Authors Guideline

Instructions to Authors

1. Aims

The East African Journal of Sciences (EAJS) publishes original scientific papers and disseminates scientific and technological information to the users in Eastern Africa and elsewhere in the world; the Journal also enhances exchange of ideas among scientists engaged in research and development activities; and accepts papers from anywhere else in the world.

2. Scope

The journal publishes peer reviewed original research articles in various disciplines of agriculture, forestry, natural resources, education, natural sciences, human and animal health sciences. It also publishes review articles and short communications, and registers released crop varieties.

3. General Style and Format

Manuscripts should be written in English consecutively paged. •Manuscripts should not exceed 25 pages (double spaced, font size 12, Times New Roman), including tables, figures and illustrations. •Manuscripts should be printed on one side of an A4 type white paper; a space of 2.5 cm should be left on the left, right, top and bottom margins of each page. •Headings and sub-headings should be in title case; both headings and subheadings should be bold and numbered. •Only International System of Units (SI) is acceptable. Symbols and nomenclatures should conform to international recommendations with respect to specific fields of specialization. •Manuscript must be the report of original research findings and should neither be simultaneously submitted to, nor previously published in any other journal. Manuscript submission implies that consent of all authors and permission of the institute has been granted. •All correspondences will be made with author whose name appear first unless indicated otherwise.

4. Research Articles (Full Length Paper)

4.1. Title Page The following shall appear on the title page: •A full title of the manuscript (short but informative). •The name(s) of the author(s) and affiliation(s). Numerical superscripts should be used against affiliations if the authors are more than one. •Short (running) title; not more than 6 words.

4.2. Text Pages The text pages encompass the following sections: Abstract, introduction, materials and methods (methodology), results, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgement and references.

4.2.1. Abstract •Full title of the manuscript. Don.t put authors. names and affiliations on the abstract page. •An abstract of not more than 200 words. Major objectives and findings of the article should be stated clearly. •Key words or phrases (up to five, in alphabetical order, separated by semicolon) should be given next to the abstract on a separate line.

4.2.2. Introduction This section provides a brief background to the subject, statement of the problem and describes the principal objectives of the investigation.

4.2.3. Materials and Methods (Methodology) This section provides a concise description of the materials used and procedures followed to obtain the results. Besides, research tools (approach), methods of data collection and analysis should be described.

4.2.4. Results Present and describe the results obtained; if applied, describe the main statistical significant findings of the results.

4.2.5. Discussion This section describes interpretation and implications of the results obtained. It also includes comparison of results with results of other related studies. The results and discussion part can be presented together or separately. The materials and methods, results, and discussion sections could include sub- headings.

4.2.6. Conclusion Describes briefly the contributions of the present work and states future research needs, if any. Alternatively, conclusion can be included in the discussion.

4.2.7. Acknowledgements (if required).

4.2.8. References All materials (literature) referred to must be cited. References must be cited and listed in the following form.

4.2.8.1. References in The Text •Smith and Charles (2005), or if more than two authors, Samuel et al. (2005). •Put references in chronological order of publications when references are more than one (William and Michael, 2003; James, 2004; Belay et al., 2005). •The letters a, b, c, etc., should be used to distinguish citations of different works by the same author(s) in the same year. Example, Asfaw (2001a; b) or Asfaw et al. (2001a; b)

4.2.8.2. References in The List References should be listed in alphabetical order and shall have the following form:

Journal Articles:  Kolar, C. S. and Lodge, D. M. 2001. Progress in invasion biology: predicting invaders. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16: 199-204. Eshetu, M. and Habtemariam, K. 2001. Evolution of small-holder mixed farming in the Harar Highlands of Ethiopia: The shifts toward trees and shrubs. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 18: 81-112.

Books: Greene, W. H. 1997. Econometric Analysis, 3rd edition. Prentice- Hall, Inc., USA. Contributions in Books (Book Chapters) Sorenson, A. 1993. IPM and growers: An evolution in thinking. In: A. R. Leslie and G. W. Cuprus (eds.). Successful Implementation of Integrated Pest Management for Agricultural Crops. Lewis Publishers, USA. pp. 129-150. Contributions in Proceedings Kindu, M., Bekele, K. and Haile, B. 2002. Experiences of participatory research on natural resources management at Galessa. In: Gemechu, K., Yohannes, G., Kiflu, B., Chilot, Y. and Asgelil, D. (eds.). Towards Farmers. Participatory Research: Attempts and Achievements in The Central Highlands of Ethiopia. Proceedings of Client- Oriented Research Evaluation Workshop, 16-18 October 2001, Holetta, Ethiopia. pp. 44-56. Publications of Organizations FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 1992. Ethiopia: Livestock Development Sector Project. Report No.107/92. Rome, Italy. Publications from Website FAO. 2000. Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Ethiopia. FAO/WFP. Rome. (http://www.fao.org./GIEWS) (Accessed on July 21, 2000).

4.3. Tables, Figures and Others •Tables should be typed on separate sheet; bearing Arabic numerals followed by the title and be referred to in the text by their numbers. Footnotes in tables should be indicated by superscript letters beginning with .a. in each table. Descriptive material not designated as a footnote may be placed under a table as a NOTE. Tables should have only 3 horizontal lines separating top and bottom of columns heading, and bottom of a table. Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns; instead extra space should be left between the columns. •All illustrations should be given separately, not stuck on pages and not folded. They should be numbered as figures in sequence in Arabic numerals on a separate sheet after the manuscript. High quality, clear black and white photographs (100 X 70 mm) can be submitted to the journal; major findings should be marked clearly. Appropriate title to each illustration should be given at the bottom.

5. Review Articles These are aimed at giving an overview of a particular subject suitable for a wider audience that includes recent advances in an area in which an author has been actively engaged. Besides, review articles will be considered from prominent authority or scientist on invitation by the Editorial Board. Writing instructions are same as for research paper.

6. Short Communications Short communications should report completed work, not preliminary findings. They are an alternative format for describing smaller pieces of work; they should not be more than 8 pages (double spaced) and should not contain more than two figures, tables or combinations. Their preparation should follow the format of full length manuscript.

7. Registration of Crop Variety Registration of crop variety can also be considered provided that the following conditions are met. •Letter of confirmation from host institute that a variety is developed by the applying author(s) and institute(s). •Letter of acceptance of a variety by a National Variety Release Committee. •A variety should not be older than two years since its acceptance by a National Variety Release Committee. •Description of a variety (morphological, agronomical, genetical, agro-ecology, environment, etc.) should be provided briefly in double spaced 4-5 pages. •It should have title, authors, affiliations and detail description of a variety.

8. Submission of Manuscript Three hard copies and a soft copy should be sent to the Editorial Office, East African Journal of Sciences, Haramaya University, PO Box 116, Haramaya, Ethiopia. A complete mail, fax, telephone and email address of the corresponding author is necessary. Once a manuscript is accepted, a hard copy of the revised manuscript along with a soft copy saved on CD-RW should be sent to the Editorial Office. Text, tables and figures should be saved on separate files. Each figure of the accepted manuscript should be saved separately as Text Image Format (TIF). The editors are not responsible for any loss or damage to manuscripts that might happen during submission; hence authors are advised to retain original copy of their manuscript.