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Weeds – Journal of the Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society

Guidelines for Authors

1. Aims and Scope 2
2. Publication Charges 2
3. Manuscript Submission 3
4. Manuscript Categories and Requirements 3
5. Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations 5
6. Preparing Your Submission 6
7. Journal’s on-line Manuscript Tracking System 11
8. Publication Process after Acceptance 11
9. Checking your submissions 11
10. Payment of Fees 12
11. Getting Started 12

1. Aims and Scope

Weeds – Journal of the Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society (referred to as Weeds, from here on) is a peer-reviewed on-line journal dedicated to understanding weeds and promoting improved weed management within the context of ecologically responsible and sustainable agriculture and management of our environment.

It is the official journal of Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society (APWSS). Weeds will accept article submissions from its members and non-members.

The Journal seeks original-contributions from both scientists and practitioners, which focus on the biology, ecology and management of weeds, but will consider cross-disciplinary contributions, which may be highly relevant to weeds in both agriculture and general environment.

Review articles that critically analyze and interpret already published research data are most welcome, but prospective authors must not submit articles that have been published or are under consideration for publication elsewhere.

While the journal focuses on Weed Science and management in the Asian-Pacific region, contributions from elsewhere will be considered if distinctly relevant to promotion of improved understanding and management of weeds in the region.

All manuscripts submitted to Weeds will be first evaluated based on scientific quality, originality, appropriateness, contribution to the field of Weed Science, and style. Suitable manuscripts will then subject to rigorous, fair, and rapid peer review.

Initially, two issues of Weeds will be published per year, and these are to be initially published in June and December and all articles will be made available freely, on-line at the time of publication.

The Journal’s on-line Platform APWSS has selected the Journal’s on-line Open Access Publishing Platform (http://apwss.org.in/), which is a modern academic journal management system to publish Weeds in a professional manner. The platform provides both the authors and the editors the software and services tools required to easily publish a scholarly, Open Access (OA) journal without authors having to face high costs of publishing.

Journal’s on-line Open Access Publishing includes:

• Mobile-friendly website designed to meet the needs of modern scholars;
• Enhanced website discoverability with automatic Google Scholar indexing; and
• Publishing analytics, including article download counts, referring websites.

Authors may check the Journal’s on-line Website for more details on the manuscript submission () and the editorial review process ().

Please direct all inquiries to: the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor, Dr. Nimal Chandrasena, at nimal.chandrasena@gmail.com.

2. Publication Charges

Authors are asked to pay for publication costs, which are essential to cover the administrative costs of the on-line, Open Access journal through the Journal’s on-line Platform.

These costs for Weeds will be US $ 30 per SUBMITTED article. Contributory Authors are required to pay US $ 30 at the time of submission.

For INVITED Authors - the same US $ 30 per article charge will apply but only after the paper has been accepted for publication. The Editor-in-Chief will issue an Invoice for this amount, once the paper has been fully formatted and prepared for publication.

The fee of US $ 30 is towards professional formatting of accepted articles with embedded Tables and Figures and standardization of articles for uploading to the Website. There is no additional charge for publishing color figures or images included in the manuscript.

If a contributory author is unable to pay the US $ 30 fee, he or she may request an exemption from the Editor-in-Chief explaining the circumstances.

Although the Journal considers the US $ 30 Fee as a very nominal and modest contribution towards the costs for the Society to maintaining an Open Access journal, such requests will be given due consideration.

Authors are also advised that the APWSS Society’s Membership subsidizes the costs involved in publishing.

The payment is to be made following the instructions through Journal’s PayPal Account, linked to the Journal’s Bank Account.

You will need a Credit Card to make the payment (see Section 9 below for Instructions).

Once published, all journal articles are made freely available in perpetuity on Journal’s on-line. Payments received will be acknowledged and contributing authors will be notified at this stage of the process.

3. Manuscript Submission

Weeds – Journal of the Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society handles all manuscripts through the online peer review platform Journal’s on-line.

When you are ready to submit your manuscript to Weeds, please go to the Journal’s on-line site (https://apwss.org.in) and click “Sign Up” in the top right corner to create a free Journal’s on-line account.

Once you have created an account, click on “Submit a Manuscript” and search “Weeds – Journal of the Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society”.

Weeds requires that all authors are listed upon submission. To add additional authors, press “Add another author” at the bottom right of the “Author Details” section. In addition, we highly suggest adding “Suggested reviewers,” through Journal’s on-line’s system as it makes the review process quicker.

