About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The Journal is a publication by University of Costa Rica, the College of Agronomist Engineers and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.

Objetive

Since its creation in 1977, the objective of the Journal has been to publish agricultural research carried out in Costa Rica and to present topics of interest for the country´s population.

Types of publication

Original and unpublished research papers, which have scientific or technical merit in the opinion of the Editorial Board.
Articles.
Technical notes, which are advances or parallel results of ongoing investigations.
Analysis and comments about relevant topics, requested from specialists.
Comprehensive literature reviews on a specific topic.
Book reviews.

Peer Review Process

Manuscripts published in Revista Agronomía Costarricense are the result of a rigorous selection which includes the Editorial Board in first instance and the arbitration carried out by national and international specialists, through a double-blind peer review system.

Once the Editorial Board previously evaluates the scientific or technical merit of the works, they will be sent with the evaluation instrument to national and international specialists. The opinion can issue the following criteria

The document is accepted without reservation
Accepted only if observations are included
Not fully accepted for publication

In case of controversy between the evaluations carried out for the same document, it is submitted to another review of new specialists whose assessment guides the final result to publish or not.

If the document is accepted, it is included in one of the following categories:

Article
Technical note
Others: analysis and comments, literature review, book reviews

The editor, together with those who make up the Editorial Board of the Revista Agronomía Costarricense, determines whether the documentation submitted for a possible publication is accepted or rejected.

Publication Frequency

This journal has a annual periodicity with continuous publication: January - December. The first issue is published in January.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate free access to its content under the principle of making available free research to the public, which encourages greater exchange of global knowledge. Is licensed with Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International

Indexed in

Index:

Catalogs:

Directories:

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Searchers:

Ethic code

Duties of the editor

The editor is responsible for check original publications with scientific or technical merit in the opinion of the Editorial Board. By doing this, the editor can accept or reject a manuscript under the criteria established in the publication norms and its intellectual content without distinction of gender, sexual orientation, political or religious ideology, nationality or ethnic origin of the authors. Manuscripts will be sent to national and international specialistsfor double-blind peer review. Throughout the process, the editor must ensure confidentiality to the parties, so that information about the content of the manuscript, the names the authors who sent the manuscript nor the names of the reviewers who are assigned the evaluation can be revealed.

Duties of the members of the Editorial Board

Members of the Editorial Board are responsible for contributing with the assignment of national and international reviewersaccording to the subject of the received manuscript; they should also help with thepreliminary review of manuscripts on matters related to their field and support with the update,improvement and periodic evaluation of the journal.

Author's duties

Authors must follow the criteria established in the publication norms of Agronomia Costarricense. Likewise, they must document in writing that the information presented is original, it has not been published in any other medium, it is not being considered for publication in another journal, and in addition, they must include a written authorization of the institution where it was generated. Authors should know that the use of data and information from other authors without citing them in the document and in the list of references, as well as the adopting ideas of others to assume them as their own, it could be presumed and if it is proven, the manuscript would not be taken into account for publication. In this way, authors must adequately cite bibliographic sources of the texts that contributedto the work presented. For authorship, it is necessary to write the names of co-authorswho significantly contributed in the development of the study. Authors should write all the financial sources on which they were supported, as well as any economic or conflict of interest that could influence the final results of the manuscript. Authors should not use the names of commercial products or brands in the document, as it compromises the publication. Finally, if the author identifies an error in themanuscript, they must inform within 15 days after the last delivery of the corrections requested, to rac.cia@ucr.ac.cr.

Duties of the reviwers

It is the responsibility of every specialist person to notify the editor when consulted, if it is possible to review the document that is requested to evaluate. If the reviewer accepts, they must carry out the work objectively, their criticism must have arguments based on science and must not have any conflict of interest with the information presented or the authorship, aspects that the reviewer must demand before accepting and carrying out the evaluation of the document.

