About the Journal

About Journal

Cerrado: Agricultural and Biological Research (the abbreviated title is Cerrado: Agr. and Biol. Res.) is a multidisciplinary open access scientific journal published by the Cerrado Publishing, and is intnded for the dissemination of original, unpublished technical-scientific works and scientific research in the areas of agrarian and biological sciences. The scope areas of Cerrado are Agricultural Sciences (Agronomy, Agricultural Engineering, Forestry Engineering and Zootechnics), Environmental Sciences (Biodiversity, Natural Resources and Environment) and Biological Sciences (Evolutionary Biology, Biogeography, Botany, Plant Physiology, Embryology, Zoology, Virology , Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology).

 

Aims and Scope

Cerrado: Agricultural and Biological Research is a research, peer-reviewed journal. Publishes high-quality original research, notes, and review articles. The journal is committed to the advancement and distribution of scientific knowledge concerning the broad field of Agronomy and Biology.

The CABR is regularly issued after refereeing by tree independent reviewers. Submitting authors can expect fast first decision with an average of 35 days as well as publication time around 10 days from acceptance to online publication.

Subject areas include the following:

Agronomy: Agrometeorology; Rural extension; Soil Science; Soil fertility; Plant health; Phytotechnics; Floriculture; landscaping; Plants of agricultural interest; Plants of ornamental interest; Weed plants; Hydraulics and Irrigation.

Agricultural Engineering: Rural constructions; Water and soil engineering; Energy in rural areas; Processing of agricultural products; Agricultural machines and implements.

Forest Engineering: Energy from forest biomass; Forest management; Forestry; Agroforestry technology; Forest products; Forestry techniques and operations; Management of forest areas.

Zootechnis: Ecology of domestic and wild animals; Ethology; Management and conservation of pasture and forage farming; Animal production and well-being; Animal health.

Biology: Algae; Evolutionary biology; Cell biology; Marine biology; Bacteriology; Biochemistry; Botany; Cytometry; Plant science; Ecology; Embryology; Phytochemistry; Herpetology; Histology, Immunology; Mycology; Parasitology; Systematic; Virology; Zoology.

 

Publication Ethics

Peer Review Process

Submissions to the journal website are received by the Editor-in-Chief who directly manages the paper. The manuscripts checked for content, plagiarisms, language and journal style. If meets the journal criteria, it is sent to two eminent reviewers, one from Brazilian and the other from a foreign country (The review strategy is double-blind), if there is a split decision, the manuscript sent to a third one. The Editor-in-chief decides if the manuscripts accepted or rejected based on the reviewer’s recommendation.

 

Evaluation Process

1) Submission and receipt of the paper together with the declaration of agreement to the submission, indication of 3 possible reviewers and graphic abstract;

2) Initial analysis of the merit and scientific relevance of the paper;

3) Peer and blind evaluation of the paper (subject to 1 or 2 rounds of evaluation);

4) Resubmission of the corrected paper to the journal;

5) Evaluation of the paper by the Editorial Board (as many rounds as necessary);

6) Resubmission of the corrected manuscript to the journal;

7) Spelling and grammatical evaluation by the Text Editor;

8) Resubmission of the corrected paper to the journal;

9) Layout editing;

10) Publication.

 

Frequency

Frequency: 3 issues each volume in a year

 

Accepted Language for Submission

English and Portuguese only. After acceptance, the article must be translated into English.

 

Accepted Language for Publication

English only.

 

Type of Articles

Full Length Article, Review Article and Short Communication.

 

Privacy Statement

The names and addresses provided in this periodical will be used exclusively for the services provided by this publication, and will not be made available for other purposes or to third parties.

 

Copyright Statement

The authors retain the copyright without restrictions, and must inform the initial publication in this journal, in case of new publication of any work.

 

Ethics and Plagiarism

Policy Against Plagiarism

The CABR journal uses the free CopySpider plagiarism detection system (available for registration and download at https://copyspider.com.br/main/pt-br/download, with a maximum similarity percentage of 3% ( excluding references). We recommend that authors carry out a prior evaluation before the submission process. In this case, higher percentages (up to 5%) are only allowed when the manuscript is extracted from theses or dissertations by one of the authors. Once the similarity (including self-plagiarism) has been detected, the paper will be returned to the authors with the analysis report, being subsequently rejected and archived.

 

Code of Ethics

This Code of Ethics aims to contribute to the quality of CABR, to guarantee its reliability to editors, authors, reviewers and readers, encouraging the identification of bad practices, fraud or possible ethical violations. Compliance with standards of ethical behavior is expected by all parties involved: authors, editors, and reviewers. These instructions are based on the ANPAD Good Practices Manual (ANPAD 2010), the Code of Conduct and best practice guidelines for editors of scientific publications from the Publication Ethics Committee (COPE 2011) and established scientific publishing practices in the main periodicals from the areas covered by CABR.

Editors: Editors must maintain the quality and relevance of the publication, which includes ensuring that the evaluation of submitted works is objective, fair and conducted in accordance with the norms and standards of scientific research in the areas of CABR scope. Editors, through the selection of reviewers, must promote a fair, competent and impartial evaluation of the articles under evaluation. Editors should seek reviewers who are not part of the same educational institution as the authors and are not co-authors on the study. Reviewers must have qualifications compatible with the article being reviewed (ANPAD, 2010).

CABR editors have full effect, responsibility and authority to reject/accept the article submitted for review. The final decision to accept or reject articles rests with the editors, who consider the quality, originality, relevance and adherence to the CABR editorial line. This decision may be contrary to the recommendations made by the evaluators, as long as they are duly substantiated (ANPAD, 2010).

