Guide for Authors
1: General
The manuscript shall be considered for publication only with the understanding that it is neither under concurrent consideration by any journal nor published elsewhere. Manuscripts are subjected to peer review for their scientific merit. Accepted manuscripts will become the property of the Mesopotamia Journal of Agriculture. The journal is published four times a year.
2: Manuscript Submission
Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors designated as the corresponding author with the full approval of the co-authors for handling the manuscript during submission, peer review, and corrections. Submit the manuscript via the online system.
3: Manuscript preparation
The manuscript should be computer typed in Microsoft Word using a 13-point Times New Roman font for English writing and Simplified Arabic font for Arabic language writing, single-spaced throughout the text, including figure legends, tables, and references. Use A4 paper for typing. The typed area should be printed on (A4) 3 cm margins on the left side and the other 2.5 cm. The manuscript, subdivided by one-line space between headings, should be organized as follows:
3-1: Title page: The first page of the manuscript includes the title (capitalize all the letters) of the article followed by a one-line space, the names of all authors (no degrees), and their correspondence addresses, including the corresponding author's e-mail address. The first letter of each name and main word should be capitalized. The title, author's name, and affiliation should be centered on the width of the typing area.
3-2: Abstract: The second page contains the abstract, which should be 150-250 words in a single paragraph and presents the main findings. For indexing purposes, a list of 3–5 keywords in English not included in the title should be typed below the abstract. An Arabic abstract is required for papers written in English. It should follow the English abstract.
3-3: Introduction: Describes briefly the background of the investigation with updated information and states the aim of the study.
3-4: Materials and Methods: Provide sufficient details to reproduce the experiments. Support the techniques and methods used with references. Investigations on animals must comply with institutional and/or equivalent guides for the care and use of animals. Metric and standard international units should be used in this section and throughout the manuscript. Specify the computer software used for statistical analysis and define statistical terms, abbreviations, and symbols applied.
3-5: Results: Present the results and their significance. Graphs and tables should be self-explanatory. Do not repeat in figures or the text the data presented in tables. Tables and figures should be numbered in the order of their mention in the text.
3-6: Discussion: Deals with critical review and interpretations of the results supported by relevant updated references. Repetition of data should be avoided. It should end with brief conclusions. In Short Communications, Results and Discussion may be combined.
3-7: Acknowledgements: Include the sponsor, funding agency, provider of major facilities, and the names of those who contributed substantially to work but did not fulfill the authorship requirements.
3-8: References: Literature references should be mentioned in the text according to the system of the Mesopotamia Journal of Agriculture (MJA). Titles of journals should not be abbreviated and should be in italics font, followed by the number of Volumes, the number of Issues between brackets, and then the page numbers.
4: References Examples
4-1: Journal article: Seo, K. I., Choi, M. S., Jung, U. J., Kim, H. J., Yeo, J., Jeon, S. M., & Lee, M. K. (2008). Effect of curcumin supplementation on blood glucose, plasma insulin, and glucose homeostasis related enzyme activities in diabetic db/db mice. Molecular nutrition & food research, 52(9), 995-1004.
4-2: Book: Sturkie, P. D. (1965). Avian physiology., (2nd ed). London.P:22-35
4-3: Ph.D. thesis: Stephenson, M. J. (1986). The productivity of medieval sheep on the great estates 1100-1500 (Doctoral dissertation, University of Cambridge). P:320
4-4: Journal article on the Internet: Polgreen PM., Diekema DJ., & Vandeberg J, l. Risk factors for groin wound infection after femoral artery catheterization: a case-control study. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol [Internet]. 2006 Jan [cited 2007 Jan 5];27(1):34-7. Available from: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.
4-5: Internet Webpage: AMA: helping doctors help patients [Internet]. Chicago: American Medical Association; c1995-2007 [cited 2007 Feb 22]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/.
4-6: Chapter in Book: Mossa, J.S (1987). Medical plants of Saudi Arabia published by king Saudi University Libraries. Riyadh, PP: 244.
4-7: Anonymous Author: Anonymous. (1994). 9th revisited National academy press, Washington D.C.
4-8: Abstract: Harchran, S. (1965). Pachymerus chinesis, its biology, and extent of damage to grain. Plant Protection Bulletin.16: 23-28 (Abstract).