ISSN 0304-2847 printed version
ISSN 2248-7026 online version
DOI: 10.15446/rfnam

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Literature cited
• Sending of manuscripts

The Revista Facultad Nacional de Agronomía (RFNA) is published since 1939 by the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Medellín. It is aimed at teachers, researchers and students in agronomy, animal, and forestry sciences, food and agricultural engineering, agricultural advisers and at all those professionals who create knowledge and articulate science and technology to make the field more productive at business and rural economy levels.

The Journal publication is four month, at national and international level. Its aim is to disclose original and unpublished articles of a scientific nature which respond to specific questions and provide support and testing of a hypothesis, related to agronomy, animal husbandry, forestry engineering, food and agricultural engineering, and related areas that contribute to the solution of the agricultural constraints in the tropics.

Taking into account Colciencias (Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation of Colombia) criteria, the journal welcomes papers of the following types:

• Research papers in science and technology: A document presenting in detail the original results of completed research projects. The structure generally used contains four main parts: Introduction, methodology (materials and methods), results and discussion, and conclusions.
• Review articles: Documents resulted from a completed research systematizing, analyzing, and integrating the published or unpublished research findings, on a field of science or technology, in order to report the progress and development trends. It is characterized by a careful review of the literature of at least 50 references.
• Critical reflection articles: A document presenting completed research results from an analytical, interpretive or critical author's point of view, on the specific issues already mentioned, using original sources.
• Short articles: short paper presenting original preliminary or partial results of a scientific or technological research, which usually require a quick diffusion. In all cases 60% of references must come from articles published in the last ten years.

Articles must be submitted in accordance with the guidelines set forth in "Instructions to Authors"; those who violate the rules will not initiate the basic editorial process. Shall be filled the form "Authorization for Release of Works and Economic Rights Assignment", which will be provided by the Journal. This document is explicit in mentioning that all authors are informed and agree with article submitted for consideration to the Journal, that there is no conflict of interest between them, and also state that the manuscript has not been and will not be submitted for publication to another Journal.

The Editorial Board, supported by a team of associate editors, will evaluate the scientific merit of the paper and will then submit it for evaluation under double-blind method- that is to say, strict anonymity in the review is kept- by two arbitrators specialized in the area, preferably one national and one international, who will give their report on the format provided by the Journal. The Editorial Board reserves the right to accept collaborations. The report, after the review process, can be: accepted for publication with no or few modifications; accepted for publication with major changes according to the comments of the evaluators; reconsidered for publication if it is substantially modified - in this case, it will be deemed as new material; rejected for publication. If articles are accepted, they will be returned to authors for correction and sent again to the Director of the Journal within 30 calendar days.

Printing of graphs, figures or photographs in color is optional and have an additional cost per page needed but just for printed version. The editorial staff of the Journal reserves the right to make editorial changes in the text of the article (titles, abstracts, tables and figures). Authors will be consulted on changes whenever it is possible.

The author or authors agree to assign the National Faculty of Agronomy Journal the printing and reprinting rights of the material published. Any reference to the articles published in the Journal should be done if proper credit is added. The journal is open access and is defined by the follow publication license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Full text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ 

The Journal accepts comments and opinions differing from the terms expressed in the published manuscripts. It also accepts argued retractions from authors and will correct misprints and all kind of errors as may have been committed when publishing an article. The Faculty of Agronomy Sciences and the Journal are not responsible and do not necessarily sympathize with the concepts expressed in the articles, whose responsibility will be entirely the author's or authors'.

Authors should avoid committing plagiarism of information. Therefore, the manuscripts submitted to this journal are reviewed by software detection and prevention of plagiarism Turnitin.