Once the article is submitted to Weeds, it will be reviewed by the assigned Editor(s) for originality, quality, content and relevance. All submitted manuscripts will be checked for plagiarism.

Articles will be discussed by the Weeds Editorial Board and assessed by Editors, who will make the initial decision to send the article for peer review or reject it.

If a manuscript is sent out for review, then based on the peer reviewers’ comments, the Editors will discuss and decide about the manuscript. Three outcomes can occur: (a) rejection, with reasons; (b) conditional acceptance upon major or minor revision; and (c) acceptance.

Please note that if the article is conditionally accepted upon revision, it may undergo several rounds of revision until it meets the publication standards of Weeds.

The Managing Editor or an Associate Editor will correspond with the author regarding the publication decision and suggested edits. The goal of this interaction is to help authors to develop the original article into a well-rounded manuscript by a nominated deadline.

Once the article is accepted for publication, it will be sent to the Managing Editor for processing (i.e. copy editing, and formatting. Papers published in Weeds will become the copyright of APWSS. A typical timeline from submission to publication is two weeks for initial editorial assessment, 2-4 weeks for peer review, 2-4 weeks for author revisions (depending on the scale of revisions requested).

4. Manuscript Categories and Requirements

Contributions that fit any of the following formats will be accepted. Format types 4–8 will be peer reviewed by researchers and practitioners familiar with the subject matter.

Length of all submissions should be concise and is to be minimized. Please note that all words in an article are counted except those in tables or supplementary online material. That is, the word length includes titles, authors, key words, summary, main text, references and captions. Submission that substantially exceed this may be returned for revision prior to review.

4.1 Original Research Article Original research articles present scientific advances in Weed Science. These manuscripts should present well-rounded studies reporting innovative advances that further knowledge about a topic of importance in the understanding of and management of weeds. Original research may involve results of weed biology, weed ecology or weed management experiments carried out in the field or the laboratory, but should demonstrate the highest standard of scientific rigour. The writing style should be concise.

The conclusions of the Original Research Article should be clearly supported by the results with appropriate statistical analyses of results. Original research can be submitted as an article of no more than 5000 words, five figures, five tables, and 50 references and will contain seven sections:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Acknowledgements
• References

4.2 Reviews
A Review will provide a reasoned survey, overview and an examination of a subject area in Weed Science but should be written in an interesting, readable style. The Editors may invite a specialist to review of a topic of importance that has not been adequately covered in the Weed Science literature, or authors may propose to the Editor a topic they would contribute a review on.

Reviews will be subject to peer review by researchers and managers. Material should be illustrated where appropriate, using photographs, diagrams, maps, tables, charts, simple graphs or infographics. Reviews can be submitted as a mini-review (no more than 3000 words, four figures, four tables, and 50 references) or a long review (no more than 6,000 words, eight figures, eight tables, and 100 references).

They should include critical assessment of the works cited, explanations of conflicts in the literature, and analysis of the subject being reviewed. The conclusion must discuss in detail the limitations of current knowledge, future directions to be pursued in research, and the overall importance of the topic in understanding and managing weeds. Reviews contain six sections:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Topics (with headings and subheadings)
• Discussion
• Conclusions and Outlook
• Acknowledgements
• References

4.3 Perspectives and Guest Editorials
A Perspective or Guest Editorial is intended to provide a forum for authors to discuss models and ideas from a personal viewpoint. They are to be forward looking and/or speculative than Review Articles and may be opinionated but should remain scientifically balanced.

Articles can be in a narrative style and relate personal experiences, historical perspectives, or a scientist profile on events, people or topics important to Weed Science. The articles will be no more than 6,000 words, five tables, five figures and 50 references and may contain the following sections:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Topics (with headings and subheadings)
• Discussion
• Conclusions and Outlook
• Acknowledgements
• References

4.4 Essays and Opinions Essays and Opinions are article types that present a provocative argument about any topic on weeds or their management, aimed to stimulate the readers’ re-thinking of certain issues. The structure is similar to that of a review, with a suggested minimum word count of 4000 words. Arguments should be supported by relevant references. Essays should contain the following sections:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Discussion
• Conclusions and Outlook
• References

4.5 Case Studies and Technical Reports
Technical reports focus on reporting completed field or laboratory projects in Weed Science, providing hard data, or findings that have been subject to analysis and discussion. Any experimental design must be rigorous and adequately described with statistical tests.

