Author Guidelines
PDF version of Author Instructions is available here. 
Those who are considering to submit a manuscript can go to the on-line submission system from Submit an Article of side menu.
1. Aims and Scope
The Horticulture Journal (Hort. J.) is an international journal published quarterly by the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science. Its aim is to deliver new scientific and technological information to horticultural scientists worldwide. Hort. J. publishes articles based on original research, as well as reviews by society members.
Hort. J. covers research on fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants grown in temperate and subtropical/tropical regions. Manuscripts on both basic and applied research in a wide range of horticulture-related fields, such as crop production, physiology, propagation, genetics, breeding, phytopathology, postharvest biology, storage, transportation, and protected horticulture, but not on gardening and landscape architecture, will be considered for publication. Research papers featuring novel technologies and methodologies are welcome; however, the research results should be of significance to horticulture. Papers focusing on only basic plant science research without any direct contribution to horticulture are outside the scope of Hort. J.
2. Manuscript Types
The journal welcomes two manuscript types, both of which are subject to peer review.
2-1. Articles
Articles are full and comprehensive reports describing original research.
2-2. Reviews
Reviews are invited by members of the Editorial Board or submitted by individual members of the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science (JSHS). Reviews present novel or unique overviews of recent or important developments in the field. They must be insightful and address the question(s) of interest using appropriate and fully presented evidence; exhaustive general summaries will not be published.
3. Journal & Ethics Policies
Hort J. upholds the highest standards in scholarly publishing. Before submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors must ensure that they have read and complied with the journal’s policies. The journal reserves the right to reject without review, or retract, any manuscript that the Editor believes may not comply with these policies.
The responsibilities of the journal’s authors, editors, reviewers and publisher regarding research and publication ethics are described in full below.
Materials previously published in extension bulletins, commercial magazines, etc. will be examined carefully by the Editorial Board to prevent duplication on receipt of a copy of the publication in question together with the manuscript. Publication of abstracts in the Annual Meeting of the JSHS, however, does not preclude a later publication of a full report in the Journal.
Submission to the journal implies that the manuscript has not been previously published (in part or in whole, in any language), is not in press, and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Authors must inform the editors if any related manuscripts are under consideration, in press or published elsewhere, including on preprint servers.
If authors choose to submit their manuscript elsewhere before a final decision has been made on its suitability for publication in Hort. J., they should first withdraw it from the journal.
3-1. Submission and membership
The journal welcomes manuscript submissions from authors based anywhere in the world. However, the first or corresponding author must be an individual (or student) member of the JSHS. Non-members may be co-authors but are urged to consider membership.
Submission of a manuscript to the journal implies that all authors: have approved it, warrant it is factual, have agreed to its submission, and have the right to publish it.
3-2. Originality
Submission to the journal implies that the manuscript is original work. The journal may use Crossref’s Similarity Check software to screen manuscripts for unoriginal content. By submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors agree to this screening. Any manuscript with an unacceptable level of unoriginal material may be rejected or retracted at the Editors’ discretion.
3-3. Authorship
Submission to the journal implies that all authors have seen and approved the author list. Changes to the author list after manuscript submission – such as the insertion or removal of author names, or a rearrangement of author order – must be approved by all authors and the editor.
Authors are encouraged to consider the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations on ‘Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors’. The ICMJE recommends that authorship is based on four criteria: making a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the work; drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; approving the final version of the manuscript for publication; and agreeing to be held accountable for all aspects of the work. Any contributor who has met all four criteria should be an author on the manuscript. Contributors who do not meet all four criteria should not be authors of the manuscript but may be included in the Acknowledgements section instead.
3-4. Data falsification, data fabrication and image integrity
Authors must not falsify or fabricate data. Authors may digitally manipulate or process images, but only if the adjustments are kept to a minimum, are applied to the entire image, meet community standards, and are clearly described in the manuscript. All images in a manuscript must accurately reflect the original data on which they are based. Authors must not move, remove, add or enhance individual parts of an image. The editors reserve the right to request original, unprocessed images from the authors. Failure to provide requested images may result in a manuscript being rejected or retracted.