General guidelines
Papers can be sent by email to: rfnagron_med@unal.edu.co, or through the Open Journal System in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia journals web site: http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/refame/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions  It will be considered only papers written in English. Letter of originality which accepts no simultaneous nomination of the article to other journals or publishers and assigns and the "Autorization for Release of Works and Economic Rights Assignment" should be attached. Publishing forms are: scientific and technological research articles, review articles, reflection articles, and short articles. Articles can be developed by professors and/or researchers at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, or other related national or international institution, on Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Agricultural Engineering matters. Article extension must not exceed 5,200 words, it must be letter-size sheets, typed double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman or Verdana font, 3 cm margin at the upper, 2 cm in the lower, 2.5 cm on the left and right side margins. Tables and figures (i.e, graphics, drawings, diagrams, flowcharts, photographs and maps) should be shown on separate sheets and numbered consecutively (Table 1 ... Table n, Figure 1…Figure n, etc.). Texts and tables should be submitted in MS-Word® word processor, original tables and diagrams of frequency (bar charts and pie charts) must be supplied in manuscript file and in its original MS-Excel®; other figures, such as photographs on paper and drawings, can be sent in original or scanned and sent in digital format compression JPG (or JPEG), preferably with a resolution of 600 x 600 dpi (300 dpi at least); original photographs are suggested to be sent as slides. As a general rule, tables and figures are only accepted in black and white. Color figures will be exceptionally accepted when strictly necessary and under discretion of the Editorial Board.

Units, abbreviations and style
International System of Units (SI), and those specific units of greater use by the scientific community must be used. When required must be used the exponential form. Example: kg ha-1. The meaning of abbreviations should be cited in full when first mentioned in the manuscript. The writing style should be totally impersonal. Introduction, procedures and results should be written in grammatical past tense. Discussion should be written in grammatical present tense, avoiding the conjugation of verbs in first or third person singular or plural.

The numbers from 1 to 9 are written in words, except when they include units of measure or several numbers are listed. Example: "eight treatments", "3,7 and 9 readings", "15 kg". Use zero before the decimal point. To separate numbers in intervals of one to two years, use the letter "a" and hyphen for growing seasons. Example period 2002a2005, growing seasons 1999-2000, 2000-2001.

Title and authors
The article should not include abbreviations and its translation into English is required. As far as possible, the title should not exceed 15 words and must accurately reflect the paper content. When the article contains scientific names of plants or animals, they should be written in italics in lower case, only the first letter of gender and classifier should be capital. Under the title in English the author or authors' name (s) and surname (s) is /are written, without academic degrees or job positions, in a horizontal line according to the contribution to research and / or preparation of the article.

As a footnote on the first page, write the title of undergraduate, authors' job positions, the name and city location of the entity to which they serve, or the sponsors for the research work and their respective email address. In addition, a summarized authors' résumé including reference to the articles published in other magazines should be attached.

Abstract and key words
The abstract should not exceed 250 words written in a single paragraph. It must be written in English, Spanish or Portuguese. It should contain in brief the justification, aims, methods used, the most relevant results, and conclusions. It is required to accompany the abstract with a maximum of six key words, translated into English, different from those used in the title. Single words as well as compound terms of up to three words are accepted as key words. They must be written in lowercase, separated by commas.

Introduction
It may or not have a title. It defines the problem and reports on the state of the art on the main subject of the article, it also points out the reasons for the research and sets out its aims. It is required to accompany common names with the corresponding scientific name (s) name and abbreviation (s) of the classifier at the first mention in the text. Brands must not be mentioned but the generic or chemical name.

Materials and methods
In this section, materials (crops, livestock, agricultural or laboratory implements) used in the development of work should be clearly, concisely and sequentially described. Aspects related to the location, preparation and execution of experiments should also be mentioned. The selected design, the recorded variables, the changes made to data, the statistical models used and the significance level used should be indicated. Authors must avoid detailing procedures previously published.

Results
They are the central part of the article and must be supported by appropriate statistical methods and analysis. They should be presented in a logical, objective and sequential way through texts, tables and figures; the latter two supports should be easy to read, self- explanatory and always quoted in the text. The tables should be composed by few columns and rows. Care should be taken to include the statistical significance level represented by lowercase letters of the beginning of the alphabet (a, b, c, d,…), a single asterisk (*) for P<0.05, double asterisk (**) for P<0.01 or triple asterisk (***) for P<0.001. Researches that do not follow a statistical design should display the information in a descriptive way. Use subscripts to modifications, reserve superscripts for potencials or footnotes in tables and figures.

Discussion
It refers to the analysis and objective interpretation of results, comparing them with those obtained in other researches, or with known facts or theories on the subject. It explains the results, especially when they differ from the stated hypothesis. It emphasizes the practical or theoretical application of the obtained results and constraints encountered. Discussion also highlights the contribution that is made to a particular area of knowledge and to the solution of the problem that justifies the research. Finally, it provides elements that allow making recommendations or launching new hypotheses. Statements that go beyond what the results may support should be avoided.

