Computers and Electronics in Agriculture provides international coverage of advances in the application
of computer hardware, software and electronic instrumentation and control systems to agriculture, forestry and related industries. The
latter include horticulture (in both its food and amenity aspects), forest products, aquaculture, animal/livestock science, veterinary
medicine and food processing.
The journal publishes original papers, reviews, applications notes and book reviews on topics including
computerized decision-support aids (e.g., expert systems and simulation models) pertaining to any aspect of the aforementioned industries;
electronic monitoring or control of any aspect of livestock/crop production (e.g. soil and water, environment, growth, health, waste
products) and post-harvest operations (such as drying, storage, production assessment, trimming and dissection of plant and animal material).
Relevant areas of technology include artificial intelligence, sensors, machine vision, robotics and simulation modelling.
Submission
of manuscripts
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form
of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that
its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and
that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent
of the Publisher.
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright see
http://authors.elsevier.com). This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. A letter will
be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided.
If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit
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Box 800, Oxford, OX5 1DX, UK; phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com. Requests
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Papers for consideration
should be submitted to: Elsevier Editorial System
Types of
contribution
1. Original research papers
2. Review articles
3. Application notes
4. Book reviews
Original
research papers should report the results of original research. The material should not have been previously published elsewhere,
except in a preliminary form. Review articles should cover subjects falling within the scope of the journal which are of
active current interest. They may be submitted or invited. An Application note is a short but complete description of a
specific application, which will not be included in a later paper. It should not occupy more than 4 printed pages (about 8 manuscript
pages, including figures, tables and references). Book reviews will be included in the journal on a range of relevant books
which are no more than 2 years old. Unsolicited reviews will not usually be accepted, but suggestions for appropriate books for review
may be sent to one of the Editors-in-Chief.
Electronic manuscripts
Submission to this journal proceeds totally on-line.
Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the Author
Gateway page of this journal, you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. Once
the uploading is done, our system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. It is crucial
that all graphical elements be uploaded in separate files, so that the PDF is suitable for reviewing. Authors can upload their article
as a LaTex, Microsoft (MS) Word, WordPerfect, PostScript or Adobe Acrobat PDF document. All correspondence, including notification of
the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be by e-mail.
Electronic format requirements for accepted articles
We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic
file for reference and safety. Save your files using the default extension of the program used.
Wordprocessor documents
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format.
Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular,
do not use the wordprocessor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts
etc. Do not embed 'graphically designed' equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. When preparing tables,
if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs,
not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also
the Author Gateway's Quickguide. Do not import the figures into the text
file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. See also the section on Preparation of electronic illustrations.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spellchecker'
function of your wordprocessor.
Preparation of manuscripts
1. Manuscripts should be written in English. Authors whose
native language is not English are strongly advised to have their manuscripts checked by an English-speaking colleague prior to submission. English language help service: Upon request, Elsevier will direct Authors to an agent who can check and improve the English of
their paper (before submission). Please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for further information.
2. Authors
are requested to submit, with their manuscripts, the names and addresses of four potential referees.
3. Manuscripts should be
prepared with numbered lines, with wide margins and double spacing throughout, i.e. also for abstracts, footnotes and references.
Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc. should be numbered. However, in the text no reference
should be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may refer to sections. Avoid excessive use of italics to emphasize part of the text.
4. Manuscripts in general should be organized in the following order:
Title (should be clear, descriptive and not too long)
Name(s) of author(s)
Complete postal address(es) of affiliations
Full telephone, E-mail and Fax No. of the corresponding author
Present address(es) of author(s) if applicable
Complete correspondence address and e-mail address to which the proofs should be sent
Abstract
Keywords, normally 3-6 items.
Introduction
Material studied, area descriptions, methods, techniques
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgements and any additional information concerning research grants, etc.
References
Tables
Figure captions
5. In typing the manuscript, titles and subtitles should not be run within the text. They should be typed on
a separate line, without indentation. Use lower-case letter type.
6. SI units should be used.
7. Elsevier reserves the privilege
of returning to the author for revision accepted manuscripts and illustrations which are not in the proper form given in this guide.
Abstracts
The abstract should be clear, descriptive and not longer than 400 words.
Tables
1. Authors
should take notice of the limitations set by the size and lay-out of the journal. Large tables should be avoided. Reversing columns and
rows will often reduce the dimensions of a table.
2. If many data are to be presented, an attempt should be made to divide them
over two or more tables.
3. Tables should be numbered according to their sequence in the text. The text should include references
to all tables.
4. Each table should be typewritten on a separate page of the manuscript. Tables should never be included in the
text.
5. Each table should have a brief and self-explanatory title.
6. Column headings should be brief, but sufficiently explanatory.
Standard abbreviations of units of measurement should be added between parentheses.
7. Vertical lines should not be used to separate
columns. Leave some extra space between the columns instead.
8. Any explanation essential to the understanding of the table should
be given as a footnote at the bottom of the table.
Electronic Illustrations
Submitting your artwork in an electronic
format helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.