Those who contribute to the revision of the documents submitted for possible publication should communicate to the editor, about any unethical behavior identified in the revised manuscript, in addition to the contributions of critical and constructive information for the improvement of the text, or for the rejection of the document.

Plagiarism detection policy

By using Google tools and DupliChecker, Revista Agronomia Costarricense is vigilant of the sources used in the research to determine the use of original ideas without citation of the source or by using words from others without citing them in the document and/or in the references.

In the same way, plagiarism is incurred when the words of others are falsified to be assumed as their own or when it indicates to be the author of an investigation when its owner is another person. If plagiarism is detected, the principal author will be notified by writing.

Interoperability Protocol

The journal uses the OAI-PMH protocol, which can be found at the following link: https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/agrocost/oai

Journal History

Revista Agronomía Costarricense (Costa Rican Agronomy Journal).

35 years after its appearance

During the 15^th anniversary of Revista Agronomía Costarricense, two former members of the Editorial Board and the principal editor published an article about how and when it was founded. (González et al. 1991). Later, on the 25^th anniversary, another member of the Editorial Board (Sánchez 2002) summarized the achievements obtained thus far.

Today, 35 years later (as part of our policy), we continue summarizing what has been done in the journal. This small contribution aims to include a summary of what has been happening after Sánchez (2002), trying to balance the achievements and suggesting changes to further improve our publication´s quality and relevance within the agri-food context that distinguishes the national scientific production, pointing towards an international audience, with more readers and collaborators using the journal nowadays.

Highlights the great contribution from the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería de Costa Rica (The Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock), one of the institutions that promoted the creation of the journal, since 2004 we have contributed to the placement of the journal on the website www.mag.go.cr/rev_agr/inicio.htm. 2 years later its first issue was digitized and since then began the indexing process. Today, we are part of search engines such as LATINDEX, SIDALC, INIS, DAILET, DOAJ, SCIELO, E-REVISTAS, REDALYC y AGRIS, where national and international visits can be verified as part of the virtual newspaper archives.

From the first semester of 2011, the digital version is registered with the international number for serial publications ISSN 2215-2202, according to re records of serial publications by the ISSN International Center, París, Francia.

According to a query (performed from Redalyc on May 7, 2012) from the total number of visits to the journal´s website, the geographical areas that have visited it the most are: Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico, United States of America, and Canada. The monthly average of downloaded articles from issue 24(1) to 34(2) (published during 2000-2010) reached 3637, with annual values of 2625, 2841, 4009, 4799 y 4225, from 2007 to 2011. The data shows the acceptance of the articles included in these issues and the relevance of the national and internation research that contributes to that Agri-food Sector research in different latitudes.

During the period 2004-2011, 118 scientific articles, 59 technical notes and 10 analysis and comments were published in the total 17 issues of the journal, with a rejection rate of articles submitted per publication close to 40%. Compared to the period 1977-1991, when the rejection rate was close to 25% (González et al. 1991), the number of articles per issue decreased, with substantial changes in terms of discipline of the papers. Thus, currently many more papers are published in the forestry area, but few or none in Agricultural Engineering, Animal Science, and even less in Agricultural Economics, Pest Management, Plant Physiology and Mineral Nutrition, Phytopathology, Weed Science, and Postharvest.

As former Director, Editor and actual collaborator of the journal, I wish to congratulate and thank the colleagues who one way or another have maintained the quality and support of this work of sharing the knowledge generated by the Costa Rican agricultural and forestry. Indeed, without the support of the scientists, the administrative and publishing teams from Universidad de Costa Rica (The University of Costa Rica), the editorial diligence of representatives from: 1) Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería de Costa Rica, 2) Colegio de Agrónomos de Costa Rica (The Costa Rican College of Agronomists), and 3) the collaboration of the international indexing centers, Revista Agronomía Costarricense would not have the visibility and the impact that it has today.

Dr. Alfredo Alvarado Hernández

Emeritus professor at The University of Costa Rica.

May 9, 2012