Farming Matters document practical field experiences on sustainable agriculture. They offer an opportunity for those working in agricultural development, particularly in diverse, risk-prone and resource-poor regions, to publish their experiences and to read about the experiences of others. Farming Matters is published four times a year, and each issue deals with a particular theme.
What are our magazines about?
The magazines published by the AgriCultures Network document practical field experiences covering the technical, ecological, social and economic aspects of small-scale sustainable agriculture. Each issue offers an opportunity to publish interesting field-based cases from all corners of the world.
In order to present clear and accessible information, authors are recommended to describe:
- the initial context, and what were the difficulties faced by farmers and the rural population;
- the reasons for the approach taken to improve the situation;
- the ways how the different stakeholders went about it, and who took the initiative;
- when did this all happen, and to what extent was the timing important;
- what happened as a result; and
- the reasons why things worked out as they did. (We appreciate opinions / analysis / conclusions relevant to field level, as well as recommendations for policy makers).
Please ensure that you
- thoroughly read the call for articles and check that the article fits well with the theme being covered;
- explain any terms or ideas that may not be understood in every part of the world;
- acknowledge all sources and references used; and
- explain any abbreviations used.
Full editorial support is provided. As the articles go through a rigorous editorial process, authors are usually requested to provide additional information or clarifications. We would therefore rather have too much information than too little in the first draft!
Format
In general terms, authors are requested to
- send about 500, 1000 or 1500 words (for a one, two or three-page article). Articles can be submitted either in hard copy or in electronic format. Please use a simple format for electronic submissions;
include no more than five references (any references should include at least year of publication, name of author, and publisher); - provide a current contact address, at the bottom of the article itself. This will also be published in the magazine. We would also appreciate a contact phone number for our own use;
- include 2-6 photos, illustrations, drawings, or maps. Please provide the name of the photographer / artist. Good-quality photos, slides or line drawings are suitable. Photos will be returned as soon as possible. If photo material is being sent digitally, JPEG files of at least 500 KB (for a 7 – 11 cm illustration) are preferred.
- include a small photo and a brief description of yourself.
ILEIA offers a one-year subscription to all authors whose article is published in Farming Matters magazine. The editors reserve the right to decide whether or not to publish an article or contribution, after receipt of the first full draft. Articles that are accepted will be edited to ILEIA house style and shortened if necessary. Contributions edited in this way will be returned to the author(s) for approval before publication. Articles accepted for publication in Farming Matters magazine may be chosen for translation and publication in any of the six regional editions. We will endeavour to inform authors if their article appears in the other editions.
Farming Matters also includes other sections, for which we also welcome contributions. If you would like to submit information which can be used for sections like “Locally rooted”, “Youth and agriculture”, “Farmers in focus” or for our books sections, please contact the editors.
Creative Commons Licence
Please note that ILEIA uses the “Creative Commons Licence Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported” policy regarding copyright (see appendix for details). We encourage free and open exchange of information. As such, readers (and authors) are encouraged to copy and circulate articles from all editions of the network magazines, quoting the source. In addition, this means that ILEIA may use submitted photos or text in our other publications, such as the AgriCultures blog, the yearly calendar and the Farming Matters educational series. We will try to contact you and credit your work in accordance with the licence. We are currently using Flickr to store photos which have been used in the magazine (all marked as “private”) for internal use. Should a photo be used for our other publications it may then be marked publicly available.
The editorial team, June 2013.
P.O. Box 90, 6700 AB Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Phone: +31 (0) 317760010
Fax: +31 (0) 317760200
E-mail: info@farmingmatter.org
Website: www.farmingmatters.org