Discussion may include opinion and speculation highly relevant to the topic. A Case Study or Technical Report can be submitted as no more than 8,000 words, ten tables, ten figures, five infographics, and 100 references, and may contain the following sections.

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Background
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion and Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Appendices

4.6 Brief Reports and Technical Notes
Brief reports and Technical Notes are studies that report preliminary results or a short complete study that provides data and information on a new idea being tested. They should report on a new technique, method, or procedure or should describe important modifications or a unique application of the described method.

Brief reports usually contain two or three figures and/or one or two tables. However, the Materials and Methods sections should be detailed to ensure reproducibility of the presented work. The structure is similar to that of an article, and the maximum word count suggested is 3000 words with the following sections:

• Abstract
• Materials and Methods
• Results and Discussion
• Conclusions

4.7 Conference, Symposium, Workshop and Seminar Reviews
A Conference, Symposium, Workshop or Seminar Review will analyse and describe the major presentations of the topic in Weed Science covered in that event in the form of a news brief, opinion piece, or mini-review. Such a review should aim to summarize a few key presentations and succinctly cover the general topics or issues deliberated at the event. It is important to indicate the main themes and points of the Conference, Symposium, Workshop or Seminar and provide an analysis for the benefit of the wider readership. These articles should be no more than 3,000 words and up to 20 references. Tables and Figures (up to four each) are optional. All symposium pieces should include the following:

• Introduction
• Topics (with headings and subheadings) relevant to the review
• Discussion
• Conclusions and Outlook

5. Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations

5.1 Editorial Board’s Prerogative
The Editorial Board of Weeds reserves the right to accept or decline any material, promotion or contribution that fall outside the journal’s philosophy and the mandate and objectives of the APWSS. Preference will be given to contributions that are the most relevant, reliable and readable. The Editor(s) may also suggest changes to manuscripts to eliminate ambiguity and repetition and improve the communication between the author and the reader.

Potential contributors should contact the Editor-in-Chief for more detailed information on preferred style and format of any article to optimize the chance of meeting the journal’s publishing criteria.

Contributors may also contact the Editor-in-Chief if they would like to write a review article, case study or project report, and discuss what coverage of the topic and form it may take.

5.2 Manuscript Review
The Editorial Board of Weeds recognises that a manuscript submitted for publication is the outcome of hard work and may also represent professional hopes and dreams of scientists and in some cases, research grants are at stake. The Editors of Weeds will strive to be fair, fast, thorough and impartial in their assessments. The Editorial Board will be transparent in our processes and keep authors informed.

The Editor-in-Chief with assistance from Associate Editors, will ensure that the Journal will contact the best people to review a paper, and will endeavour to provide a fast, fair decision, with guidance regarding the peer review reports and how authors might address the comments.

5.3 Publication Ethics, Duplication and Plagiarism Policy
Weeds will only publish original work not published elsewhere. Authors must state it in the covering letter while submitting the paper online. All submissions will be checked for plagiarism and will be rejected on this basis, regardless of the quality of the science.

Weeds considers plagiarism to be the use of others’ published and unpublished results or writing without proper attribution or permission and presenting these works as original. The intent of plagiarism is to mislead the reader to believe the ideas presented are the authors’ own. The Weeds Editorial Board considers this as a form of scientific misconduct, which will not be tolerated.

Weeds considers the submission of writing that the authors have published previously elsewhere in whole or in part as duplication, which can be also construed as plagiarism.

The Editorial Board discourages this practice, to ensure that submitted contributions are original. However, under special circumstances, the Editorial Board reserves the right to re-publish articles, which may be of significant benefit to the readership. This will only occur with approval and consent of the authors and proper attribution.

The Editorial Board will not tolerate the fabrication of data and subsequent misrepresentation of such data as original research results.

5.4 Authorship
The Editorial Board assumes that all authors must have made a significant contribution to the manuscript. Participation solely in the acquisition of funds or the collection of data should not justify authorship, nor is general supervision of the research group sufficient for authorship.

The corresponding author must confirm that the author list is complete, that all co-authors have agreed to be included in the author list, and that all co-authors have read and agreed to submit the manuscript. All individuals listed as author or co-authors must meet the following criteria:

They made substantial contributions to the conception and design of experiments; acquisition of data, and/or analysis and interpretation of the data.

They drafted the article and/or revised it critically for intellectual content.

They approved the final version of the article to be published.

