Publication charge
Articles are published in the SAARC Journal of Agriculture (SJA) free of charge.

Manuscript submission
Papers and short communication on original research and reviews of research in the field of agriculture and allied subjects can be submitted for publication. The contributors must provide authorship letter, signed by all authors stating that they fully agree with its contents and bear all responsibility for the data reported, and the data are not being published or simultaneously considered for publication elsewhere.

Authors are requested to submit soft copies of manuscripts electronically either via e-mail: <sja@sac.org.bd> or by sending CD to the editor of SAARC Journal of Agriculture, SAARC Agriculture Centre, BARC Complex, Farmgate, Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh. Authors are also requested to provide their e-mail addresses and phone numbers for correspondence. Upon receipt, each manuscript is assigned a unique number and is acknowledged. Authors will be asked for additional input or correction as the manuscript moves through the review process. After a manuscript has been accepted for publication by the editorial board, it will be edited for grammar and prepared for printing.

Manuscripts text should be within 4000 words including references. Manuscript should be written in English in Microsoft Word using font “Times New Roman” and font size 12. The manuscript must be double-spaced. The double-spacing requirement applies to all written material, including footnotes, references, tables, and figure captions. Authors are requested for limited use of italics, bold, and superscripts and subscripts, however, scientific names should be typed in italics. Word processing features such as automatic footnoting and outlining must be avoided and if numbered list is required to place in the manuscript, enter the numbers and use appropriate tabs and indents by hand instead of using automatic outlining. If a footnote is required, place it manually after the author – paper documentation in your manuscript.

Manuscript Preparation
Manuscripts should be arranged in the following order:
1. Title, Running title and byline.
2. Author–paper documentation (addresses/affiliations, email address of the corresponding author, etc.).
3. Abstract.
4. Introduction.
5. Materials and Methods.
6. Results (sometimes combined with the discussion).
7. Discussion (conclusion may be given at the end of discussion)
8. Conclusion
9. Acknowledgments (optional).
10. References.
11. Figure captions, then tables, then the figures themselves.

Title
The title should represent the content of the article. The terms in the title should be limited to those words that give significant information about the content of the article. It is discouraged to start title with ‘Study on’, ‘Effect of’, and ‘Influence of.’ An ideal title briefly identifies the subject, indicates the purpose of the study, and introduces key concept. Scientific names should be given where necessary.

Authorship
There should be a cover page which includes title and all the names of authors. It is encouraged to use full names of authors in bylines. The first person listed in the title is considered as the senior author. An asterisk (*) follows the
1
name of an author denotes the corresponding author and is matched to the words “*Corresponding author” at the bottom of the cover page. In this place addresses for all authors, email address and phone number for the corresponding author are included.

Abstract
Write the abstract as a single paragraph, with a limit of 250 words for full length papers. An ideal abstract should include the following information:
1. Background, rationale
2. Objectives
3. Materials and Methods
4. Results
5. Conclusions

Keywords
Up to 10, in alphabetical order and separated by semicolons.

Introduction
Introduction should be short and must include (i) a statement of the problem that justifies doing the work; (ii) the existing findings related to the problem that will be further developed; and (iii) an explanation of the general approach and objectives. Avoid old references when newer ones are available.

Materials and Methods
Provide detail information so that a competent scientist is able to repeat the experiment. The Materials and Methods should include year and place of study, and it may include tables and figures.

Results
Provide readers with clear understanding of data obtained using appropriate tables, graphs, and other illustrations. Make attention to significant findings. If you do not have a separate discussion section, relate the results to the objectives.

Discussion
In this section interpret your results. Give attention to the problem, question, or hypothesis presented in the introduction. Focus your findings in the discussion section and do not summarize or repeat the results. Controversial issues should be discussed clearly and fairly. At the end a brief conclusion must be included if there is no separate section for it.