3-5. Reproducing copyrighted material
If a manuscript includes material that is not under the authors’ own copyright, the authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) to reproduce it.
If a manuscript includes previously published material, the authors must obtain permission from the copyright owners and the publisher of the original work to reproduce it. The authors must cite the original work in their manuscript.
Copies of all reproduction permissions must be included with the manuscript when it is first submitted.
3-6. Availability of data and materials
Authors must disclose the source of publicly available data and materials, such as public repositories or commercial manufacturers, by including accession numbers or company details in their manuscript, as appropriate.
Authors may make their own data and materials available in Supplementary Material, or by linking from their manuscript to relevant community-recognized public databases or digital repositories. All data sets must be made available in full to the editors and reviewers during the peer review process and must be made publicly available by the date of publication. Authors commit to preserving their data sets for at least three years from the date of publication in the journal.
The journal encourages authors to grant reasonable requests from colleagues to share any data, materials and experimental protocols described in their manuscript.
3-7. Animal/human experimentation
Authors of manuscripts describing experiments involving humans or materials derived from humans must demonstrate that the work was carried out in accordance with the principles embodied in the Declaration of Helsinki, its revisions, and any guidelines approved by the authors’ institutions or ethics committees. Where relevant, the authors must include a statement in their manuscript that describes the procedures for obtaining informed consent from participants regarding participation in the research and publication of the research.
Authors of manuscripts describing experiments involving animals or materials derived from animals must demonstrate that the work was carried out in accordance with the guidelines approved by the authors’ institution(s).
3-8. Specimen collection
Manuscripts describing the collection of archaeological, geological, paleontological or botanical specimens or samples should include detailed information on their provenance and collection methods. Authors must include a statement in their manuscript describing the relevant ethics guidelines, local laws and collection permits under which the research was conducted.
3-9. Clinical trial registration
The journal adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) policy on Clinical Trials Registration, which recommends that all clinical trials are registered in a public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. Manuscripts describing clinical trials must include the registration number of the trial and the name of the trial registry.
3-10. Reporting guidelines for clinical research
The journal requires authors to follow the EQUATOR Network’s Reporting Guidelines for health research. Study types include, but are not limited to, randomized trials, observational studies, systematic reviews, case reports, qualitative research, diagnostic and prognostic studies, economic evaluations, animal pre-clinical studies and study protocols.
3-11. Author competing interests and conflicts of interest
Hort. J. requires all authors to disclose any competing or conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest exists when there are actual, perceived or potential circumstances that could influence an author’s ability to conduct or report research impartially. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include financial association or relationship with a company in the form of employment, consultancy, stock ownership, board membership, or grants or other funding. The existence of a conflict of interest does not preclude manuscript submission and publication in Hort. J. However, the corresponding author must declare, on behalf of all the authors, whether or not a conflict of interest exists in the footnotes or Acknowledgements section of the manuscript. Upon publication, the Editor-in-Chief shall request the authors to state the source and nature of the conflict. If there are no competing interests, the authors shall state “No conflicts of interest declared” in the footnote.
Authors should list all funding sources for their work in the Acknowledgements section.
3-12. Confidentiality
The journal maintains the confidentiality of all unpublished manuscripts. By submitting their manuscript to the journal, the authors warrant that they will keep all correspondence about their manuscript (from the Editorial Office, editors and reviewers) strictly confidential.
3-13. Self-archiving (Green Open Access) policy
Self-archiving, also known as Green Open Access, enables authors to deposit a copy of their manuscript in an online repository. The journal encourages authors of original research manuscripts to upload their article to an institutional or public repository immediately after publication in the journal.
3-14. Long-term digital archiving
J-STAGE preserves its full digital library, including Hort. J., with Portico in a dark archive (see https://www.portico.org/publishers/jstage/). In the event that the material becomes unavailable at J-STAGE, it will be released and made available by Portico.