Contributions by individuals who do not meet all the above criteria for authorship should be recognized in the Acknowledgments section.

6. Preparing Your Submission

6.1 General Manuscript Style

All manuscripts should be written in a style readily accessible to the broad readership.

Manuscripts should be submitted in MS Word for ease of review.

You may also submit pdf files as an option. But this is not mandatory.

• Use active, short sentences, balanced with strong scientific reliability.
• Include Tables and Figures where these can more clearly convey a point.
• All pages are to be numbered consecutively in the lower middle area of the page, beginning with the title page.

Font: Use Arial font, size 10 points for general text. See below for Headings.

Paragraphs: Paragraphs must be done in 1.5 line spacing.

Paragraph spacing should be 6 points above and 6 points below.

Justify all paragraphs.

Indenting: Do not indent the first line of the first paragraph in any section.

Indent the remaining paragraphs within a section by 1 cm.

Headings: Maximize capitalization in all heading levels.

Font for Headings should be Arial Black.

Follow the guidelines for paragraph and line spacing for headings as shown below:

First-Level Headings (Font size 14, Arial Black) • Center and bold-face. • Paragraph spacing 12 pts above and 12 pts below. Line spacing 1.5.

Second-Level Headings(Font size 12, Arial Black) • Bold-face and flush to the left. Start the running text on the following line. • Paragraph spacing 12 pts above and 12 pts below. Line spacing 1.5. Third-Level Headings (Font size 11, Arial Black. Italic) • Bold-face, italicize and flush to the left. Start the running text on the following line. • Paragraph spacing 12 pts above and 6 pts below. Line spacing 1.5.

Fourth-Level Headings (Font size 10, Arial Black) • Bold-face and flush to the left. Start the running text on the same line, separating the title from the text with a period. Indent the first line of the following paragraphs within that section by 1 cm. • Paragraph spacing 6 pts above and 6 pts below. Line spacing 1.5.
Spelling:
Spelling should conform to the Concise Oxford Dictionary of current English Usage and uniformity. Since the latest Oxford dictionary accepts the use of ‘z’ spellings, such as recognize, utilize, organize, etc., authors are requested to use ‘z’ spellings in their paper.
Abbreviations: Use standard abbreviations as listed in the most recent edition of Council of Biology Editor’s Style Manual, Scientific Style and Format Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 6th Edition, or those listed in this Style Guide.
Measurement Units:

All measurements should follow the International System of Units (SI units) and Non-SI units, which are accepted for use with the International System of Units. (SI Units are accessible via: https://www.nist.gov/pml/weights-and-measures/publications/metric-publications) * per m2, per cent etc. should be used except in tables or formulae. * Specify any special characters used to represent non-keyboard characters. * Use only metric system when expressing weights, height, measurement, volume, etc. (Examples: hectare(s): ha; meter(s): m; centimetre: cm; gram: g; kilogram: kg; millilitre: mL; litre(s): L; Kg/ha (kg/ha): kg ha-1; L/ha: L ha-1; mL/ha: mL ha-1; tonne: t. * Time: Use s for seconds (SI unit); h for hour, min for minute d for day (Non-SI). Spell out other measures of time: i.e. weeks, months and year.

Use the symbol % only with numerals in Tables and Figures. Do not leave space between the number and the symbol %. In the text, use the word percentage (e.g., percentage of weed infestation).

Use only one space after punctuation marks.

Figure(s):
Use ‘Figure’ if singular and ‘Figures’ if plural. (e.g., Figures 8, 9 and 10). Always use the full term: Figure or Figures).

Dates:
Present dates as day month year (e.g., 20 September 2000). Do not write as 20th September 2000 or 20th of September 2000 or September 20, 2000. Do not abbreviate names of months in the main text. Names of months can be abbreviated in Tables and Figures (e.g., Jan, Feb).

Use of Binomials:
Give the biological name and the authority at first mention of each organism (plant or animal) in the text. Use the most recent binomial for indicating names of plants and animals (e.g., follow the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature).

Numbers:
Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence. Use 10 and up as numerals, unless they are used as units of measure (7 mg; 1800 hour).

Spell out ordinals first through to the ninth (eg. two-fold, one-way ANOVA, and one-half).

Ordinals 10 and higher are written as numerals, such as the 10th or the 51st.

All numbers less than 1 are to be preceded by a zero (e.g., < 0.05).