The editor must not have a conflict of interest in relation to the articles he rejects/accepts at CABR. If a conflict of interest is identified, the editor will pass responsibility for the decision to a member of the editorial committee (National/International) who is free from such conflict. Editors should only accept a paper if they are reasonably certain about that decision. Editors can apply the corrections effect when they find an error or doubt in the publication. Editors must preserve the anonymity of reviewers. Everyone involved in the evaluation process must guarantee the confidential treatment of manuscripts under evaluation. Editors must not use or divert knowledge acquired during the article evaluation process.

 

Retraction and Corrections

Cerrado: Agricultural and Biological Sciences supports and follows the principles and standards recommended by COPE (Publication Ethics Committee), an international reference organization for integrity and ethics in scientific publications. To this end, the editorial process, selection and publication criteria follow the rules of conduct and ethics, in accordance with Code of Conduct and Best Pratice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

 

Guide for Authors

Submission Of Manuscripts

Contributions in English may be sent by online submission. Upon receipt, the manuscripts are allocated an identification number and reviewed initially by the Editorial Board, and if found suitable is sent out for review. The manuscripts not on the format are returned to authors.  Review of a paper normally takes about two months, and decision, whatsoever, is conveyed to the corresponding author. After acceptance, correction of proofs and transfer of copyrights to CABR, a paper is published on its turn.

 

Proofs

Upon satisfactory revision, acceptance and receipt of publication charges, the manuscripts are typeset. Proofs are prepared and sent to authors for correction, which should be sent back immediately. Only minor corrections (no more than 10% of the data or text) are allowed at this stage. If the corrected proofs are not received by due date, the Editorial Office will make corrections and send the papers for final printing. Handling of proofs is done electronically.

 

Publication Ethics Policy

CABR has a stringent publication ethics policy. Every submitted paper is checked for similarity index using Turnitin and CopySpider.

The authors transfer copyrights to the CABR Journal under the following terms and conditions:

  • The paper presents original work not previously published in similar form and not currently under consideration by another journal.
  • Each author has seen and approved the content of the submitted manuscript.
  • exclusive permission has been obtained from the author(s)/publisher(s) of the material/ information/data contained/used in any other form that is the intellectual property right of any person(s) other than the Author(s). The copyright material has clearly identified and acknowledged/referenced in the text of the paper. The author(s) are responsible for any violation/breech of the Copyright Law.
  • There is no conflict of interest among the authors for the publication of paper, and that all the authors have significantly contributed in the paper.
  • The paper once published will not be withdrawn or retracted unless very serious question(s) arise(s) on the data or originality of the text, and that will be done in concurrence with the CABR.
  • Once the copyrights are transferred, the published matter will be the sole property of CABR, and exclusive permission will be sought for partial or full reproduction of the text/graphics/numeric data. However, the author(s) will retain the intellectual property rights

The complaints of plagiarism of papers (if any) are strictly dealt under Plagiarism Policy of Higher Education Commission of Brazilian.

 

Ethical Guidelines for Use in Research on Animals

CABR does not consider submission directly focusing on the human studies. For research on animals, CABR observes policy ARRIVE guidelines available at (Animal research: reporting in vivo experiments: The ARRIVE guidelines. PLoS Bio, 8(6), e1000412, 2010) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1476-5381.2010.00872.x when documenting and conducting live animal studies. Authors and reviewers are urged to adhere to these guidelines. It is also emphasized that in research involving animals, any potentially derived benefits must be significant in relation to harm suffered by participating animals Furthermore, the research conducted using live animals must comply with commonly accepted (3Rs):

  • Replacement of animals by alternatives wherever possible;
  • Reduction in number of animals used,
  • Refinement of experimental conditions and procedures to minimize the harm to animals.

Submissions made to CABR containing data in which the animals are investigated are required to be approved by an ethical review committee constituted by the institution of the corresponding author and relevant information provided in the Materials and Methods section or alternatively given separately just before the References section (Animal Research Code). The submissions are not processed further until a certificate our study code of ethics number is provided by the corresponding author in this regard:

 

Manuscript Approval Statement

At the time of submission, the Corresponding Author provides an explicit statement in the manuscript that all the authors have read and approved the manuscript for submission to CABR.

 

Author Contributions

The manuscript will show an explicit statement that each author has made the specific contribution in planning, execution and write up. Author Contributions section before the References section.

 

Conflict of Interest

As per policy of CABR, each manuscript will explicitly carry a statement to show the conflict of interest of any type i.e., among author, with the institution of authors, with previous publication etc. Conflicts of Interest section before the Author Contributions section.

 

Advertisement Policy: To avoid any potential conflict of interest, we do not accept third-party advertisements.

 

Funding Source

In the manuscript the authors will provide brief information (including project details) on the acquisition of funds for carrying out the research to publish their data in CABR. Funds and Financing session after the References session.

 

Publication Charges

Every peer-reviewed article appearing in this journal will be published Open Access. This means that the article is universally and freely accessible via the internet in perpetuity, in an easily readable format immediately after publication. The author does not have to pay any publication charges for open access. However, authors must pay the equivalent publication fee in US dollars.  The journal strongly discourages authors from exceeding the page limits (18 printed pages).

 

Publication Ethics

Articles submitted to CABR must adhere with the ethical guidelines provided by the Committee of Publications Ethics (COPE).

 

Roles of Editors

The fairness and independence of editors

The evaluation of submitted manuscripts by the editors is based only on their relevance to the CABR scope and academic importance, originality, clarity and validity of the study, regardless of the authors’ race, religious belief, nationality, gender, cultural, political viewpoint or institutional affiliation. Editing and publishing decisions are determined only by the editor-in-chief, who has the full authority over the entire editorial content and publishing time, and not affected by governmental policies or other agencies outside the journal.