4. Peer Review Process
A journal manuscript number will be assigned to each new manuscript. Always refer to the journal manuscript number in all correspondence about the manuscript and proofs. The acceptance of manuscripts for publication in the Journal is based on the review process undertaken by the Editorial Board. The author(s) will usually be requested to undertake revisions after peer review, and final acceptance may depend on the extent and nature of the revisions. A manuscript’s acceptance will be cancelled if it is not returned within one month of the notice for revision. If the manuscript is not returned within two months, the manuscript will be considered withdrawn.
4-1. Editorial and peer review process
The journal uses single-blind peer review. When a manuscript is submitted to the journal, it is assigned to the Editor-in-Chief and Senior Editor, who perform initial screening. Manuscripts that do not fit the journal’s aims and scope are rejected without review. The remaining manuscripts are assigned to a handling Editor who undertakes an initial assessment and, where relevant, assigns two or more reviewers to assess each manuscript. Reviewers are selected based on their expertise, reputation and previous experience as peer reviewers. The deadline for submission of the reviewers’ reports varies by article type.
Upon receipt of the reviewers’ reports, the Editor makes the first decision on the manuscript. If the decision is to request revision of the manuscript, authors have one month to resubmit their revised manuscript. The Editor may send revised manuscripts to peer reviewers for their feedback or may use his or her own judgement to assess how closely the authors have followed the Editor’s and the reviewers’ comments on the original manuscript.
The Editor then makes a recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief on the manuscript’s suitability for publication. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for making the final decision on each manuscript.
The members of the Editorial Board act in advisory roles, providing feedback as reviewers and making suggestions to improve the journal. In cases where the Editor-in-Chief is an author on a manuscript submitted to the journal, a member of the Editorial Board is responsible for making the final decision on the manuscript’s suitability for publication.
4-2. Reviewer selection, timing and suggestions
Reviewers are selected without regard to geography and need not belong to Hort. J.’s Editorial Board. Reviewers are selected based on their expertise in the field, reputation, recommendation by others, and/or previous experience as peer reviewers for the journal.
Reviewers are asked to submit their first review within 3 weeks of accepting the invitation to review. Reviewers who anticipate any delays are asked to inform the Editorial Office.
When submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors may suggest reviewers that they would like included in or excluded from the peer review process. The Editor may consider these suggestions but is under no obligation to follow them. The selection, invitation and assignment of peer reviewers is at the Editor’s sole discretion.
4-3. Reviewer reports
It is the journal’s policy to transmit reviewers’ comments to the authors in their original form. However, the journal reserves the right to edit reviewers’ comments, without consulting the reviewers, if they contain offensive language, confidential information or recommendations for publication.
4-4. Acceptance criteria
If a manuscript satisfies the journal’s requirements and represents a significant contribution to the published literature, the Editor may recommend acceptance for publication in the journal.
Articles in Hort. J. must be:
- novel and original
- aligned with the journal’s scope
- descriptions of technically rigorous research
- appropriately structured and of high English quality
- important additions to the field
- of high interest to the journal’s audience
If a manuscript does not meet the journal’s requirements for acceptance or revision, the Editor may recommend rejection.
4-5. Editorial independence
As the publisher of the journal, the JSHS has granted the journal’s Editorial Board complete and sole responsibility for all editorial decisions. The society will not become involved in editorial decisions, except in cases of a fundamental breakdown of process.
Editorial decisions are based only on a manuscript’s scientific merit and are kept completely separate from the journal’s other interests. The authors’ ability to pay any publication charges has no bearing on whether a manuscript is accepted for publication in the journal.
4-6. Appeals
Authors who believe that an editorial decision has been made in error may lodge an appeal with the Editorial Office. Appeals are only considered if the authors provide detailed evidence of a misunderstanding or mistake by a reviewer or editor. Appeals are considered carefully by the Editor-in-Chief, whose decision is final. The guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) are followed where and when relevant.
