Manuscript preparation guidelines

Types of Articles

Current Horticulture accepts the following categories of manuscripts:

1. Research Articles (Full-length Articles):

Original research papers reporting novel and significant findings in horticultural sciences, including basic, applied, and interdisciplinary studies. Manuscripts should include a clearly defined objective or hypothesis, detailed methodology, results & discussion, and conclusion.

Word limit: Up to 3,500 words (including abstract and references).

2. Short Notes (Short Communications):

Concise reports presenting preliminary findings, innovative methodologies, or significant modifications to existing techniques. These submissions are intended for the rapid dissemination of noteworthy research outcomes.

Word limit: Up to 2,500 words (including abstract and references).

3. Review Articles:

Comprehensive and critical reviews summarizing recent advances in specific areas of horticultural sciences. Review articles may be submitted or invited. Authors are encouraged to provide critical analysis, identify knowledge gaps, and suggest directions for future research.

Word limit: Up to 6,000 words (including abstract and references).

4. Book Reviews:

Critical evaluations of books published within the last two years that are relevant to horticulture and allied sciences. Reviews should highlight the scope, strengths, relevance, and contribution of the book to the discipline.

Word limit: Up to 1,000 words.

5. Editorials (by invitation only):

Short opinion pieces or perspectives on emerging trends, current issues, or policy matters in horticultural sciences. Editorials are typically commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief.

6. New Hybrids/Varieties

Brief reports describing the development, characterization, and performance evaluation of newly developed hybrids or varieties of horticultural crops. Supporting data on distinctiveness, stability, and performance should be provided.

Word limit: Up to 2,500 words.

7. Novel Technologies

Reports describing innovative technologies, tools, techniques, or approaches with demonstrated applicability in horticultural research or production systems.

Word limit: Up to 3,000 words.

8. Success Stories / Case Studies

Documented field-based innovations, adoption success stories, or impact case studies related to horticultural development, extension, or technology transfer.

Word limit: Up to 2,500 words.

9. Research News

Short communications highlighting important scientific developments, institutional achievements, or policy updates in horticultural sciences.

Word limit: Up to 1,500 words.

 

Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation

All manuscripts submitted to Current Horticulture must be prepared in accordance with the guidelines outlined below to ensure efficient peer review and publication. Submissions not adhering to these standards may be returned for revision prior to review.

General Formatting

  • File Format: Submit manuscripts in MS Word (.doc or .docx) format. A PDF or any other format is not an acceptable source file.
  • Language: English
  • Layout text in a single-column format.
  • The manuscript should be typed in double space.
  • Font: Use a clear, readable font (e.g., Times New Roman/Tahoma, 12 pt).
  • Page Numbers: The pages should be numbered consequently, starting with the title page and through the text, reference list, tables and figures/legends.
  • Line number: Include line and page numbering consecutively, starting from the title page.
  • Article sections: Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections and subsections starting from the Introduction. Number subsections 1, 2 (then 2.1,2.2, 2.3, ...), then 3, etc.
  • Do not include the article abstract in section numbering
  • Subsection headings should appear on a separate line.
  • All technical terms, symbols and abbreviations should be defined.
  • All the units used in the article should be in the SI system/Metric and uniform
  • Superscripts and subscripts should be clearly indicated. 
  • Use spell-check and grammar-check functions to avoid errors. Resources for improving language and grammar may be used.

Article structure

Title of Manuscript

Should be concise, specific, and informative. Please avoid abbreviations and formulae, where possible, unless they are established and widely understood, e.g., DNA, RNA, CRISPR etc).

Author detail

  • Author names: provide full names of each author. The order of authors should match the order in the submission system.
  • Affiliations: provide institutional affiliations for all the authors, the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and the corresponding author's email address. Indicate affiliations using a lower-case superscript letter (a, b, c) immediately after the author's name. If an author has moved since the work described in your article was carried out, or the author was visiting during that time, a present affiliation should be provided.
  • Corresponding author: Clearly indicate (by * asterisk symbol with the author's name) the name and email of the corresponding author(s) who will handle correspondence for your article at all stages of the refereeing and publication process and also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about your results, data, methodology and materials. It is important that the email address and contact details of the corresponding author are kept up to date during the submission and publication process.