When a number is >1,000, use a comma to separate hundreds from thousands (e.g., 3,243).

Use a semicolon to separate different types of citations (Fig. 5; Table 7).

Repeating symbols or units of measure in a series is unnecessary (e.g., 70, 80, 90 mg, respectively).

Quotation Marks:

Quotation marks are particularly important when referencing because they indicate when someone else’s exact words are being used. Use single quotation marks for quoted information (e.g., Brown (1997, p.84) describes the results as ‘unreliable and insignificant’).

Tables and Figures:

Place all Tables and Figures within the manuscript text at the appropriate places. Number all the Tables and Figures sequentially (Table 1; Table 2, or Fig. 1; Fig. 2, etc.). Avoid repeating data already presented in the text.

Use Arial font, size 10 points bold for Table captions and Figure legends.

Should a Table run on to second page, repeat column headings on the following pages as well.

The caption should be brief and capture the purpose of the Table or Figure concisely. For reasons of clarity, use unnumbered footnotes immediately below the Table or Figure to explain any information that will explain the table better.

Use horizontal lines to separate the caption from column headings, column headings from the data fields, and data fields from footnotes (if any). Do not use vertical lines to separate columns.

Ensure that all the columns have relevant headings.

Use recommended abbreviations for the tables. (e.g., conc. for concentration; ht. for height; no. for number; temp. for temperature; vol. for volume.

6.2 Parts of the Manuscript

The MS Word manuscript should be submitted in two separate word files:

(1) Title page;

(2) Main text file.

6.3 Title Page

A separate Title page should be submitted with the following information:

A short informative title that contains the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations;

The full names of the authors;

The author’s institutional affiliations at which the work was carried out;

The full postal and email address, plus telephone number, of the author to whom correspondence about the manuscript should be sent;

Acknowledgements (see below); and

The present address of any author, if different from that where the work was carried out, supplied in a footnote.

Acknowledgements:

The source of financial grants and other funding should be acknowledged, including a frank declaration of the authors’ industrial links and affiliations. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged. When submitting an article, the full acknowledgements should be on the title page, but any conflict of interest information should also be included in an abridged version of the Acknowledgements, within the main text document (see below, Section 6.6).

6.4 Main Text File

As papers are double-blind peer reviewed, the main Word text file should not include any information that might identify the authors. The main text of the manuscript should be presented in the following order:

Title, Abstract and keywords;

Main text with embedded Tables, Figures and Infographics with captions;

Acknowledgements;

References;

Appendices – if required,

Figures and supporting information should be embedded at the appropriate location within the main Word Document.

Footnotes to the text are generally allowed. However, the journal encourages authors to incorporate any such material into the text as much as possible.

6.5 Abstract and Keywords

The Abstract must be brief but informative, and intelligible without reference to the main text. It should not exceed 350 words and should describe the work’s scope and main findings. Literature references should not be included in the Abstract.

Give scientific names of major organisms studied in the Abstract.

Keywords (minimum five; maximum 10) should be provided below the summary to assist indexing of the article.

6.6 Main Text

Introduction:

This section should include sufficient background material to set the work in its full research and management context. Aims and objectives of the work and/or hypothesis tested should be clearly stated and justified at the end of the introduction.

Materials and Methods:

A clear description of methods is needed including any statistical analysis. Be concise in method descriptions but provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be repeated by others.

Results:

Results should be presented in a readable sequence using text, tables and figures. repetitive presentation of the same data in different forms is not acceptable. The Results section should not contain material appropriate to the Discussion section.

Discussion:

This section should consider the results in relation to any hypotheses advanced in the Introduction and place the study in the context of other work. This section should provide substantive discussion of implications of the work for an improved understanding of weeds and/or weed management (practices and/or technologies).

Conclusions/Outlook: This section should consider the overall significance of the results and findings about how these may advance the existing knowledge of understanding weeds and make a further contribution towards their effective management

Acknowledgements:

The source of financial grants and other funding should be acknowledged, including a declaration of the authors’ industrial links and affiliations. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged.

When uploading for submission, the full acknowledgements should be on the title page, but any conflict of interest information should be left in an abridged version of the Acknowledgements, at the end of the main document.