4-7. Confidentiality in peer review
The journal maintains the confidentiality of all unpublished manuscripts. Editors and reviewers will not:
- disclose a reviewer’s identity unless the reviewer makes a reasonable request for such disclosure
- discuss the manuscript or its contents with anyone not directly involved with the manuscript or its peer review
- use any data or information from the manuscript in their own work or publications
- use information obtained from the peer review process to provide an advantage to themselves or anyone else, or to disadvantage any individual or organization.
In addition, reviewers will not reveal their identity to any of the authors of the manuscript or involve anyone else in the review (for example, a post-doc or PhD student) without first requesting permission from the Editor.
4-8. Conflicts of interest in peer review
A conflict of interest exists when there are actual, perceived or potential circumstances that could influence an editor’s ability to act impartially when assessing a manuscript. Such circumstances might include having a personal or professional relationship with an author, working on the same topic or in direct competition with an author, having a financial stake in the work or its publication, or having seen previous versions of the manuscript.
Members of the journal’s Editorial Board and reviewers undertake or are asked to declare any conflicts of interest when handling manuscripts. An editor or reviewer who declares a conflict of interest is unassigned from the manuscript in question and is replaced by a new editor or reviewer.
Editors try to avoid conflicts of interest when inviting reviewers, but it is not always possible to identify potential bias.
4-9. Errata, corrigenda and retractions
The journal recognizes the importance of maintaining the integrity of published literature.
A published article that contains an error may be corrected through the publication of an Erratum. Errata and Corrigenda describe errors that significantly affect the scientific integrity of a publication, the reputation of the authors, or the journal itself. Authors who wish to correct a published article should contact the editor who handled their manuscript or the Editorial Office with full details of the error(s) and their requested changes. In cases where co-authors disagree over a correction, the Editor-in-Chief may consult the Editorial Board or external peer reviewers for advice. If a correction is published, any dissenting authors will be noted in the text.
A published article that contains Invalid or unreliable results or conclusions, has been published elsewhere, or has infringed codes of conduct (covering research or publication ethics) may be retracted. Individuals who believe that a published article should be retracted are encouraged to contact the journal’s Editorial Office with full details of their concerns. The Editor-in-Chief will investigate further and contact the authors of the published article for their response. In cases where co-authors disagree over a retraction, the Editor-in-Chief may consult the Editorial Board or external peer reviewers for advice. If a Retraction is published, any dissenting authors will be noted in the text.
The decision to publish Errata or Retractions is made at the sole discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
4-10. Editors as authors in the journal
Any member of the journal’s Editorial Board, including the Editor-in-Chief, who is an author on a submitted manuscript is excluded from the peer review process. Within the journal’s online manuscript submission and tracking system, they will be able to see their manuscript as an author but not as an editor, thereby maintaining the confidentiality of peer review.
A manuscript authored by an editor of the journal is subject to the same high standards of peer review and editorial decision making as any manuscript considered by the journal.
4-11. Responding to potential ethical breaches
The journal will respond to allegations of ethical breaches by following its own policies and, where possible, the guidelines of COPE.
5. Copyright, Open Access and Fees
Articles published in the journal submitted on or after April 15, 2023 are fully Open Access and use a Creative Commons (CC) license. These licenses allow for users to reuse and build upon the material published in the journal without charge or the need to ask prior permission from the publisher or author.
Published articles submitted to the journal for review before April 15, 2023 are freely available from the journal website under the stated copyright provisions on each article.
5-1. Copyright and licensing
The JSHS requires authors to assign the copyright of all Reviews and Articles published in the Journal to the JSHS. Articles are made Open Access under a Creative Commons BY-NC or CC BY license, as detailed below, and made freely available online at the journal’s J-STAGE webpage.
Authors can choose the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International). This license allows users to share and adapt an article, non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given.