1. Always
supply high-quality printouts of your artwork, in case conversion of the electronic artwork is problematic.
2. Make sure you use
uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
3. Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
4. Only
use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
5. Number the illustrations according to
their sequence in the text.
6. Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files
and the software used.
7. Provide all illustrations as separate files.
8. Provide captions to illustrations separately.
9.
Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information
are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save
as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (Note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone
combinations given below.):
EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs
(halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped
line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in
any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply "as is".
Please do not: • Supply embedded graphics in your
wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation) document; • Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG);
the resolution is too low; • Supply files that are too low in resolution; • Submit graphics that are disproportionately
large for the content.
Colour illustrations
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS
or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. Polaroid colour prints are not suitable. If, together with your accepted article,
you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the
web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version.
Please indicate your preference for colour on the web (free of charge) or in print and on the web (charged) when submitting your article.
For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article.
For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork.
Please
note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to grey scale (for the printed version should you
opt to not pay for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.
As only one figure caption may be used for both colour and black and white versions of figures, please ensure that the figure captions
are meaningful for both versions, if applicable.
References 1. All publications cited
in the text should be presented
in a list of references
following the text of the manuscript. The manuscript should be
carefully checked to ensure that the spelling
of author's names
and dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference
list. 2. In the text refer to the author's name
(without
initial) and year of publication, followed - if necessary - by
a short reference to appropriate pages. Examples: "Since
Peterson
(1993) has shown that ...." "This is in agreement
with results obtained later (Peterson and Kramer, 1993, pp.
12-16)". 3. If reference
is made in the text to a
publication written by more than two authors the name of the
first author should be used followed by "et
al." This
indication, however, should never be used in the list of
references. In this list names of first author and co-authors
should be mentioned. 4. References cited together in the
text should be arranged chronologically. The list of references
should
be arranged alphabetically on authors' names, and
chronologically per author. If an author's name in the list is
also mentioned with
co-authors the following order should be
used: publications of the single author, arranged according to
publication dates - publications
of the same author with one
co-author - publications of the author with more than one co-author. Publications by the same author(s) in
the same year should be listed as 1994a, 1994b, etc. 5. Use the following system for arranging your references: 5.1 For
periodicals Yang, Q., 1993. Classification of apple surface features using machine vision and neural networks. Comput. Electron.
Agric. 9, 1-12. 5.2 For entire (special) issue of journal Glaser, R., Bond, L. (Eds). 1981. Testing: Concepts and
Research (special issue). American Psychologist 36 (10). 5.3 For books Peart, R.M., Brooks, R.C. (Eds.), 1992. Analysis
of Agricultural Energy Systems. Energy in World agriculture, 5. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
5.4 For multi-author books Price,
D.R., Chen, T.H., Peart, R.M. 1992. Acknowledge-based decision system for control of waste heat for a greenhouse-aquaculture complex.
In: Peart, R.M., Brooks, R.C. (Eds.), Analysis of Agricultural Energy Systems. Energy in World Agriculture, 5. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp.
33-46. 5.5 For unpublished reports, departmental notes, etc. Deshazer, J.A., Moran, P., Onyango, C.M., Schofield,
C.P., 1988. Imaging systems to improve stockmanship in pig production. Div. Note 1549, AFRC Institute of Engineering Research, Silsoe,
UK. 6. Do not abbreviate the titles of periodicals mentioned in the list of references; alternatively use the International
List of Periodical Title Word Abbreviations. 7. In the case of publications in any language other than English, the original
title is to be retained. However, the titles of publications in non-Latin alphabets should be transliterated, and a notation such as
"(in Russian)" or "(in Greek with English abstract)" should be added. 8. Work accepted for publication but not yet published should
be referred to as "in press". 9. References concerning unpublished data and "personal communications" should not be cited in the
reference list buy may be mentioned in the text.
Formulae
1. All formulae should be presented consistently and
clearly
with regard to the meaning of each symbol and its correct location. Formulae must be typed throughout.
2. All unusual
symbols must
be collected in a separate list in the appendix, giving a clear explanation of each symbol.
3. Please try to keep the
notation as
simple as possible, and avoid ambiguities. Do not use special typefonts if there is no urgent need to do so.
4. Different
formulae
should be clearly separated in the manuscript, at least by punctuation marks, if not by words. Avoid breaking formulae if
breaking is
not strictly necessary (i.e., if the equation is less than one typed line). Never let a sentence consist of formulae alone (i.e.,
without
any connection with the preceding text).
5. Do not use complicated juxtapositions of symbols. Also, try to avoid
complicated subscripts
and superscripts; third-order indices especially present difficulties as to their size and position, and fourth-order
indices are taboo.
6.
The manuscript must show a clear distinction between similar symbols, (e.g., between zero (0) and the letter
O, between one (1) and
the letter l, and between multiplication (×) and the letter x).
7. Important formulae (e.g.
definitions) must be displayed.
All formulae which are to be referred to later on must be displayed and numbered consecutively
throughout the paper; the number should
appear on the right-hand side of the page.
