Types of Material Considered
The Journal of Soil and Water Conservation has two sections: the A Section containing various departments and features, and the Research Section containing peer-reviewed research papers. Manuscripts must represent original work and address a topic related to soil and water conservation. Topics include, but are not limited to, erosion control, watershed management, forestry, agroecology, hydrology, soil science, wetland conservation, ecological restoration, water quality improvement, sustainable agriculture systems, and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. Below you will find submission requirements for the two sections of the Journal. For more information, please read the JSWC Editorial Policy.
Jump to information about the following submission types:
A Section
Research Section
Research Briefs
Research Editorials
Research Reviews
Dataset Papers
Special Issue/Section
Access the online mansucript submission system.
A Section
Submissions
A Section articles are typically between 600 and 4,000 words (including References section) and include high-quality supporting photographs. It is recommended that authors query the Director of Publications/Editor (pubs@swcs.org) regarding A Section article ideas before submitting. The articles should be submitted by email to pubs@swcs.org. The decision to publish A Section submissions is made by the Director of Publications/Editor based on how well a manuscript addresses a topic of current and ongoing concern to the readership and on the accessibility of the writing for a broad audience.
- Articles submitted to the JSWC cannot have been published previously.
- Authors may choose to include up to five figures, images, or tables in their articles. The figures and images should be submitted as JPEG or EPS files, at least 300 dpi.
- All figures, images, and tables should have descriptive captions and be referenced in the article.
- Authors should provide job position title, organization, city, and state for each author.
- The headings in the A Section articles should not follow the format of the Research Section articles (Materials and Methods, Research and Discussion, etc.). However, like the Research Section articles, A Section articles should have no more than two levels of headings and should include a References section if applicable.
- With the exception of the "Parts of the Manuscript" section of the JSWC Style Guide, A Section articles should follow the Style Guide.
- There are no page charges for the articles published in the A Section. However, all authors are encouraged to pay a fee for open access, in which case their articles become available in the online journal to all readers—not only to subscribers.
Research Section
The Research Section containins peer-reviewed applied research papers. Manuscripts must represent original work and address a topic related to soil and water conservation. Authors may submit their manuscript as a Research Paper or as one of the other options listed under "Submission Types" below.
Manuscript Suitability
The following factors are considered in determining the suitability of a research manuscript:
- Manuscripts submitted to the JSWC cannot have been published previously.
- The manuscript should contribute to a new or better understanding of natural resource conservation.
- Studies must make a unique contribution to the advancement of scientific knowledge and contain sufficient detail of research methods to be replicated or verified by other investigators.
- The research objectives and/or hypotheses must be clearly stated.
- Appropriate investigative techniques (including controls, if applicable) must be used.
- Manuscripts should demonstrate that the research design and methods for data analysis (quantitative and/or qualitative) are scientifically rigorous and appropriate for the research topic. Quantitative research deriving inferences about differences, trends, or other patterns must be accompanied by appropriate statistics.
- All social science research manuscripts received by the journal will be evaluated by the journal’s social science panel. Social science research manuscripts must demonstrate that the research design and methods for data analysis (quantitative and/or qualitative) are scientifically rigorous and appropriate for the research topic. All qualitative research must adhere to social scientific standards for rigorous research design, data collection, analysis, and reporting.
- Data must be clearly presented.
- Interpretations must be supported with the data presented.
- All data sources, models, and other information must be fully documented.
- Implications of the results must be discussed.
Manuscript Preparation
Please prepare and submit the following:
- Author Information File. Submit a Microsoft Word file that includes the title of the manuscript, list of authors, and author bios. For the bios, include author names, job position titles (e.g., director or ecologist), name of institution, city, and state or country (if not the United States). Keep author names in same order for both the list and the author bio. Example: Reid Kreutzwiser is a professor and Rob de Loë is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Upon request, the JSWC will identify the corresponding author within the author bios.
- Manuscript File. Submit a Word file of your manuscript. Be sure there is no identifying author information in your manuscript file (citations and references are acceptable). Your manuscript should include the following parts in the following order: title, abstract, key words, body, references. Tables and figures may be integrated throughout manuscript; include table titles and figure captions. Be sure that your manuscript is double spaced and that it includes line numbers and page numbers. It is recommended that manuscripts be between 5,000 and 9,000 words. Consult the JSWC style guide below for more detail.