6.7 In-Text Citations

Authors must acknowledge other peoples’ original work with appropriate citations. In-text citation rules that apply are as follows:

• Single Author - Baker (1965)
• Two Authors - Harlan and de Wet (1965)
• Multiple Authors - Multiple Authors separated with semi-colons and placed in chronological order; Harper et al., 1960; Baker, 1965; Vitousek et al., 1997
• e.g., Richardson et al. (2000)
• Multiple References Harper, 1957; 1958; Baker, 1965
• More than one Reference by an Author - If there is more than one reference by an author in the same year, add suffixes (a, b, c, etc.) to the year. Allocate the suffixes according to the order of the references in the reference list and not by the order in which they are cited in the text. Include suffixes in the reference list, where there references are listed alphabetically by authors name.
• Direct Quote - For a direct quote, indicate page, chapter, figure, table, etc. as specifically as possible. Use accepted abbreviations, i.e., p. for page; para for paragraph, chap for chapter.
• Personal Communication- A personal communication is a private letter, e-mail or conversation, for which the citing author is responsible. It is not included in the reference list, but in-text citation is required, as follows: (S. B. Johnson, 2018, personal communication, 28 January 2018)
• Secondary Citation- Secondary citation should only be used where the original is unavailable (e.g., out of print). Wherever possible, read and cite the original source. If the original source is not available, ONLY include the details of the source you read. For example, the original source would be XXX (1968), which you saw cited in a paper by YYY (1988). This would be quoted as: YYY (1968, as cited in XXX, 1988); or YYY (1988) cited XXX (1968) as finding…..
• Abbreviation of an Organization Name If an organization is recognized in an abbreviated name, cite the first time in the text as: (Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, 2005) and thereafter (FAO, 2010). If the abbreviation is not widely known, or can be easily confused with another, give the name in full every time: (Australian Research Council, 1996)

6.8 References
List the full references in alphabetical order according to the author’s name at the end of the article or paper, and the full journal or publication name, without any abbreviations. The Journal name should be in Italics, as follows:

• Journal Articles Format: Author, A. A. (year). Title of article. Journal Title, Volume (Issue number): page–page.
  Examples: Baker, H. G. (1974). The Evolution of Weeds. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 5: 1–24.
  Vitousek, P. M., D’Antonio, C. M., Loope, L. L., Rejmánek, M. and Westbrooks, R. (1997). Introduced species: a significant component of human-caused global change. New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 21: 1–16.
• In multiple author articles, quote only upto the first five authors. After that, use et al. Example:
  Pires, T. C. S. P., Dias, M. I., Barros, L., Calhelha, R. C., Alves, M. J., et al. (2018). Edible flowers as sources of phenolic compounds with bioactive potential. Food Research International, 105: 580–588.
• Book Format: Contributor, A., Contributor, B. and Contributor, C. (Year). Title of Book. Publisher, Location.
  Example:
  Elton, C. S. (1958). The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London.
• Edited Book Format: Contributor, A., Contributor, B. and Contributor, C. (Eds.) (Year). Title of Book. Publisher, Location.
  Example:
  Harper, J. L (Ed.) (1960). The Biology of Weeds. A Symposium of The British Ecological Society. April, 1959. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.
• Chapter in Book Format: Contributor, A. B. and Contributor, C. (Year). Title of paper. In: Editor, D. and Editor, E. (Eds.), Title of Book. pp. x -xx, Publisher.
  Example:
  Baker, H. G. (1965). Characteristics and Modes of Origin of Weeds. In: H. G. Baker & G. L. Stebbins (Eds.), The Genetics of Colonizing Species. pp. 147–172, Academic Press, New York.
• Conference Proceedings Format: Contributor, A. B. and Contributor, C. (Year). Title of paper. In: Editor, D. and Editor, E. (Eds.), Title of conference. pp. x -xx. Location, Publisher.
  Example:
  Virtue, J. G., Bennett, S. J. and Randall, R.P. (2004). Plant introductions in Australia: How can we resolve ‘weedy’ conflicts of interest? In: Sindel, B. M. and Johnson, S. B. (Eds.), Papers and Proceedings 14th Australian Weeds Conference, pp. 42-48. Hobart, Tasmania, Weed Society of New South Wales, Sydney.
• Electronic material Theophrastus (1916). Enquiry into Plants and Minor Works on Odours and Weather Signs. A 1916 translation. Available for download from URL: https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L070.pdf (accessed 13 May 2018).

All items in the reference list must be available to the public. If a document is not available, please refer to it (or any other unpublished citations) in the text by citing the source’s name and the year in parentheses, e.g. (J. Smith, pers. comm., 1988).

6.9 Tables

Tables must be presented within the main text.