8. In chemical formulae the valence of ions
must be given as, for example, Ca2+
and CO32 rather than as
Ca++ and CO3--.
9. Isotope numbers should precede
the symbols
(e.g., 18O).
Footnotes
1. Footnotes should only be used if absolutely essential. In most
cases
it will be possible to incorporate them in the main text.
2. If used, footnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout
the manuscript,
indicated by superscript arabic numbers, and kept as short as possible.
Nomenclature
1. Authors and Editor(s) are, by general
agreement, obliged to accept the rules governing biological nomenclature, as laid down in the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature,
the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria, and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.
2. All
biotica (crops, plants, insects, birds, mammals, etc.) should be identified by their scientific names when the English term is first
used, with the exception of common domestic animals.
3. All biocides and other organic compounds must be identified by their Geneva
names when first used in the text. Active ingredients of all formulations should be likewise identified.
4. For chemical nomenclature,
the conventions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the official recommendations of the IUPAC-IUB
Combined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature should be followed.
Supplementary data
Elsevier now accepts electronic
supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities
to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary
files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is provided
in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply
a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit http://www.elsevier.com/authors.
Copyright
1. An author, when quoting from someone else's work or when considering reproducing an illustration or table
from a book or journal article, should make sure that he is not infringing a copyright.
2. Although in general an author may quote
from other published works, he should obtain permission from the holder of the copyright if he wishes to make substantial extracts or
to reproduce tables, plates, or other illustrations. If the copyright-holder is not the author of the quoted or reproduced material,
it is recommended that the permission of the author should also be sought.
3. Material in unpublished letters and manuscripts is
also protected and must not be published unless permission has been obtained.
4. A suitable acknowledgement of any borrowed material
must always be made.
Proofs
When your manuscript is received at the Publisher it is considered to be in its final form.
Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'.
One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author,
to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed
at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.
A form with queries from the copy editor may accompany your proofs. Please
answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required.
The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if
corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within two working days of receipt of the proofs. Should there be no corrections,
please confirm this.
Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as
possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, it is important to
ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please
ensure your first sending is complete. Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make your corrections, just that only one
set of corrections will be accepted.
Offprints
1. The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF
file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free offprints of any paper supplied. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the
published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.
Formulae 1.
Formulae should be typewritten, if possible. Leave ample space around the formulae. 2. Subscripts and superscripts should be clear
and not too small. 3. Greek letters and other non-Latin or handwritten symbols should be explained in the margin where they are
first used. Take special care to show clearly the difference between zero (0) and the letter O, and between one (1) and the letter l. 4.
Give the meaning of all symbols immediately after the equation in which they are first used. 5. For simple fractions use the solidus
(/) instead of a horizontal line. 6. Equations should be numbered serially at the right-hand side in parentheses. In general only
equations explicitly referred to in the text need be numbered. 7. The use of fractional powers instead of root signs is recommended.
Also powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. 8. Levels of statistical significance which can be mentioned without
further explanation are *P< 0.05, **P< 0.01 and ***P<0.001. 9. In chemical formulae, valence of ions should be given as,
e.g., Ca2+ not as Ca++. 10. Isotope numbers should precede the symbols, e.g., 18O. 11. The
repeated writing of chemical formulae in the text is to be avoided where reasonably possible; instead, the name of the compound should
be given in full. Exceptions may be made in the case of a very long name occurring very frequently or in the case of a compound being
described as the end product of a gravimetric determination (e.g., phosphate as P2O5).
Footnotes 1.
Footnotes should only be used if absolutely essential. In most cases it will be possible to incorporate the information in normal text. 2.
If used, they should be numbered in the text, indicated by superscript numbers, and kept as short as possible.
Nomenclature 1.
Authors and editors are, by general agreement, obliged to accept the rules governing biological nomenclature, as laid down in the International
Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria, and the International Code of Zoological
Nomenclature. 2. All biotica (crops, plants, insects, birds, mammals, etc.) should be identified by their scientific names
when the English term is first used, with the exception of common domestic animals. 3. All biocides and other organic compounds must
be identified by their Geneva names when first used in the text. Active ingredients of all formulations should be likewise identified. 4.
For chemical nomenclature, the conventions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the official recommendations
of the IUPAC-IUB Combined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature should be followed.
Supplementary data
Elsevier
now accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional
possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips
and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products,
including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure
that data is provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the
article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction
pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Proofs
When your manuscript is received at the Publisher
it is considered to be in its final form. Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'.
One set of page proofs in PDF format will be
sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and
subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.
A form with queries from
the copy editor may accompany your proofs. Please answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required.
The Publisher
reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within two working days of receipt
of the proofs. Should there be no corrections, please confirm this.
Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected
and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your
article for correction, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections
will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete. Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make your
corrections, just that only one set of corrections will be accepted.
Offprints 1. The corresponding author, at no
cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free offprints of any paper supplied. 100 free
offprints will be given to authors of a Review article. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a
cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.
Last updated on May 31, 2005.