If authors are required to comply with their funding body’s relevant policies, they can apply to the JSHS for the CC BY 4.0 (Attribution 4.0 International) license to be applied to their accepted article.
5-2. Publication Fees
The summary of fees in the journal is presented below:
Articles (up to 6 pages): JPY 10,000
More than 6 pages: JPY 13,000 per excess page
Reviews (up to 7 pages): JPY 10,000
More than 7 pages: JPY 13,000 per excess page
Proofreading fee: JPY 10,000
Color printing fee: JPY 75,000 per page
Authors must pay the relevant publication fee and, if color printing is desired, a color printing fee. These fees must be remitted without delay at the request of the Managing Accountant of the JSHS. No fees are charged for Reviews solicited by the Editorial Board.
Color figures appear in online articles free of charge. Authors must request this service and submit the relevant files upon acceptance of their manuscript.
5-3. Reprints
Reprints can be purchased upon request. The fees for the reprints and their covers must be also defrayed without delay at the request of the Managing Accountant of the JSHS. If the relevant charges are not remitted, the acceptance and publication of the manuscript will be cancelled.
6. Manuscript Submission
All manuscripts must be submitted via the journal’s online submission system, Editorial Manager: https://www.editorialmanager.com/jjshs/default.aspx. The original or revised manuscript text may be uploaded as a Microsoft Word file. Figures may be submitted separately in several other formats.
If you encounter any problems with online submission, please contact the Editorial Office at the details provided in the Contact section.
7. Manuscript Preparation
7-1. Format and Style
Manuscripts should be prepared in MS-Word or equivalent. Text should be 25 lines per sheet and line-numbered, every five lines, in the left margin. Only 12 point “Times New Roman” and “Symbol” fonts should be used for text.
Manuscripts should, in general, be arranged in the following order: 1) Title page containing Title, author name(s) and affiliation(s), mailing address of corresponding author(s), 2) Abstract, 3) Key Words, 4) Main text (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, or Results and Discussion), 5) Literature Cited, 6) Tables and Figures, 7) Abstract in Japanese, author name(s), and affiliation(s) (if Japanese authors are included). 8) Supplementary Material (if any). Place the Acknowledgements after the Discussion.
Use italics in the by-line addresses, in secondary headings and for scientific names of organisms. Use bold letters for main headings. Literal quotations and words giving a special meaning should be enclosed with double quotes.
Figure legends should be typed on a separate and numbered sheet and be placed immediately following any tables.
Arabic numerals should be used in all cases except the beginning of sentences. For technical terms, refer to the Horticultural Terminology manual edited by the JSHS. In principle, Romanized Japanese in the Hepburn style should be used.
7-2. English standards
Manuscripts should be written in clear, grammatically correct English. Authors who are not fluent in English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscript checked by a fluent English speaker or by an editing service prior to submission. If a manuscript is not clear due to poor English, it may be rejected without undergoing peer review.
7-3. Cover Letter
A cover letter must be included which includes the title of the manuscript and the contact details of the corresponding author. Authors should summarize the aims and outcomes of their work and how and why the work is appropriate for publication. Details of any relevant consent and/or ethics approvals, and other such items must be included in the cover letter.
7-4. Title page
Manuscript title, author name(s), affiliation(s), and mailing address(es) should be typed on the first page of the manuscript.
The date when received for publication, identifications of the paper as part of serial numbers, or part of an institution’s Journal series, sponsorship by any fund, or presentation of the paper at the Annual Meeting of the JSHS should be indicated in footnotes on the title page. Indicate the corresponding author with superscript of * and state as “* Corresponding author (E-mail: xxxxx@yyy.zz).” in a footnote. If an author(s)’s institution(s) change, indicate with a superscript of ** and state the new institution in footnote on the title page.
7-5. Title
The title should describe the content of the article briefly but clearly and is important for search purposes by third-party services. Do not use the same main title with numbered minor titles, even for a series of papers by the same authors. Do not use abbreviations in the title, except those used generally in related fields. Capitalize the first letter of all words except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.