- Figure Files. Figures may be included in the Word manuscript file, or they may be submitted as individual files when you upload your manuscript file. If a paper is accepted, we will need access to high quality figure files that meet the following standards. We use EPS (vector) files for most charts/graphs and line illustrations, and we use high-quality TIFF or JPEG (raster) files for photographs and other nonvector-based images. Image size should be 4.75 inches wide at 300 dpi (1,425 pixels wide). It is recommended that the manuscript include no more than 12 figures and 10 tables. Figures submitted in color will be published online in color. Authors who prefer to publish figures in color in both the online and print publication will incur additional pages charges (see page charge rates below). If authors choose to publish in color online only, the same caption will appear on both the online (color) and print (black and white) versions. Authors should ensure that figures are legible and correspond to captions in both formats and should consider marking lines and graph bars with differentiating symbols and shading to assist with clarity in grayscale.
Style Guide
Authors should consult the JSWC style guide for manuscript preparation guidance before making a submission. QUICK TIPS: All units of measurement should be expressed in the International System of Units (SI). If authors desire, English or local unit equivalents may be provided as well. English or local unit values should follow the SI units and appear in parentheses. For non-English local units, conversion factors should be included at the first instance of inclusion. All references must be complete, with journal and publisher names spelled out.
Supplementary Materials
Supplementary materials submitted to the JSWC will be linked to the manuscript and available for download. These materials may include additional information in support of the paper’s findings and conclusions. Supplementary materials for research articles will be peer-reviewed and should be included in both the initial submission and in subsequent revision submissions. Supplementary materials will not be assigned unique DOIs. For large files or datasets, authors should instead upload materials to a permanent repository (e.g., Figshare, GRACEnet) and provide the corresponding DOI and/or URL within the main paper text.
Please be aware of the following supplementary material guidelines:
- Multiple tables, figures, etc. should be integrated into a single file and labeled appropriately, e.g., Supplementary Table 1 (Table S1 in main text).
- Captions should be included for each item.
- References may be included in the supplementary materials and should be formatted in JSWC style. However, these will not be live links and will not contribute toward citation measures.
- Paper title should be included in the supplemental file. For review, please do not include author information in the file. A citation for the corresponding published article will be added to the file by journal staff, if possible.
- Files will be posted to the online journal in the format provided by authors (e.g., PDF, Word, Excel).
- Supplementary material will not be edited or formatted by journal staff. Please ensure that materials are clearly presented and correspond with the style and terminology used within the main text.
- File sizes should be limited to below 10 MB, when possible.
- The following file types are accepted: Adobe PDF (.pdf), Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xlsx), Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt, .pptx), Plain Text (.txt), HTML page (.html), JPEG image (.jpeg, .jpg), GIF image (.gif), EPS image (.eps), QuickTime Movie (.mov, .mp4), WAV Audio (.wav).
- To request to submit an additional file type, please email pubs@swcs.org.
Submissions
Manuscripts are submitted online and will be analyzed using iThenticate plagiarism software. Coauthors need to be listed during the submission process so that they are given the opportunity to view the article's progress throughout review. Upload your manuscript to the following Web page: http://www.editorialmanager.com/jswc.
Manuscript Review Process
The journal's Research Section has a rigorous peer-review process. Each manuscript is peer reviewed by experts in the manuscript's particular field under the direction of the research editor and associate editors. Authors may suggest potential reviewers for their manuscripts; however, it is not guaranteed that these reviewers will be asked to review their manuscripts.
Turnaround Time
Authors are usually notified of the initial manuscript review decision within 10 weeks. Accepted manuscripts are typically published within 6 to 9 months from the date final files are submitted.
Page Charges and Open Access
Research Section
Page charges are assessed based on the number of pages in the final page layout. Authors are charged US$190 per page (SWCS members receive 20% discount). For figures requiring color, a US$400 color fee will be added per figure, up to four figures. Additional color figures will be charged at US$75 per figure, starting with figure five. SWCS members receive a 20% discount on the color fee.
Authors have the option to purchase open access to their articles in the online journal for US$2,630 (SWCS members receive 25% discount). Page charges and color fees will not be applied to open access articles.
A Section
Page charges and color fees will not be applied to A Section articles. Authors have the option to purchase open access to their articles in the online journal for US$1,315 (SWCS members receive 25% discount).