They should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals with a descriptive title above the table. Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses.

Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Use tabs and not spaces in electronic format.

6.10 Figure Legends

Figures must be presented within the main text.

Figure legends should be concise but comprehensive and understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement. We encourage authors to incorporate the highest-quality figures possible for peer-review purposes and subsequent publication.

6.11 Appendices Authors are encouraged to minimise the use of Appendices. Where they are required, such as in the Manuscript Types, Case Studies and/or Technical Reports, Appendices will be published after the References. For submission, they should be supplied as separate files but referred to in the text.

7. Journal’s on-line Manuscript Tracking System

Weeds handles all submitted manuscripts through the online peer review platform Journal’s on-line. Prospective authors will be provided a link to submit their manuscript via the Journal’s on-line Website, and through this system authors and Weeds Editors will be correspond.

Using the Journal’s on-line interface, invited peer reviewers can access manuscripts, tables and figure files and upload their reviews. Once an editorial decision has been reached, authors will be notified via the Journal’s on-line interface. Accepted manuscripts will then be finalized by the Weeds Editorial Board and formatted for publication.

8. Publication Process after Acceptance

Accepted article received in production

When your accepted article is received by the Weeds production team, you (corresponding authors) will receive an email asking you to login or register with Author Services.

Proofs

Once your paper is typeset you will receive e-mail notification of the URL from where to download a PDF typeset page proof, associated forms and full instructions on how to correct and return the file. Please note that you are responsible for all statements made in your work, including changes made during the editorial process, and thus, you must check your proofs carefully. Note that proofs should be returned within 7 days from receipt of first proof.

9. Checking your Submission(s)

Before finalizing your manuscript, please make sure that all instructions have been clearly followed.

Before sending your manuscripts, via the Journal’s on-line platform and email, please double check that:

1. To enable double-blind reviewing, please ensure that author names and Acknowledgements are only in the title page file and that any author information has been removed from the main paper.
2. All references are correctly formatted and that all references cited in the text and tables are included in the references (and vice versa).
3. Pages are numbered and line numbers are used.
4. All contact details are provided (e-mail).
   • Two Word-files need to be included upon submission: A title page file and a main text file that includes all parts of the text in the sequence indicated in the section ‘Parts of the manuscript’, including tables and figures with legends and captions.
   • High-resolution figures (at least 300 d.p.i.) will be required.
   • The main text file should be prepared using Microsoft Word. All pages should be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner, beginning with the first page of the main text file

10. Payment of Fees

The Journal has its own Bank Account, which is linked to a PayPal Account. At the time of submission, authors should follow the Instructions and make the initial payment of US $ 30 using a Credit Card, through the PayPal link.

Once you have created your individual account, and make a payment, receipts will be automatically generated and emailed from Journal’s on-line at: admin@apwss.org.in

11. Getting Started

You may check the following Link:

http://apwss.rrg.in

The instructions will guide you to achieve the following:

1. Creating an individual account at https://apwss.org.in
2. After confirming your account, click the blue “Start a journal” button on the righthand side, which will take you to https://apwss.org.in
3. Enter your journal’s information to complete the account
4. Once the journal is created, click “Get started” button to go to your journal dashboard.

Help Docs:
Editor guide;
Author guide;
Reviewer guide.
These guides offer concise instructions for authors’ most common uses of Journal’s on-line.

Steps to create your account:

1. Go to https://submissions.apwss.org.in.com
2. Click “I need to sign up” if you haven’t yet created an account.
3. If you already have a Journal’s on-line account, you don’t need to create a new one! You can simply log in, instead. If you cannot remember your password, click “Forgot Password”.
4. Fill out the entire form and click “signup” at the bottom when you’re done
5. Check the inbox of the email address you used to sign up for the confirmation email
6. Click the link in the email to confirm your account
7. Congratulations! You can now sign into your new Journal’s on-line account
8. After first signing in, you’ll be taken to your Dashboard where you can submit a manuscript, create a journal account, and see the latest posts from the Journal’s on-line community.