7-6. Authors
Author details should include the name(s) of the author(s) on one line and a concise mailing address in italics below. When multiple authors are from separate institutions, indicate their respective addresses separately with superscript numbers.
7-7. Footnotes
Footnotes, if any, should be typed either in the title page or in a separate sheet (the second page of the manuscript).
7-8. Abbreviations
Each abbreviation should be defined in parentheses together with its non-abbreviated term when it first appears in the text (except in the Title and Abstract). Organic chemicals, enzymes, standard procedures, and other cases, which are abbreviated for the reader’s convenience, should always be named first in full, with parenthetical reference to the abbreviation used subsequently: e. g., 2-(3-chlorophenoxy) propionic acid (3-CP), phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL), thin layer chromatograph (TLC).
7-9. Units
SI or SI-derived units should be used. More information on SI units is available at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website. Other units, which can be used where justified include:
Length: m, km, cm, mm, μm, nm
Area: m2, km2, cm2, mm2, a, ha
Volume: m3, cm3, mm3, L, mL, μL, nL, pL
Time: s, min, h, day(s), week(s), month(s), year(s)
Frequency: Hz, rpm
Mass: kg, g, mg, μg, ng, pg, t
Pressure: Pa, N·m−2, bar, mbar, atm, mmHg (only for blood pressure), Torr (only for pressure in vivo), pF
Temperature: K, °C
Work, Calory: J, cal (only for nutritive and metabolic value)
Electricity: A, mA; V, mV; Ω; W, kW, mW
Light: cd; μmol·m−2·s−1; lx, klx; lm
Molar concentration: mol, mmol; mol·L−1 = M, mM, μM; N (normal)
Radioactivity: Bq, Ci; Gy, rad; R
Miscellaneous: × g, pH, cpm, %, ppm, ppb
Always use abbreviations for standard units as gram (g), milligram (mg), centimeter (cm) and hectare (ha). That is, avoid using abbreviations without any information. However, in tables and figures, standard abbreviations may be used, if necessary, for format considerations, in addition to those for standard units: e.g., no., wt, ht, conc, FW, DW, vol.
7-10. Abstract and key words
The Abstract should clearly express the basic content of the paper in a single paragraph and should include the problem addressed, experimental approach, main results and findings, and conclusions. Abstracts must not exceed 350 words for all article types. Avoid using specific abbreviations. For authors not based in Japan, only an Abstract in English is required. For authors based in Japan, please supply an Abstract in Japanese and English.
Up to five key words, not already used in the title, should be also included after the abstract and arranged alphabetically.
7-11. Text
Headings
Center and capitalize the first letter of each word in the main headings of the paper and type in bold letters: e.g., Introduction, Materials and Methods. Variations of these subheadings may be used. Place secondary headings in italics, if necessary, at the beginning of a paragraph with the first letter of the first word capitalized. If they are numbered, the arrangement should be in the following order: 1., 2., 3., ...; 1), 2), 3), ...; (1), (2), (3), ...; i), ii), iii), ....
7-12. Name of commercial products and fertilizers
Use of trade or brand names is not desirable in scientific literature and it should be avoided, especially in the title. When use is unavoidable, the active ingredient, chemical formula, purity, diluent or solvent, etc. should be stated clearly in parentheses. The first letter of trade or brand names should be capitalized.
The preceding clause applies also to the names of commercial fertilizers. When giving the amount of mineral nutrients, state clearly whether they are expressed in terms of the nutrient elements or their oxides.
7-13. Nomenclature
The scientific name of the genus, species, and subspecies should be given in italics with the authority in roman letters and, if necessary, the cultivar name(s) – e.g. Diospyros kaki Thunb. ‘Fuyu’ – the first time a species is mentioned in the paper. The scientific names of the major organisms in the paper should be listed in the title or abstract. If the authority is listed in the title or abstract, it can be dispensed with thereafter. Common names of well-known crops (apple, tomato, rose, etc.) can be used in titles. Cultivar name(s) should be enclosed by single quotes unless they appear in the body of a table or a figure. Cultivar names should be always capitalized. For the scientific and common names of the horticultural crops, refer to the List of Horticultural Crops edited by the JSHS.
