Open Access Pub · Aims and scope
Aims and Scope
The farming system is the subject, and the evidence is judged on how well it is reported
- Journal
- Journal of Farming (JF)
- ISSN
- 3070-2232
- Publisher
- Open Access Pub
- Publishing model
- Open access, peer reviewed
The remit
What the Journal of Farming considers
The Journal of Farming publishes peer-reviewed research across farming systems: crop production and agronomy, livestock and feed science, soils and water, farm economics, management, and sustainable practice.
The journal takes farming itself as its subject: the practices, inputs, organisms, resources and decisions through which crops and livestock are produced. Work is in scope when it studies a farming system, or studies something else in a way that bears directly and evidentially on farming practice.
Scale is not a criterion. A plot experiment, a herd study, a whole-holding analysis and a regional assessment are all considered, and so are smallholder, mixed and commercial systems in any climate or region.
Areas the journal publishes on
- Crop production and agronomy
- Establishment, plant population and spacing, nutrition, growth regulation, protection, harvest and the agronomic management of field and horticultural crops.
- Livestock and feed science
- Ration formulation, ingredient substitution and supplementation, growth and feed efficiency, husbandry and health management across classes of stock.
- Soils and water
- Soil fertility, structure and biology, nutrient and organic-matter dynamics, conservation, irrigation, drainage and the water balance of a holding.
- Farm management and operations
- Rotation and cropping sequence, timing, labor, machinery, and the organization of the enterprise across a season and between seasons.
- Farm economics
- Input costs and returns, benefit–cost analysis of a practice, margins, risk, markets and the economics of adoption at farm scale.
- Sustainable and conserving practice
- Resource-use efficiency, soil and water stewardship, agroecological management and the long-term productive capacity of a farming system.
- Plant and animal health in production
- Pests, diseases and disorders as they arise and are managed in producing crops and herds, including integrated and biological approaches.
- Technology and measurement on the farm
- Instruments, sensing, data and decision tools evaluated in the conditions of a working holding rather than in principle alone.
Judging fit
What makes a manuscript a farming manuscript
One
A farming subject, stated plainly
The work addresses a crop, an animal, a soil, a water supply, an input, an operation, a cost or a management decision as it exists in production. The farming connection is part of the study, not an application paragraph added at the end.
Two
Conditions reported with the result
Site, season, system, variety or class of stock, management and the measurements taken are described well enough for a reader to judge where the finding applies. This is a reporting requirement, not a restriction on method: field, station, controlled-environment, survey, modeling and economic studies are all welcome.
Three
Claims matched to the evidence
Conclusions stay within what the design supports. The journal does not require a practical recommendation, and a study that reports a limited or context-specific result clearly is more useful than one that generalizes beyond its data.
Four
Where adjacent work belongs
Biology, ecology, food science, engineering and business research are considered when the farming system is the object of study. Work whose connection to production is incidental is better served by a journal in that discipline, and the editorial office is glad to advise before submission.
Novelty, effect size and outcome are not conditions of acceptance. Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal.
Scope in the record
How the remit reads in practice
The journal's published work already spans both halves of the remit: a two-site field study of plant spacing and growth-regulator management in cotton, and a poultry study that weighs feed formulation against growth and cost. Earlier volumes carry reviews of crop agronomy and of permaculture practice.
Those records illustrate the remit rather than bound it. A subject the archive has not reached is considered on the same terms as one it has, and the areas listed above are the authoritative statement of what the journal takes on.
The archive lists the complete published record, and Instructions for Authors sets out how to prepare a manuscript.
Editorial handling
How a submission in scope is assessed
Screening and review
All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review.
Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request.
Assessment and decisions
Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.
Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal.
Submission routes
- Primary routeManuscriptZone
- Alternative routeSimple manuscript submission form
- Assisted routeEditorial email
Authors must use only one submission route for the same manuscript.
Journal of Farming · ISSN 3070-2232
Published by Open Access Pub
Questions about whether a subject fits the journal can be sent to [email protected] before submission.