1. Submit a Manuscript

Submitting your manuscripts to journals on Journal’s on-line is a quick and efficient process. This section of the author guide describes all the steps needed to submit and manage your manuscripts:

• Find a journal
• Submit your manuscript
• Add files
• Withdraw your manuscript

Find a journal

• From your Dashboard, click Submit a manuscript or Browse Journals.
• Type the name, discipline, or subject matter of a journal into the search bar and click Search or browse the list below. Click on a journal.
• You may try pasting the following Link, which will be quicker: https://apwss.org.in

Submit your manuscript

• From your Dashboard, click Submit a manuscript.
• Find the journal you’d like to submit to and click on it to visit the journal’s profile.
  • Click Go to submission pool on the browse journals page.
  • Click Continue to next step.
• On the journal’s profile, click For Authors to read the submission guidelines.
• When your manuscript is ready, click Submit Manuscript.
• Enter your manuscript’s details. The article title, abstract and keywords are required. As you type keywords, make sure to type a comma after the keyword itself.
• Upload your primary manuscript file by clicking Choose file and navigating to it on your computer. Once you’ve selected the file, click Upload file to finish adding the file. Read more: What file types do you support?
• Your author details will already be filled as the primary contact author. You can add additional authors by clicking Add another author and entering their information. The additional authors cannot log in to access the manuscript or read any reviews that may be shared – that is restricted to the primary author.
• Enter your credit card information. You may not be prompted to complete this step depending on the journal’s configuration or if your submissions are subsidized by your institution.
• Click Continue to next step.
• On the Confirm and Submit page, double-check the details you’ve entered. If you need to make any changes, click Go Back.
• When everything looks correct, click Submit Manuscript.
• You’ll be brought back to your dashboard and sent a confirmation email.
• Read more:
  • How do I tell if my article has been submitted successfully?
  • I misspelled words in my document, can I switch out the file?
  • What information about authors do editors have access to?
  • Can I change my account’s email address?

Add files

• After you’ve submitted your manuscript, you can still add supplemental files like additional data, or your CV. Read more: Attaching files to Discussions and Read more: What file types do you support?
• From your Dashboard, click My Manuscripts.
• Find the manuscript and click Manage Submission.
• Click Add another File.
• Enter a description, and click Add file to select the file.
• Click the Save new file button.

Withdraw your manuscript

• From your Dashboard, click My Manuscripts.
• Find the manuscript and click Manage Submission.
• Click the gear icon.
• Click Withdraw manuscript and then click OK to confirm withdrawing the manuscript.
• NOTE : Withdrawal is permanent and indicates to the journal in-question that you no longer wish for them to consider that article for publication

2. Message the Journal

Before you’ve submitted

• The Journal can be contacted via email on the profile pages. You can search for the journal on the browse page.
• Click “Contact” on the journal’s profile page; an email message to the journal’s primary contact will be opened.

After you’ve submitted
After you’ve submitted your manuscript, you can start a discussion with the journal about it in the Author Work Area for the manuscript. Read How do discussions work? to learn how.

3. Decisions

Journal’s on-line helps authors receive and act on decisions about their manuscripts quickly and easily. This section of the author guide describes where you’ll find decisions and how to resubmit manuscripts that have been revised:

• Receive the decision
• Revise and resubmit

Receive the decision

• You’ll be notified of publication decisions via email and by an alert on your Dashboard.
• To view a decision from your Dashboard, click My Manuscripts.
• Find the manuscript and click Manage Submission.
• Click Read Decision.

Revise and resubmit

• If you have received a decision of “Revise & Resubmit”, you will have the option to re-submit the manuscript.
• Once you’ve made any requested changes to the manuscript, you can resubmit it via the Manuscript Details page as well as directly from your dashboard.

Notification of R&R on your Dashboard

• To resubmit from your Dashboard, click the Submit Revised Manuscript button.
• The manuscript will also be listed on the My Manuscripts page. Click My manuscripts and then find the manuscript. Click Manage Submission.
• Click Submit a Revised Manuscript.
• Edit the manuscript details if necessary like the manuscript title, abstract, and keywords.
• Upload the revised file by clicking Choose file and navigating to it on your computer. Once you’ve selected the file, click Upload file.
• Click Continue to next step. On the Confirm and Submit page, double-check the details you’ve entered. If you need to make any changes, click Go Back.
• When everything looks correct, click Submit Manuscript.
• You’ll be brought back to your dashboard and sent a confirmation email.

4. Billing and Receipts

• Receipts for submission fees will be automatically sent to your email.
• To check them from your Dashboard, click My Manuscripts.
• Find the manuscript for which you’d like to see the receipt and click Manage Submission.
• In the Author Work Area, click View Receipt.
• Receipts are emailed from Journal’s on-line at notifications@apwss.org.in