7-14. Acknowledgements
This section should be brief. Authors should list all funding sources for their work in the Acknowledgements section.
7-15. Literature Cited
The journal uses a modified Harvard reference style. All publications cited in the paper should be listed in the Literature Cited section. They should be listed alphabetically with the author name(s), and then chronologically per author. Use the full article titles, author name(s), names of periodicals etc., even if they appear in the successive papers.
Any manuscripts accepted for publication should be listed in Literature Cited as (In press). Names of periodicals, etc. should be abbreviated as commonly accepted abbreviation. In book titles, only the first letter of the first word should be capitalized except for proper nouns. The issue number of the Journal is not necessary if pagination is continuous within each volume.
Unpublished references should be indicated parenthetically in the paper as (unpublished), (unpublished data), or (personal communication). The citation of online-only journals or other online-only literature is limited to cases where the cited material does not have a print version, but does have an ISSN, DOI, or ISBN. Citation of web pages should be limited to those with permanent and persistent URLs or identifiers. Online-only journals literature should be listed in the Literature Cited section, but other internet page should only be listed in the text, e.g., (Clarivate Analytics ISI Web of Science, https:// www.***.**/, April 11, 2022).
Citations in the text should be ordered alphabetically. Single- or double-authored items should list the author names, e.g., (Kataoka, 2007; Kataoka and Takamura, 2004); items with more than three authors include the first author’s surname and ‘et al’, e.g., (Kataoka et al., 1988, 1991; Yoshida et al., 1998a, b).
Examples of citations in the Literature Cited section are below:
Periodicals
Forshey, C. G., R. W. Weires, B. H. Stanley and R. C. Seem. 1983. Dry weight partitioning of ‘McIntosh’ apple trees. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 108: 149–154.
Nishizawa, T., H. Toya, Y. Kondo and Y. Shishido. 2004. Effect of alkalized organic waste application in bed soil on growth, flesh firmness and calcium concentration in the plant and soil of ‘Prince’ melon. Hort. Res. (Japan) 3: 39–44 (In Japanese with English abstract).
Yoshida, M. 2002. White peach, Suimitsuto of Okayama. Agric. Hortic. (Noko-to-Engei) 57: 210 (In Japanese).
Kikuti, K. and E. Taira. 2009. Relationship between near infrared rays (NIR) evaluation and sensory evaluation in mango fruit. Agric. Hortic. (Nogyo-oyobi- Engei) 84: 614–623 (In Japanese).
Books
Grey-Wilson, C. 2003. Cyclamen. B T Batsford, London.
Hara, N. 1994. Shokubutsukeitaigaku (In Japanese). Asakurashoten, Tokyo.
Book chapters or multi-author books
Brown, G. E. 1980. Fruit handling and decay control techniques affecting quality. p. 193–224. In: S. Nagy and J. A. Attaway (eds.). Citrus nutrition and quality. ACS Symp. Series 143. ACS, Washington, D.C.
Theses
Kraut, C. W. 1974. A study of the nutritional composition of selected carrot varieties. Ph.D. Thesis. Mich. State Univ., East Lansing.
Bulletins
Jenes, J. G., R. J. Constantin and T. P. Hernandes. 1979. The response of sweet potatoes to fertilizer phosphorus and potassium as related to levels of their elements available in the soil. La. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 722.
Abstracts
Nesmith, A. C. and W. M. Dowler. 1973. Cold hardiness of peach trees as affected by certain cultural practices. HortScience 8: 267 (Abstr.).
