Chapter 1.

Manuscript Preparation
The American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA),
and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) have a reputation for publishing high-quality
papers in their journals, books, and other publications. Authors are strongly urged to have
their papers thoroughly reviewed by competent colleagues before submitting those papers
for consideration by any ASA, CSSA, and SSSA publication.
This chapter deals mainly with journal formats, but the discussion applies broadly to
the other formats (see Chapter 9).
Publications of ASA, CSSA, and SSSA follow the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association, 7th edition (APA, 2020), for reference and citation
styles. For questions of scientific style and format beyond what is covered in this manual,
consult the style manuals of the American Chemical Society (Coghill & Garson, 2006), the
Council of Science Editors (CSE, 2006), and the Chicago Manual of Style (UCP, 2017).
Recent issues of ASA, CSSA, and SSSA journals also provide examples of the desired
format. Be consistent in whatever style choices you make.
All manuscripts are critically reviewed before they are published in any ASA, CSSA,
or SSSA journal, monograph, book, or special publication. Written guidelines for manuscript
submission can be accessed online.
DETAILS OF MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Eligibility of Authors
Membership is not required for publishing in ASA, CSSA, or SSSA publications. Some
of the journals, however, assess a surcharge to nonmembers. Authors who wish to join
a society to avoid this charge should do so before the paper is accepted for publication.
For information on membership, visit [Link]
member/, [Link] or [Link]
org/membership/become-a-member/. Eligibility policies are summarized in each journal’s
author instructions.
Publication Charges
Publication and open access charges vary depending on the journal and whether at least
one of the authors is a member of ASA, CSSA, or SSSA. These charges are subject to
change. Check the journals’ instructions to authors for current information.
No Prior Publication, No Simultaneous Submission
Except for reviews or timely essays, papers published in the scientific journals of the ASA,
CSSA, and SSSA must be original reports of research. Submission of a scientific manu-
script for review is understood to imply that the work is original and unpublished and not
being considered for publication elsewhere. If portions of the paper have been submitted
or published elsewhere, the authors must disclose that fact at the time of submission and
provide details of relevant prior publications.
Whether publication in nontechnical outlets constitutes prior publication is decided
on a case-by-case basis. In general, publication in nontechnical media will be considered
prior publication only if substantially all of the data and conclusions have been published.
Posting of preprints to a preprint server is considered acceptable but requires citing
of the preprint. Note the use of a preprint server in the cover letter, and as appropriate,
state how the manuscript has been adjusted or updated between the preprint version and

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Publications Handbook and Style Manual. 1-01
the version submitted to the journal. Failure to alert the journal in your cover letter to any
prior publication of your submission may be viewed as an ethical violation.
Manuscript Handling
Manuscripts are handled by similar procedures in ASA, CSSA, and SSSA journals.
The basic policy is that at least two independent scientists must agree before a paper is
accepted for publication or released back to the author (rejected). Release of a paper by
a journal does not preclude its resubmission to that same or another ASA, CSSA, SSSA
journal after its weaknesses have been eliminated. For example, a paper released because
it needed another year of data may be resubmitted after those data have been gathered
and the results incorporated into the paper. Such a resubmission must be accompanied by
a copy of the original release letter. A manuscript may be released before review, either
because it does not conform to acceptable standards or because the subject matter is out-
side the scope of the journal.