Abstract

  • Limit to 300 words.
  • It should be concise and to the point, briefly including key findings of the study.
  • Avoid citations and undefined abbreviations.

Key words

  • Provide 5-7 keywords, arranged alphabetically.
  • They should be chosen carefully and must not be phrases of words. 
  • Choose terms that are searchable and relevant for indexing.
  • Avoid key words consisting of multiple words, i.e., using "and" or "of"

Introduction

  • Briefly outline the background, rationale, and objectives of the study.
  • Include references to the most recent and relevant literature.
  • Clearly state the research hypothesis or question, the objective of the study

Materials and Methods

  • Describe the experimental design, plant materials, study location, data collection procedures, and analytical procedure
  • Statistical methods/procedure must be dealt with in detail, including software and models, if any.
  • Ensure citing standard protocols/research studied for reliable methodology and provide sufficient details.
  • Submit math equations as editable text, not as images and place them next to the relevant text. Use the formula function of MS Word.

Results and Discussion

  • Present significant findings using tables, figures, or graphs where necessary. However, tables and illustrations should be limited to 20% of the text.
  • Both tables and illustrations should not repeat the same data.
  • The Results and Discussion should be combined into a single section to ensure clarity and avoid repetition.
  • Highlight patterns, trends, and interpretation of data in context with previous research.
  • Use uniform metric unit system throughout the manuscript, e.g. km, m, cm, etc.
  • Cite an adequate number of the latest references. Old references should be avoided except for standard ones, and are inevitable.

Tables

  • Tables must be submitted as editable text, not as images.
  • Place tables next to the relevant text within the manuscript or on a separate page(s) at the end of your article.
  • Cite all tables in the manuscript text.
  • Number tables consecutively according to their appearance in the text and provide captions along with the tables.
  • Place any table notes below the table body.
  • Avoid vertical rules and shading within table cells.

Figure, image or diagram

  • Place Figures/Images (JPG, JPEG or PNG) next to the relevant text within the manuscript or on a separate page(s) at the end of your article.
  • It should be clear (colour or black & white) and should have sufficient resolution (300 dpi or more). Please do not submit: files that are too low in resolution
  • Number figures consecutively according to their appearance in the text.
  • All images must have a caption. A caption should consist of a brief title (not displayed on the figure itself) and a description of the image. We advise you to keep the amount of text in any image to a minimum, though any symbols and abbreviations used should be explained.
  • Cite all figures in the manuscript text.
  • Multi-panel figures (those with parts a, b, c, d, etc.) should be submitted as a single composite figure that contains all parts of the figure.
  • Please note that it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures (or tables) that have previously been published elsewhere. In order for all figures to be open access, authors must have permission from the rights holder if they wish to include images that have been published elsewhere in non-open-access journals. Permission should be indicated in the figure legend, and the original source should be included in the reference list.

Conclusions

  • Provide a concise summary of the findings, their implications and a brief future thrust.
  • Avoid repeating detailed results; instead, focus on the broader impact or application.

Acknowledgements

  • Recognize funding sources, institutional support, or individuals who contributed but do not qualify as authors.
  • Acknowledgements should be placed in a separate section which appears directly before the reference list. Do not include acknowledgements on your title page, as a footnote to your title, or anywhere else in your article other than in the separate acknowledgements section.

Conflict of Interest Statement

  • A statement must be included, even if declaring “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
  • All manuscripts must include a Conflict of Interest statement placed before the References section.
  • Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the results or interpretation of their work.
  • If no conflicts exist, authors must state “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”

Ethical Considerations

  • Research involving plants or field trials must comply with institutional and national guidelines.
  • If applicable, state that permission was obtained for field trials or germplasm use.