Shishido, Y. and Y. Hori. 1978. Retranslocation of 14C-assimilates once translocated into the roots. Abstr. Japan. Soc. Hort. Sci. Autumn Meet.: 248– 249 (In Japanese).
Yoshida, T. 1991. Inheritance of immunity of citrus tristeza virus in citrus. J. Japan. Soc. Hort. Sci. 60 (Suppl. 2): 2–3 (In Japanese).
Yamanaka, M., T. Goto and M. Higashimura. 2010. Relationship between hang down angle and bending load of cut flower stem in carnation. Hort. Res. (Japan) 9 (Suppl. 1): 442 (In Japanese).
Patents
Yamazaki, T., S. Murase, K. Suzuki and M. Iwatsuki. 1986. Flower-thinning agent for fruit trees. United States Patent 4613359.
Online-only journals
Tanaka, A. and B. Suzuki. 2006. ADH gene expressions during apple fruit development. Apple Res. 2006- CF-20. DOI: 10.1029/2005GL024961.
7-17. Tables and Figures
Tables and figures (including photographs) should be labeled and numbered separately with Arabic numerals according to the sequence in which they are cited. The first letter of the titles, legends, column and row headings, and explanations should be capitalized. The titles, legends and explanations should be terminated with a period. The same data should not be displayed in both tables and figures. Place tables, figures, and photographs separately in order after Literature Cited.
The title of each table should be brief and self-explanatory such that independent reference to the text is unnecessary. Information to legends in figures should be also clear and concise. Place the title above the body of the table. Avoid the use of vertical lines to separate columns, and also minimize the use of horizontal lines. Column and row headings, with footnotes, should be self-explanatory. Use lower case letters at the end of the alphabet (z, y, x, ...) in superscription to identify tabular footnotes. However, do not use the superscript of letters in figures, and spell out the abbreviation(s) in the legend of the Figure to explain. Use lower case letters at the beginning of the alphabet (a, b, c, ...) or asterisks (*), with explanatory footnotes, to indicate statistical significance at the 5% level and capitals or ** for significance at the 1% level. P (probability) and R2 (coefficient of determination) should be uppercase and italic, and r (sample coefficient of linear correlation) should be lowercase and italic. “Standard deviation of a sample”, “standard error of the mean of a sample”, and “not statistically significant” should be denoted by SD, SE, and NS, respectively.
Figures in digital files can be used as originals for publication. Figures in digital files prepared with Microsoft and Adobe software are acceptable as well as those in PDF and EPS formats (font embedding, high resolution). Resolution required is at least 360 dpi in photographs or 1200 dpi in other figures.
7-18. Supplementary material
Supplementary material adds, but is not essential, to a reader’s understanding of a manuscript. Authors are encouraged to submit supplementary material for online-only publication. Only one file in PDF or ZIP format is acceptable. Supplemental figures and tables must be numbered as Fig. S1, S2, … and Table S1, S2, ... in the manuscript. Supplemental materials shall be subject to examination. The maximum file size is 50 MB. Please note that all supplemental materials are not copy-edited or typeset and appear online in their submitted form. Therefore, authors should ensure that the proper style, terms, units, etc. are used in supplementary materials.
8. Accepted Manuscripts
After acceptance for publication, the manuscript is proofread by an English editor and returned to the author(s). After author checks of the suggested changes, the final version of the manuscript should be submitted to the Editorial Office through Editorial Manager.
8-1. Proofs
The first galley proof will be sent to the corresponding author. The galley should be proof-read carefully, corrected if necessary, and returned via Editorial Manager immediately upon receipt. Corrections must be limited to typographical errors, and alterations to the text or Tables and Figures are not permitted. The corrected proof will be published online as an Advance Online Publication until the final, copy-edited article is published online.
8-2. Reprints
Order forms for reprints are sent with the proofs to the corresponding author and should be returned with the proofs.
9. Contact
To contact the Editorial Office or the Editor-in-Chief, please write to:
Email: hortj(at)jshs.jp
(These instructions are effective as from April 15, 2023.)
