Blue Nile Journal of Agricultural Research (BNJAR)

Editorial Policy

Overview

Submitting a manuscript to BNJAR signifies that all authors have read, understood, and agreed to comply with the journal’s policies. The editorial team reserves the right to reject submissions that do not meet these standards.

Authorship

To qualify as an author, an individual must meet all the following criteria, as defined by the Office of Research Integrity:
  1. Substantial contribution to the study’s conception, design, data analysis, or interpretation.
  2. Active involvement in drafting or critically revising the manuscript for intellectual content.
  3. Final approval of the version to be published.
  4. Accountability for the work, including the ability to defend its integrity in academic or public forums.

Non-author contributors (e.g., technical assistants, funding providers) should be acknowledged in a dedicated section.

Corresponding or Primary Author

BNJAR requires one author, called the corresponding or primary author, to take responsibility for all aspects of publication. The corresponding author must:
  1. Ensure data accuracy and ethical compliance.
  2. Verify that all co-authors meet authorship criteria and approve the final manuscript.
  3. Manage all communication with the editorial office, including post-publication correspondence.
  4. Submit a completed authorship change request (via email or form) for any post-submission modifications. Disputes unresolved among authors will be deferred to their institutions; the journal does not arbitrate such conflicts.

Changes in Authorship

When there is a need for a change in authorship, the corresponding author is required to send us a direct email requesting a change in authorship of a submitted manuscript or published article. Corresponding authors can also fill out and submit the Change in Authorship Form. If there is a prolonged dispute amongst the authors regarding authorship that cannot be suitably resolved between the authors, the authors should contact their institution(s) for a binding decision. The Editor is not responsible for settling authorship disagreements. A change in authorship of a published article will be amended following our criteria for publication of a Correction Article.

Acknowledgements

Non-author contributors should be recognized in the acknowledgements. This includes financial supporters and individuals whose input did not meet full authorship criteria.

Submission of Manuscript

Manuscripts should be submitted by filling out and submitting the online submission form. Submitted manuscripts should conform to the requirements of BNJAR; therefore, authors should endeavor to read our Editorial Policies, Ethics policy, and Instruction for Authors before submitting a manuscript to our editorial office. Make sure the following guidelines are met: In addition, the accurate contact information of all authors (Surname, other names in full, affiliation, and email for each author) should be available on the manuscript. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest should also be available in the manuscript.

Materials and Data Availability

Authors should make materials, data, and related procedures available. This will allow other peers to replicate and build on the work after publication. Upon submission, authors must disclose if any restrictions were made on the accessibility of materials or information. With the unavailability of data and material, there will be no proof to support claims in the study.

Conflict of Interest (COI)

Correction and Retraction of Articles

On rare occasions, BNJAR may make corrections so as to maintain the standard of the articles in its academic archive. Minor or major corrections will require the authorization of the editor of the journal. Depending on the magnitude of the correction to be made, corrections may be made directly on the originally published article for cases of minor corrections. Major corrections will be made available through a new download link, leaving the originally published article untouched. Reasons for the change will also be stated alongside. In other cases where the content of an article is observed to be violating certain rights or offensive, we may have to remove that article from our site. The article may also be retracted due to scientific errors, misconduct, or plagiarism.

Embargo Policy

Authors and their representatives should avoid releasing details about their articles to representatives of the media until that article has been published online. Authors may only present detailed information at professional conferences before publication, but authors should abstain from giving out significant material from their articles before online publication. Officers of the press, public affairs, and others can have free access to copies of articles after publication.

Editorial Team

The editorial team of BNJAR comprises the Editorial Advisory Board, editors, and editorial board. Editors and editorial board members are selected by the Editorial Advisory Board based on:

  1. Qualifications and professional experiences,
  2. The Journal’s need for international representation and
  3. The need to maintain a high journal standard and editorial policies.

    4. Editor and reviewers will perform their responsibilities as stated in our Editorial Guidelines. Interested persons can apply to become editorial board members by filling out and submitting the Editorial Partnership form.

Publication Workflow

  1. Acknowledgement and manuscript ID issued (within 24–48 hours).
  2. Initial check for guideline compliance, plagiarism, and editorial editing (2–3 weeks).
  3. Author revision (if required) and acceptance.
  4. Double-blind peer review by qualified experts (feedback within 4–6 weeks).
  5. Proofing and final author approval (20–30 working days).
  6. Publication, DOI registration, and indexing (biannually: June & December).
Note: Post-acceptance rejection is rare but may occur if ethical violations emerge.

Peer Review

All manuscripts submitted to our editorial office go through a peer-review process that ensures a manuscript is fit and presentable. We require that individuals who are highly competent and recognized in the particular field of the submitted paper review each manuscript. Our editorial office conducts a double-blind pre-publication peer review process.

The Peer Review Process

Pre-publication Review: The editorial office team will contact two or more reviewers who have been identified as qualified, and the reviewers who may have been suggested by the responsible associate editors. Once potential reviewers agree to read a manuscript, they are given a period to complete the review. When the reviews are completed, the reviewers’ comments are sent to the author(s) for adequate revision. The corresponding author will submit a final version of the manuscript for publication.

Appeals or Complaints

Ethical Standards

BNJAR adheres to COPE guidelines. Misconduct includes:

Misconduct also includes retaliation, misinformation, or disrespectful correspondence. All cases are investigated and addressed appropriately. BNJAR will consider as misconduct any behavior or action that goes against its editorial and ethics policies. Other cases of miscounts include failure to report identified misconduct, baseless false reports of misconduct, restriction of information pertinent to a claim or misconduct, vengeance against persons involved in the accusation or investigation, rendering insults when corresponding with our staff members and editors.

Confidentiality

BNJAR will treat every manuscript with confidentiality. No manuscript will be given to anyone outside the editorial process, the editorial office, or the editorial board members. Every reviewer is obliged not to share or use for any other purpose any part of the manuscript being reviewed by them.

Proofs and Reprints

A proof copy is a final version of a manuscript that is sent to the corresponding author for final approval before publication. BNJAR has restrictions on author alterations in proof. Corrections are only permitted for realistic errors, copyediting errors, and improvements in the quality of figures. A link to the full version of the published article will be sent to the corresponding author to download the PDF file. Authors can also access the full text (in PDF) of the article online. BNJAR does not provide authors with reprints (hard copies).

Open Access Policy

Open Access is an unrestricted online model that allows the distribution of research papers through the internet to everyone in the global community with no price restraint. Thus, all articles published under open access can be accessed by anyone with internet access. BNJAR employs the Open Access initiative. All abstracts and full texts (in PDF formats) of articles published by BNJAR are freely accessible online to the global community immediately after publication.

Creative Commons Attribution License

All works published by BNJAR are covered by the Creative Commons Attribution License. This license allows anyone to copy, distribute, transmit, and replicate the work, provided the original work and source are properly cited.

Copyright

Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been published before and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. BNJAR currently allows authors to retain copyright for any article published in a journal. The article may be reused according to the Creative Commons Attribution License. The author is only required to grant BNJAR the publication right.

Open Access & Licensing