Funding sources

  • Authors must disclose any funding sources who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article. The role of sponsors, if any, should be declared in relation to the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report and decision to submit the article for publication. If funding sources had no such involvement this should be stated in your submission.
  • Funding: This work was supported by the AAAAA [grant numbers yyyy]; BBB [grant number zzzz]; and the FAO [grant number yyzz].
  • If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence: This research study did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author Contributions

  • Authors are encouraged to include Authors Contribution Statement, at the end of the manuscript, before the reference section.
  • Each author must have contributed significantly to qualify for authorship. Contributions should be agreed upon by all authors prior to submission. Authors are required to briefly specify their individual contributions following Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT) for the research work. This promotes transparency and ensures proper credit is given.
  • Authors may choose from the following roles: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Writing – original draft; Writing – review & editing.
  • Not all CRediT roles will apply to every manuscript and some authors may contribute through multiple roles.
  • Also include the statement: “All authors have read the manuscript and agreed to its content. They have also approved the final version of manuscript and consent to its submission”

References

Any references cited within your article should also be present in your reference list and vice-versa.

Follow the Author–Year citation style.

In-text citations may be parenthetical or narrative.

Author type

Parenthetical citation

Narrative citation

One author

 (Singh, 2021)

Singh (2021)

Two authors

(Kumar and Singh, 2019)

Kumar and Singh (2019)

Three or more authors

 (Kumar et al., 2018)

Kumar et al. (2018)

If more than one reference needs to be cited: arrange them in chronological order (old to new): eg. The similar findings were previously reported in cucurbits (Kumar et al., 2018; Kumar and Singh, 2019; Singh, 2021)

The list of references should be arranged alphabetically and then chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication. (Kumar et al., 2019a; Kumar et al., 2019b).

We encourage the use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) as reference links as they provide a permanent link to the electronic article referenced.

Journal article:

Singh, N., Sharma, R.M., Dubey, A.K., Awasthi, O.P., Saha, S., Bharadwaj, C. and Kumar, A. (2023). Citrus improvement for enhanced mineral nutrients in fruit juice through interspecific hybridization. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 119(2): 105259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2023.105259

Book

Panse, V.G. and Sukhatme, P.V. (1985). Statistical Methods for Agricultural Workers. ICAR Publications, New Delhi.

Conference proceedings

Rao, N.K. and Kumar, S. (2019). Advances in mango propagation. In: Proceedings of the National Conference on Tropical Fruits, Bengaluru, India, pp. 120-125.

Book Chapter:

Mettam, G.R. and Adams, L.B. (2023). How to prepare an electronic version of your article, In: Introduction to the Electronic Age, Jones, B.S. and Smith, R.Z. (Eds.). E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281-304.

Reference to a website:

FAOSTAT (2020). Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC (accessed 13 March 2023).

Supplementary Material (if any)

  • Supplementary materials such as extended datasets, figures, or videos can be submitted and published online only.
  • Supplementary material should be accurate and relevant to the research.
  • Cite all supplementary files in the manuscript text. (Supplementary Table 1 or Supplementary Figure 1)

Submission checklist

  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word format. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Guidelines for Manuscript Preparation
  • Spelling and grammar checks have been carried out.
  • One author has been designated as the corresponding author and their full contact details (email address, full postal address and phone numbers) have been provided.
  • The article has been seen by all the authors, who are satisfied with its form and content. The sequence of authors' names in the byline is arranged according to their relative contributions to this experiment, giving due credit to all researchers who made notable contributions.
  • Permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material from other sources, including the Web.
  • All references in the article text are cited in the reference list and vice versa.
  • Where available, URLs/DOI for the references have been provided.
  • Kindly submit the Article Certificate during the initial submission of the article. It is mandatory (Article Certificate is available on the website).
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor submitted to another journal for consideration.
  • A plagiarism checking report of the manuscript is being uploaded as using popular software like iThenticate or Turnit-in.

 

Submit online

Our online submission system (Make a New Submission) guides you through the process steps of entering your manuscript details and uploading your files.

Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by email.

Please follow this link to submit your paper: Make a New Submission