplicated information.

10.4 Tables, figures, photographs and diagrams must be sent electronically with optimal print quality (minimum 300 dpi) and in separate files in JPG or TIF formats. Authors may be prompted for editable versions of tables, figures, and diagrams under graphing programs such as MS-PowerPoint, MS-Excel, Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, among others.

11. Units

11.1. Abbreviations and units. Only International System (IS) units and abbreviations must be used. The abbreviations referred to in the IS and/or non-standard abbreviations must be explained when they first appear in the text. Points must not be used in abbreviations.

11.2. The following abbreviations should be used:        

Liter                    L

Milliliter             mL

Millimeter          mm

Kilogram            kg

Gram                  g

Milligram           mg

Kilometer           km

Meter                  m

Square meter     m²

Centimeter        cm

Second                s

Minute               min

Hour                   h

Hectare              ha

Potassium          K

Phosphorus       P

Nitrogen             N

Ton                      t

11.3 Compound units shall be indicated by separating them with a point "." and the second unit expressed with the corresponding subscript value. For example: mg. L^-1; g.kg^-1; km.h^-1; µmol.m^-2.s^-1

11.4 In Spanish articles, decimal amounts are separated by ",". Example: 12,8. In English articles, decimal amounts are separated by ".". Example: 12.8.

11.5 In Spanish articles, units in whole quantities are separated by ".". Example: 1.560; 3.456.897; 1.345.66. In English articles, units in whole amounts are separated by ",". Example: 1,560; 3,456,897; 1,345.66.

12. Nomenclature

12.1. Chemistry and biochemistry. Chemical compound names must be cited according to Chemical Abstracts Service (Chemical Abstracts Service, Ohio State University, Columbus) and their indices.

12.1.1. Biochemical terminology, including abbreviations and symbols, must be done in accordance with the International Commission of Biochemical Nomenclature, https://iupac.org/.

12.1.2. For commonly used abbreviations it is recommended to consult: Journal of Animal Science, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics and the Handbook of Biochemistry (last editions).

12.2. Taxonomic. The binary nomenclature (gender and species) must be used in italics, including the descriptor name in the first mention.

12.3. Genetics. The application of the terms phenotype and genotype must be used in accordance with Demerec et al., 1966 [Genetics 54(1):61-76].

Articles sent must be accompanied by the following letters:

1. An authorization signed by all authors, requesting its publication, accepting the established editorial policies and ceding the publication rights.
2. A letter stating whether or not there are conflicts of interest among the authors.
3. A letter with a list of five (5) possible reviewers (national and/or foreign), with their full institutional postal addresses and e-mail address; the reviewers cannot belong to the same institution as the authors of the article.
4. Check list.
5. The review articles must be accompanied, in addition to the communications indicated above, by a curricular summary of the authors citing all scientific publications, projects, awards and academic activities in which he/she has participated. These requirements must be submitted electronically to the Journal. The models of the letters will be provided by the journal.

Updated: May 2021