Submission Types
Research Briefs
Research Briefs are short manuscripts that report upon research of high relevance, novelty, or emerging concern. These manuscripts will undergo full peer review following standard procedures. Research Briefs report upon promising, unique findings, such as new technologies, analytical methods, research of narrow scope, or new modeling routines. Research Briefs have a maximum of 3,500 words and contain no more than 3 graphics, but otherwise are subject to all the requirements of peer review for a standard manuscript. Manuscripts may be submitted as a Research Brief, or the Editorial Board may recommend that a manuscript be condensed from standard length to Research Brief as part of the review process.
Research Editorials
On occasion, the Research Editor may invite an author to submit a manuscript as a Research Editorial or may suggest that a manuscript submitted for consideration as a Research Article be submitted for review (with or without revision) as a Research Editorial. These papers do not require a Materials and Methods section, although they must uphold the journal’s standards of science and integrity. In general, Research Editorials must be comprehensive in nature or sufficiently authoritative to represent some aspect of the state of the science. Research Editorials are subjected to the journal’s traditional peer-review system, and acceptance of a Research Editorial is contingent upon it passing the peer review. If a Research Editorial is accepted for publication, the authors are responsible for any and all publication fees.
Research Reviews*
A Research Editor may invite an author to submit a manuscript as a Research Review or may suggest that a manuscript submitted for consideration as a Research Article be submitted for review (with or without revision) as a Research Review. These papers require a Materials and Methods section or meta-analysis of methods from existing publications, and must uphold the journal’s standards of science and integrity. In general, Research Reviews must be comprehensive in nature or sufficiently authoritative to represent some aspect of the state of the science, and must synthesize existing knowledge in such a way as to make a substantial new contribution to the science of conservation. Research Reviews are subjected to the journal’s traditional peer-review system, and acceptance of a Research Review is contingent upon it passing the peer review. If a Research Review is accepted for publication, the authors are responsible for any and all publication fees.
*Reviews are by invitation only. Unsolicited review manuscripts will be released. Authors should contact one of the research editors prior to submitting a review manuscript.
Dataset Papers
Publishing a dataset gives more impact to research work and increases the value and usefulness of the data. Publishing datasets also provides opportunities for the creators to receive academic credit. Publishing a dataset in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (JSWC) requires two elements, each with its own digital object identifier (DOI):
- A data paper submitted through the online submission system, peer-reviewed, and accepted.
- A dataset uploaded to a permanent repository, peer-reviewed, and accepted. As an alternative for a dataset DOI, the URL that points to the dataset may be submitted.
Data papers are stand-alone papers that describe the dataset(s) by giving details about the purpose and objectives for collecting the data, the scope of the dataset, the collection methods, and the data QA/QC process, processing, format, accessibility, and availability. Data papers document the data and provide information on data availability so that other researchers can use and analyze the data for purposes that go beyond the original purpose for which the data were collected. Main characteristics and examples of how the data were or can be used should be included. Data papers should be submitted to the JSWC using the online submission system: http://www.editorialmanager.com/jswc/.
The dataset and the supporting metadata must be uploaded and formally archived to a journal-approved data repository, so that any qualified scientist is able to obtain the data, free of charge. The authors will be responsible for preparing data in the format required by the selected data repository. If fees are necessary to support publication of the data, the authors will be responsible for these fees. An appropriate data repository is one that is commonly used by the scientific community it supports and will be active for a very long time.
Before submitting, please review the full JSWC Dataset Paper Policy.
Special Issue/Section
Occasionally, the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation publishes a group of related research manuscripts. All manuscripts for a special issue/section must go through the journal's peer review process. To propose a special topic or to learn more about the special issue/section process, please see the section Journal Special Issues/Special Sections Rules in the Editorial Policy. Contact Research Editor Gretchen Sassenrath with special issue/section proposals: gsassenrath@ksu.edu
For information on any of these topics, please contact
J. Gordon Arbuckle, Jr.
Research Editor, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Co-Chair Editorial Board, Soil and Water Conservation Society
Department of Sociology, Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa, USA
arbuckle@iastate.edu
Gretchen Sassenrath
Research Editor, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Co-Chair Editorial Board, Soil and Water Conservation Society
Southwest Research and Extension Center, Kansas State University
Parsons, Kansas
gsassenrath@ksu.edu
Abigail Christian
Managing Editor, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Soil and Water Conservation Society
945 SW Ankeny Road
Ankeny, IA 50023
pubs@swcs.org