Manuscript Submission
Manuscripts are submitted via the journal’s online manuscript submission system. Consult
the instructions to authors for details.
Receipt of manuscripts will be acknowledged. Communication from editorial board
members and the headquarters staff is usually with the corresponding author only; normal-
ly the submitting author is the corresponding author (see Authorship, below). The cover
letter or title page should give the corresponding author’s current phone number and email
address for use during review and production.
A journal editor may determine that the submitted paper’s subject matter is more
suitable for a different society journal. In those cases, the editor will release the paper and
suggest the corresponding author transfer their paper to that journal.
Manuscript Processing
Upon receipt, each paper is assigned a unique manuscript number that identifies the manu-
script. Refer to the manuscript number in all subsequent communications during the review
process. Authors will be informed as the manuscript moves through the various steps
involved in review, acceptance or release, and production. (See also Chapter 8.)
After a manuscript has been accepted for publication, it receives a separate manu-
script number and DOI. It is then edited for style and grammar and prepared for publica-
tion.
Anonymous Review
All papers submitted to ASA, CSSA, SSSA journals are given an anonymous review—
meaning that the names of reviewers are not revealed to the authors of the papers or to the
other reviewers.
Most ASA, CSSA, and SSSA journals use a single-anonymous review process,
where the authors do not know the names of the reviewers. Some use a double-anonymous
process and also withhold the names of the authors from the reviewers. Check the indi-
vidual journal's instructions to authors for details on the review process. For journals that
use a double-anonymous process, prepare the manuscript with no identifying information,
such as byline, addresses/affiliations, and acknowledgments. The author should provide
that information on a separate title page. In addition, take care to label tables and figures
with reference to the paper’s title, not author names. Any identification in headers or
footers should be similarly anonymous. Authorship may also be unintentionally revealed

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1-02 Publications Handbook and Style Manual.
through such software features as document summaries. If this is a concern, consult your
software experts.
When authors submit a manuscript via the online submission system, they will be
asked to enter contact information into the system database, and the editors will have
access to this information so that they can contact the authors about the outcome of the
review.
SUBMISSION SPECIFICS
All accepted manuscript files are edited in Microsoft Word. Therefore, authors are encour-
aged to compose manuscripts in Microsoft Word. The manuscript must use continuous line
numbering. We prefer that the text is double spaced, for ease of reading.
Do not use complicated fonts and features available in Microsoft Word. Limited use
of italics, bold, and superscripts and subscripts is acceptable.
Do not use such word-processing features as automatic footnoting and outlining.
These features interfere with both electronic editing and typesetting. If you need to place
a numbered list in your manuscript, enter the numbers and use appropriate tabs and indents
manually instead of using automatic outlining.
Headings and Subheadings
Headings guide the reader, but too many headings can be distracting. Keep headings
short. Abbreviations are allowed in headings.
Differentiate between the heading levels in your manuscript. For style, examine recent
issues of the publication to which the manuscript will be submitted. In most ASA, CSSA,
and SSSA journals, Level 1 headings (the main headings) are used for the main sections,
such as Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion, with Level 2 headings
used for subsections. Level 3 and Level 4 headings are allowed, but use them sparingly. You
may number headings for clarity if desired.
TYPES OF JOURNAL ARTICLES
The most common type of paper to appear in ASA, CSSA, and SSSA journals is the origi-
nal research paper. The journals also publish other paper types. Consult the instructions to
authors of each journal for a description of all current types of papers.
Review Papers
Review papers are usually less formal than full-length articles. Such papers should pro-
vide a synthesis of existing knowledge and give new insights or concepts not previously
presented in the literature, or at least not with the same level of detail.
These articles should not be considered exhaustive reviews of the literature but
should include enough literature review to provide a basis for understanding and inter-
pretation of the topic under consideration.
A good review is often one of the most important ways to advance an area of science.
Readers expect a review paper to
• deal with an important subject that needs a scholarly review,
• cover the entire spectrum of the subject, not just the segment about which the
author of the review paper has published articles,
• present a balanced coverage that is fair to all the work it reviews, and
• add a perspective to the entire subject and contribute significantly to understanding.

