Peer Review Statement

All submissions to Madras Agricultural journal (MAJ) are first reviewed for completeness , language standard, Plagiarism, title's suitability with the aim and scope of the journal which is termed as QC (Quality Check) and then sent to be assessed by an Editor in Chief who will decide whether they are suitable for peer review. The Editor in Chief will consider whether an Editor is on the author list or has any other competing interest regarding a specific manuscript and assign a reviewer with sound technical knowledge and experience in the field of study. Another member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to oversee peer review. Editor in Chief will consider the peer-reviewed reports when making a decision, but are not bound by the opinions or recommendations therein. A concern raised by a single peer reviewer or the Editor themself may result in the manuscript being rejected. Authors receive peer review reports with the editorial decision on their manuscript. The authors are advised to resubmit with proper revisions and rebuttal to the reviewer comments. If the Reviewer has recommended Major correction the revised manuscript will be reassigned to the same reviewer for final review. If the Reviewer has recommended minor correction the revised manuscript will be forwarded to the Editor in Chief for final decision on the manuscript.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statements

Publication malpractice is an unfortunate occurrence in the world of scholarly literature. The prevention of publication malpractice is the responsibility of every author, editor, reviewer, publisher, and institution. As per the requirement of any scholarly indexing services, Madras Agricultural Journal (MAJ), published by the Madras Agricultural Student's Union, a non-profit service organization, follows a strict policy on publication ethics and publication malpractice to meet the standards.

The MAJ has editorial boards of potential researchers in the specified fields of agriculture and technology. The full names and affiliations of the members are provided on the Journal's Web site http://masujournal.org/editorial-board.php

Statements

The following are the standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in publishing the Madras Agricultural Journal, including the editors, authors, peer reviewers, and publishers.

Editor's Role

1. The Editor in Chief of Madras Agricultural Journal is responsible for making the final decision on acceptance of the manuscript. The editor considers recommendations of corresponding editors/reviewers and legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The Editor in Chief may consult with the editorial board or reviewers in making decisions.
2. An editor/reviewer should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or the authors' political philosophy.
3. The Editor in Chief/editors/ and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a manuscript under review to anyone other than the author, reviewers, or the publisher.

Reviewer's role

1. Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions, and through editorial communications with the author, reviewers may also assist the author in improving the manuscript.
2. Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or who knows that its prompt review be impossible should excuse themselves from the review process by notifying the Editor in Chief.
3. A reviewer who receives a manuscript must treat it as confidential and should not disclose it.
4. Reviewers should submit neutral comments that do not include personal criticism of the author and express their views with supporting arguments.
5. Facts or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential

Author's role

1. Authors of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance.
2. An author should accurately describe the findings in the manuscript with sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work.
3. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical and unacceptable behaviour, and they may result in disqualification from publication with the editor's determination.
4. The article's entire content should be of original work
5. If the authors have used the work and/or words of others, they should appropriately cite or quote it.
6. The work should be adequately acknowledged. Authors should cite publications that have influenced the nature of the reported work. As in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, information obtained privately must be accompanied by explicit, written permission from the source. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must be accompanied by the author's explicit written permission of the work involved in these services.
7. If authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in a manuscript they have published, they must promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the published version of the manuscript.

Authorship

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the material considered for publication. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors and others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should include only appropriate co-authors with the manuscript and ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the draft and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism takes many forms, from masking another author's work as the author's own, copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of other works without attribution, to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism, in all its forms, constitutes unethical and unacceptable publishing behaviour. If the editor determines it to have inadvertently taken place in an article submitted for publication, the author must comprehensively revise any area(s) in question with a failure to do so, resulting in the article's rejection.

Funding and Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge the financial support For example, “the authors acknowledge the financial support provided to SU by DBT, GOI, through Indo-Russian collaboration (No.DBT/IC2/Indo-Russia/2014-16)”.

Submission declaration and verification

An author should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one Journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical and unacceptable publishing behaviour. Hence, authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal. If a manuscript under review appears in substantially the same form as an article published elsewhere, it is the editor's prerogative to remove the manuscript from potential publication in Madras Agricultural Journal.

Publication of articles

1. Two research articles in a year can be published for free for by the members' MASU. However, non-members can also publish their research by paying appropriate article publishing charges. Our journal site specifies the charges to be paid by the authors. Further, the authors should also be willing to participate in the peer-review process, significant contribution to the research, obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes and also forbidden to publish same research in more than one Journal.
2. A journal's plan for electronic backup and preservation of access to the journal content in the event a journal is no longer published. However, back up, if available in the Journal's office may be obtained.

Copyright

Copyright and licensing are described on the Journal's Web site. All the published individual articles are available to readers for free under Creative Commons license. Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement'. A link to the online version of this agreement has to be e-signed by the authors.

Upon submission, the author(s) grants Madras Agricultural Journal, a license to publish, including to display, store, copy, and reuse the content. The Creative Commons attribution license enables the author(s) retains copyright, but anyone can use publication freely, the contents are free to download, distribute, given appropriate attribution to the author(s) and citing Madras Agricultural Journal as the original publisher.