Conclusions
Conclusions are assertions arising from the obtained results. They should be consistent with the objectives stated and the methodology used. They should also express the contribution to knowledge in the studied subject area and propose guidelines for further researches.

Acknowledgements
If necessary, acknowledgements or recognitions to individuals, institutions, funds and research grants that made important contributions in the design, financing or carrying out of the research are included.

Only bibliographical references cited in the text are listed. Lecture notes, articles in preparation or in press, or any other publication with limited circulation are not accepted. Excessive self-citation should be avoided.

The bibliography should be included at the end of the text, containing only the references cited in it, including the doi number. Citations in the text should include author's surname and year, with comma between author and year. Example: Pérez, 1995. They should also keep the following citation order:

• If more than one date, they are separated by commas: Example: Pérez, 1995, 1998, 2001.
• If there are two authors, they will be separated by the conjunction and. Example: Gil and Ortega, 1993.
• If there are several works by an author, published in the same year, they will be cited with a letter in alphabetical sequence of titles, adjacent to year. Example: Gómez, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c.

For citations with three or more authors, it is necessary to mention in the text the surname of the first and replace the others by the Latin expression et al., which means and others. All authors should be mentioned in the bibliography.

Personal communications should be cited at the bottom of the page and not included in the bibliography.

Bibliographic references are ordered alphabetically by first author's surname, without numbering and without indentation. To cite several publications by the same author, chronological increasing order must be followed. Alphabetical order of titles must be followed in case they are from the same year.

The references should be arranged alphabetically by first author, without numbers and without indentation. To cite several publications by the same author, follow the chronological up order, if they are of the same year, follow the alphabetical order of the titles.

References should contain all the data allowing to its easy location.

Examples:

For books: Author (s), year. Book title, edition, place of publication, publisher and pages consulted (pp. # - #) or total pages (# p.).

Example: Robinson A, Morrison J, Muehrcke P, Kimerling AJ and Guptill S. 1995. Elements of Cartography. Sixth edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York. 674 p.

For book chapters: Author (s), year. Chapter title, pages consulted (pp. # - #). En: Surnames and names of the editors or publishers (eds.), book title, edition, publisher and place of publication, total pages (# p.).

Example: Bernal H. 1996. Chapter 6: Evapotranspiración. pp. 112-125. In: Agrios G. (ed.). Fitopatología. Second Edition. Editorial Limusa, México D.F. 400 p.

For journals: Author (s), year. Article title, journal full name volume(number): page-page.

Example: García S, Clinton W, Arreaza L and Thibaud R. 2004. Inhibitory effect of flowering and early fruit growth on leaf photosynthesis in mango. Tree Physiology 24(3): 387-399. doi: 10.1093/treephys/24.4.387

Presentations in Memoirs of Congresses, seminars and symposia: García M. 1998. Geotechnical engineering and environmental protection. p. 65-94. In: Memorias IX Colombian Congress of Soil Science. Colombian Society of Soil Science. Santa Fé de Bogotá.

Theses and dissertations: Gómez C. 2004. Autoecología de mortiño (Vaccinium meridionale Swartz Ericaceae). Master's Thesis in Forestry and Environmental Conservation. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Medellín. 78 p.

Abril G. 2002. Biogeografía y descripción de las especies del género Collaria sp. en seis zonas lecheras del departamento de Antioquia, Dissertation. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Medellín. 49 p.

Citation of a citation: Magalhaes LM e da Cruz AJ. 1979. Phenology do pau-rosa (Aniba duckei Kostermans), Lauraceae, em floresta primária na Amazônia Central. Acta Amazónica 9(2): 227-232. Cited by: Gomez CP. 2004. Autoecología de mortiño (Vaccinium meriodinale Swartz Ericaceae). Master's Thesis in Forestry and Environmental Conservation. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Medellín. 46 p.

Journal Supplement: Silva AM y Carrillo NN. 2004. El manglar de piruja, Golfito, Costa Rica: un modelo para su manejo. Journal of Tropical Biology 52 Suppl. 2: 195-201.

The manuscripts must be sent thorugh the Open Journal System http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/refame  You can email us for additional information, if needed, to: rfnagron_med@unal.edu.co