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Publications Handbook and Style Manual. 1-03
 Issue Papers
The intent of these papers is to stimulate discussion and possibly a rethinking of current
views. They may be provocative and controversial. Our journals use different headings
for such papers, such as "Perspectives" or "Forum" papers. Check the individual journal's
online author instructions for details.
Notes and Short Communications
Notes and Short Communications represent a separate category of scientific manuscripts.
Papers in this category typically describe research techniques, apparatus, and observations.
Observations usually are limited to studies and reports of unrepeatable phenomena or other
unique circumstances. These articles are usually shorter than research papers.
Occasionally, an editor may determine that a paper submitted as a research paper will
better fit this category, or vice versa. If the author agrees, the manuscript can be transferred
to or from this category of papers.
The review procedure for these papers is identical to that for research papers.
Letters to the Editor
All our journals publish Letters to the Editor. Letters may contain comments on articles appear-
ing in the journals or general discussions about research relevant to the journal and are limited
to 1000 words. Letters must be approved by the editor and may be peer reviewed. If a letter
discusses a published paper, the author of that paper will be invited to submit a response to the
comments; typically, the response is published along with the letter.
Core Ideas and Plain Language Summaries
At submission, most journals ask authors to to prepare three to five core ideas (up to 115
characters each, spaces included), which will appear with the accepted article and on the
journal's table of contents. Some of our journals may ask for plain language summaries in
place of or in addition to core ideas.
Research Papers
Manuscripts of research papers prepared for ASA, CSSA, and SSSA journals are
normally arranged in the following order:
1. Title and byline
2. Core Ideas
3. Author–paper documentation (addresses/affiliations, email address of the correspond-
ing author, etc.—see below)
4. Abstract
5. Plain Language Summary
6. Abbreviations
7. Introduction
8. Materials and Methods
9. Results (can be combined with the discussion section)
10. Discussion (no separate summary section, which duplicates the function of the abstract;
a summary statement may, however, be given as a closing paragraph)
11. Conclusions (optional; this may be a titled section or part of the discussion section)
12. Data Availability Statement
13. Author Contributions (this is generated from metadata provided during submission)
14. Acknowledgments (optional)

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1-04 Publications Handbook and Style Manual.
15. Conflict of Interest Statement
16. References
17. Figure captions and tables should be placed in the main text close to where they are
first called out for submitted manuscripts. For accepted manuscripts, figure captions
and tables appear after the reference list, and figures should be submitted as separate
high-resolution image files in the following acceptable formats: EPS, TIF, PDF, or JPG.
For journals with a double-anonymous review process, the byline, author–paper documen-
tation, and acknowledgments should not be included at the time of submission to ensure
anonymity—authors will be asked to add these items once the paper has been accepted.
Sometimes a Theory section substitutes for or precedes Materials and Methods. Any
section may include subheadings to guide the reader through different aspects of the topic.
Manuscript Format

Title. The title represents the article’s content. It is best to start the title with key words—
not with words such as "Effect of" or "Influence of." A good title briefly identifies the
subject, indicates the purpose of the study, and introduces key terms or concepts. Titles
may be descriptive (e.g., Variables A and B under C Conditions), declarative (A Relates to
B in C Manner), or even a question (Does A Do X?).The recommended limit is 12 words.
Keep titles free of nonstandard abbreviations, chemical formulas, or proprietary names,
and avoid unusual or outdated terminology. Use common names of crops and chemicals. If a
crop or microorganism has no common name or if the common name is in dispute, then the
scientific name (with authority) may be used in the title.
Authorship. (Added at acceptance for double-anonymous journals.) We encourage the use
of full names in bylines (e.g., Morgan L. Jones or M. Louise Jones instead of M. L. Jones).
The corresponding author deals with proofs; their email is published with the article. The
authors of the paper decide the sequence of author names; the order should be agreed upon
by all authors involved.
Author–Paper Documentation. The author–paper documentation appears on the first page
of the published article or given on a separate title page for double-anonymous journals. The
purpose is to give addresses for all authors and an email address for the corresponding author
(author documentation), as well as any necessary institutional identification such as a grant
support, dissertation requirement, or a journal article number (the paper documentation). In
the manuscript, put this paragraph after the byline, on the cover page only. Alternatively, any
necessary institutional identification can be placed in the Acknowledgments section.
Group together all authors at a single address in the order they appear in the byline. Do
not include professional titles. Following complete addresses for all authors (without postal
codes), provide the corresponding author's address (including postal code) and email address.
Example:

