Formatting Information - For articles appearing in AJAE volume 88 (year
2006) or later
- Please make sure all manuscripts adhere to the style and formatting instructions
below.
- New submissions and resubmissions of revised manuscripts must be in PDF
format. No other formats will be accepted.
- Once the manuscript is formatted correctly, please read the
electronic submission instructions.
Formatting Instructions
- Authors’ identification and title page.
To protect their anonymity in the review process AUTHORS SHOULD NOT IDENTIFY
THEMSELVES ON THE TITLE PAGE OR IN ANY HEADERS. A SEPARATE TITLE PAGE MUST
BE SENT AS AN ATTACHMENT TO THE EDITORS via the online submission management
system and should include: (a) title; (b) author(s) names; and (c) name,
address, phone and fax numbers, and email address of the author serving
as the contact person.
- Text preparation. Please assure that at least one sentence of text occurs
between any two headings (in particular, a section heading should be followed
by at least some text preceding any subsection heading). Double-space
all material, including footnotes, references, and tables, on 8-1/2- by
11-inch standard-weight white paper. Use 1-1/4-inch margins and
12-point Times Roman or a similar type style. All headings and
subheadings are flush left. Provide short headings for each section and
subsection. Do not number sections or subsections. Section headings are
denoted in bold and subsection headings, in italics. Do not indent the first
paragraph after any heading. Do not use a heading prior to the first paragraph
of the article (e.g., no heading for “introduction”), and do
not indent the first paragraph of the article. All material should be double-spaced
and single sided. Follow The Chicago Manual of Style, by the University
of Chicago Press, and recent issues of AJAE for style. NOTE: When referring
to your paper, use the word “article.”
- Style. Follow A Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press and recent
issues of the AJAE.
- Data and documentation. Authors are expected to document their data sources,
models, and estimation procedures as thoroughly as possible, and to make
the data used available to others for replication purposes. If an exception
to this rule is desired, reasons should be given and this should be explicitly
noted in the cover letter.
- Mathematical notation. Use only essential mathematical notation. Avoid
using the same character for both superscripts and subscripts or using capital
letters for such, and whenever possible avoid overbars, tildes, carets,
and other modifications of standard type. Asterisks, primes, and small English
letter superscripts are suitable.
- Math typesetting. Use standard type to the maximum extent possible (for
example, use Symbol font for Greek characters in simple notation). Refrain
from use of embellished letters (dots, bars, tildes, carets). Run equations
into text if at all possible (rather than displaying). Simplify notation
to avoid costly typesetting. All displayed equations (i.e., equations not
run into regular text) should be numbered consecutively, placed in parentheses
(not square brackets) and left-justified on the same line as the equal or
inequality sign.
- Footnotes to text. Number footnotes consecutively throughout the article,
not page by page. Type all footnotes, double-spaced, on a separate page
following the article. Footnotes should be only explanatory and not for
citations or for directing the reader to a particular work. Such information
can be incorporated into the text. (Note: for accepted manuscripts, a leading
unnumbered footnote providing authors’ affiliations and acknowledgements
will be taken from the title page.)
- References and citations. Place References, alphabetized by author, in
a list at the end of the paper, double spaced (without extra blank lines
between references). Provide issue number whenever possible and always for journals that do not
number pages sequentially through complete volumes (e.g., for Journal of
Economic Perspectives). Format reference with hanging indentation (first
line flush left, second and subsequent lines indented). See AJAE Reference
Guide for other critical details. Only cited works may be included in the
reference list. All citations should appear in the text and contain the
authors name and year, with page numbers when necessary; text citations
should omit any comma or other punctuation between the author name and the
year of publication. Citations can be inserted parenthetically, e.g. (Doe
1998, p. 5). If the author’s name is used as part of the sentence,
include year of publication parenthetically, with page numbers if necessary;
e.g., Doe, Smith and Jones (2002) show that . . . . . Use et al. only with
four or more authors. For text citations listing more than one source, separate
sources by a semi-colon: (Doe 1998; Smith and Jones 2000; Smith, Jones,
and Erp 2003; Thomas et al. 2004). Do not use et al. in the reference section.
- Tables and Figures. Place each table and figure on a separate page at
the end of the paper. Double-space all material and omit vertical rules
in tables. Each table and figure must have a legend. Place legends for tables
at the top of the table, flush left, and bold. Table and figure titles should
be fully descriptive. Omit a period at the end of the legend. Capitalize
the first letter in each word. Example:
- Table 1. Summary Statistics for Pennsylvania Wheat Crops, 1998-2000
- Place legends for figures at the bottom of the figure, flush left, and
bold. Capitalize only the first letter of the first word. Example:
- Figure 1. Annual net sales of Mississippi catfish farmers, 2002-2003
- Use lowercase for the words “table” and “figure”
in the text unless, of course, they appear at the beginning of a sentence.
- Footnotes to tables: Use lower case English letters to attach footnotes
to specific items within the table, and place the footnotes below the bottom
line of the table in (un-indented) paragraph form. For general explanatory
notes, use the heading “Note:” and continue on the same line
with the first word of the note, in paragraph form. The "Note:" paragraph may define the use of asterisk (e.g., * or **) to
denote statistical significance levels. For example, say "Asterisk (*) and
double asterisk (**) denote variables significant at 5% and 10%
respectively." See a recent issue after January 2006 of the journal for
other examples.
- Footnotes to figures: Normally figures do not carry footnotes to specific
items within the figure. General explanatory information may be included
in a paragraph bearing the heading of “Note:” and placed below
the figure legend. See a recent issue of the journal for examples.
- The AJAE has arranged with AgEconSearch
to post supplemental appendices for published articles on their web site
for reliable availability to readers.
While authors may still maintain their own web-based supplements,
any materials to which a published article would have previously referred
as “available on request” will now be posted to the AgEconSearch database
for easy online access by prospective readers.
Thus the article to be published in the AJAE should cite a
paper posted on AgEconSearch rather than simply telling readers that supplementary
materials are available upon request. Please see the instructions
on how to prepare the
supplementary
appendices.