References

Citation style in the text
Authors should cite only significant, published, and up-to-date references. The style in the text is as follows:
Sumaiya, 2003; Sumaiya and Priyantha, 2003; Sumaiya et al., 2003
Sumaiya, 2003; Sumaiya and Dhradul, 2003a, 2003b; Sumaiya et al., 2003
Sumaiya, 2003; Sumaiya et al., 2003, 2004; Sumaiya and Shrestha, 2004

Reference list
The reference list includes only the literatures cited in the paper so that readers can use information if needed. References should be in alphabetical order in the list by the surnames of authors. Two or more articles with the same in-text citation are indicated by the letters a,b,c, etc. Journal titles are abbreviated according to an international standard, as given in Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index. For publications without consecutive pagination (i.e., each issue within a volume begins with page 1), issue number should be included. Examples of references are given below:

Alphabetization
Sumaiya, L.N. 2001.
Sumaiya, L.N. and Priyantha, S.V. 2003.
Sumaiya, L.N., Priyantha, S.V. and Nahar, L. 1999.
Sumaiya, L.N., Priyantha, S.V. and Ujagir, R. 1998a.
Sumaiya, L.N., Priyantha, S.V., Nahar, L. and Ujagir, R. 1998b.
Sumaiya, L.N., Shengal, V.K., Nhar, L., Romies, J. and Gumber, R.K. 1995.
Sumaiya, L.N. and Ujagir, R. 1994.

Journal Article
Buhler, D.D. and Mester, T.C. 1991. Effect of tillage systems on the emergence depth of giant and green foxtail. Weed Sci., 39: 200-203.
Mowla, G.M., Mondal, M.K, Islam, M.N. and Islam, M.T. 1992. Farm level water utilization in an irrigation project. Bangladesh Rice J., 3 (1&2): 51-56.
Rahman, M.M. 1990. Infestation and yield loss in chickpea due to pod borer in Bangladesh. Bangladesh J. Agril. Res., 15(2): 16-23.

Book/Bulletin/Reports/Series
Bhuiyan, S.I. 1982. Irrigation system management research and selected methodological issues. IRRI research paper series no 81. Los Banos, Manila.
De Datta, S. K. 1981. Principles and Practices of Rice Production. Los Banos, Manila.
International Rice Research Institute. 2000. International rice trade: a review of 1999 and prospects for 2000. International Rice Commission Newsletter. IRRI, Manila.
Steel, R.G.D. and Torrie, J.H. 1980. Principles and procedures of statistics: A biometrical approach. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Westerman, R.L. (ed.) 1990. Soil testing and plant analysis. 3rd ed. SSSA Book Ser. 3. SSSA, Madison, WI.

Chapter in a Book
David, H. and Easwaramoorthy. 1988. Physical resistance mechanisms in insect plant interactions. p. 45-70. In T.N. Ananthakrishnan and A. Rahman (ed.), Dynamics of insect plant interactions: Recent advances and future trends. Oxford and IBH Publication, New Delhi.
Johnson, D.W. and D.E. Todd. 1998. Effects of harvesting intensity on forest productivity and soil carbon storage. p. 351–363. In R. Lal et al. (ed.) Management of carbon sequestration in soils. Advances in Soil Science. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

Conference/Symposium/ Proceedings
Joshi, B.K. 2004. Crossing frequency and ancestors used in developing Nepalese mid and high hill rice cultivars: Possible criteria for yield improvement and rice genes conservation. p. 502-523. In Proc. National Conference on Science and Technology, 4th, Vol. 1. 23-26 Mar., 2004. NAST, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Ramanujam, S. (ed.) 1979. Proc. Int. Wheat Genet. Symp., 5th, New Delhi, India. 23–28 Feb. 1978. Indian Soc. Genet. Plant Breeding, Indian Agric. Res. Inst., New Delhi.

Dissertation
Singh, A.A. 2005. Weed management approaches and modeling crop weed interaction in soybean. M.Sc.(Ag.) diss. Tamil Nadu Agricultural Univ., Coimbatore.
Software and Software Documentation
Minitab. 1998. MINITAB 12. Minitab, State College, PA.

Online publication
Venugopal, D. (2000). Nilgiri tea in crisis: Causes consequences and possible solutions. Retrieved October 11, 2000 from http://www.badaga.org.

Online journal article
Doerge, T.A. 2002. Variable-rate nitrogen management creates opportunities and challenges for corn producers. Crop Manage. doi:10.1094/cm-2002-0905-01-RS.

Figure Captions, Tables, and Figures
Figure captions should be written on separate page(s) together following the references. Each table must be placed on a separate page following the figure captions. Table title must be attached on top of each table. All units should be in metric system. Please see the latest copy of the SJA for making tables. Place each figure on a separate page following the table pages.

Review Papers
Review papers are usually less formal and these papers should provide a synthesis of existing knowledge and provide new views or concepts not previously presented in the literature.

Short Communications
Short Communications typically describe research techniques, apparatus, and observations. These articles are usually shorter than research papers and there are no individual abstract, materials and methods, results and discussion. Instead, they are written in continuous form.