Neha Kothari, B. Todd Campbell, Jane K. Dever, and Lori L. Hinze

Neha Kothari and Jane K. Dever, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, 1102 East FM 1294, Lubbock, Texas, USA
B. Todd Campbell, USDA-ARS, 2611 W. Lucas St., Florence, South Carolina, USA
Lori L. Hinze, USDA-ARS, 2881 F&B Rd., College Station, Texas, USA

Correspondence: Lori L. Hinze, USDA-ARS, 2881 F&B Rd., College Station, TX 77845, USA. Email: [Link]@
[Link]

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Publications Handbook and Style Manual. 1-05
If an author has moved, the current address can be added, but if the previous address is a
funder, then the previous should be retained. The address where the work was done should
go first; the current address normally goes at the end:

A. Smith and B. Jones, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois, 1102 S., Goodwin Ave., Urbana,
Illinois, USA
A. Smith, current address: Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

Acknowledgment of grant funding, support information, and personal thanks belong in the
acknowledgments section at the end of the paper (or title page for double-anonymous journals).
Any required government or institutional disclaimer in reference to commercial products or
trade names mentioned in the text should also be placed in the acknowledgments section.
Footnotes. Footnotes are not allowed.
Abstract. A journal abstract has two typical uses. It helps readers decide whether to delve
into the paper; abstracts are also published via abstracting and indexing services. Because
the abstract will be seen and read by many more people than will read the paper, all
important aspects in the paper should be reflected in the abstract. The abstract should call
attention to new techniques, observations, or data. Be specific.
An informative abstract (also called a substantive abstract) presents the paper in
miniature, complete within itself. It moves from an introductory statement of the rationale
and objectives or hypotheses, through materials and methods, to the results and conclu-
sions. (A descriptive abstract is more like a table of contents for the paper and is rarely
used in scientific publications.)
Because an informative abstract has to stand alone, do not deflect the reader with
phrases such as "will be discussed" or "will be explained." For the same reason, do not
include reference, figure, or table citations. Statistics also are inappropriate in an abstract
unless they are the central finding of the study. Limit your use of abbreviations, and define
the ones you do use.
At first mention in the abstract, give the complete scientific name (with authority) for
plants. The scientific names of plants should be repeated at the first mention in the main
text. In the main text, give scientific names of other organisms, including causal agents of
diseases. These are not necessary in the abstract, The scientific names for larger animals
(e.g., sheep) do not need to be given unless germane to the article and/or there may be con-
fusion as to what animal is being discussed. Complete soil series descriptions should be
provided upon first mention in the main text; they do not need to be given in the abstract.
Using the common names of chemicals is acceptable. The full names of chemicals can be
provided at first mention in the main text if germane to the article.
Write the abstract as a single paragraph, with a limit of 250 words (~1500 charac-
ters) for full-length papers and 150 words (~900 characters) for notes. Some abstracting
services truncate text beyond a certain length; what is lost is most likely the conclusions.
Reproduced below (with permission of the author) is a published abstract with its struc-
ture labeled. This example shows both the overall construction of the abstract and the contents
of its parts. (From Agronomy Journal, 78, 720–726 [1986], updated to conform to new style
guidelines.)
Introduction. Use the introduction to review published literature and issues related to
your topic. An introduction helps the reader recognize what your research contributes to
the current knowledge in your subject area. To orient readers, give a brief reference to

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1-06 Publications Handbook and Style Manual.
 Dryland Grain Sorghum Water Use, Light Interception,
and Growth Responses to Planting Geometry

J. L. Steiner

ABSTRACT

Rationale Crop yields are primarily water-limited under dryland production systems in semiarid
regions.
Objectives or This study was conducted to determine whether the growing-season water
  hypothesis balance could be manipulated through planting geometry.
Methods The effects of row spacing, row direction, and plant population on the water use, light
interception, and growth of grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] were investi-
gated at Bushland, TX, on a Pullman clay loam (fine, mixed, superactive thermic Torrertic
Paleustoll).
Results In 1983, which had a dry growing season, narrow-row spacing and higher population
increased seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) by 7 and 9%, respectively, and shifted the
partitioning of ET to the vegetative period. Medium population crops yielded 6.2 and
2.3 Mg ha–1 of dry matter and grain, respectively. High population resulted in high dry
matter (6.1 Mg ha–1) and low grain yield (1.6 Mg ha–1), whereas low population resulted
in low dry matter (5.4 Mg ha–1) and high grain yield (2.3 Mg ha–1). Row direction did not
affect water use or yield. In 1984, dry matter production for a given amount of ET and light
interception was higher in the narrow-row crops. Evapotranspiration was less for a given
amount of light interception in the narrow-row crops and in the north–south row crops.
Conclusions Narrow-row planting geometry appears to increase the partitioning of ET to the transpira-
tion component and may improve the efficiency of dryland cropping systems.

previous concepts and research. Include (a) a brief statement of the problem that justifies
doing the work, or the hypothesis on which it is based; (b) the findings of others that will
be further developed or challenged; and (c) an explanation of the general approach and
objectives. This last part may indicate the means by which the question was examined,
especially if the methods are new. Limit literature references to essential information, and
do not rely on old references when newer ones are available.
Abbreviations and acronyms defined in the abstract should also be defined in the
main body of the text.
Materials and Methods. In the Materials and Methods section, give enough detail to
allow a competent scientist to repeat the experiments, mentally or in fact.
In the materials section, describe the preparation method, equipment, and measure-
ments, using SI-acceptable units. Not all materials need to be identified by brand name
and manufacturer. For example, if any standard test tube will work, it is not necessary to
state the manufacturer of the tubes you used. If, however, the test tube must be lined with
Teflon or be made of Pyrex (or in any other way differ from standard), then say so and, if
such a test tube is not readily available, tell where it can be obtained.
When a product must be identified by trade name, add the name of the manufacturer
or a major distributor parenthetically after the first mention of the product. Example: “Soil
respiration was measured with a CO2 analyzer (Model LI-6251, LI-COR).” If the particu-
lar product is both essential to the research and no longer commercially available, describe
a suitable substitute and its source.
In the case of specially procured or proprietary materials, give the pertinent chemical
and physical properties (e.g., purity, pH, concentration). Chemical rather than trade names

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Publications Handbook and Style Manual. 1-07
are preferred. Example: “Reference Suwannee River fulvic acid (IHSS-FA) and humic
acid (IHSS-HA) were purchased from the International Humic Substance Society (IHSS).”
Plants and other organisms, including viruses, insects, bacteria, and pathogens should be
identified accurately at first mention by scientific name (with authority for plants) and cultivar
name if applicable. Scientific names for larger animals (e.g., sheep) should be given if relevant
to the article and/or there may be confusion as to what animal is being discussed. Identify soils
by great group name at least and preferably by soil series name and description.
Cite references for your methods and reference the edition you used. If the techniques
are widely familiar, use only their names. If a method is modified, outline the modification
or cite a reference, unless the modification is trivial. Give details of unusual experimental
designs or statistical methods.
The Materials and Methods section may be arranged chronologically, by a succession
of techniques, or in any other logical manner, such as by experiment or location, and may
include tables and figures.
Results. Use tables, graphs, and other illustrations in the Results section to provide the
reader with a clear understanding of representative data obtained from the experiments.
Call attention to significant findings and special features (e.g., one quantity is greater than
another, one result is linear across a range, or a particular value is optimum), but do not
repeat in detailed prose what is already clear from an examination of the graphics.
If you have minimal results, describe them in the text. You may want to summarize
more complicated results in tables or figures.
If you do not have a separate Discussion section, relate the results to your objectives
and to each other.
Discussion. Use the Discussion section to interpret your results. Give particular attention
to the problem, question, or hypothesis presented in the introduction. A good discussion
typically covers most or all of the following steps:
1. Relate the results to the original objectives.
2. Explain the principles, relationships, and generalizations that can be supported by
the results.
3. Address any exceptions or lack of correlation that qualify the findings, or difficul-
ties that point to areas for further investigation.
4. Explain how the results relate to previous findings, whether in support, contradic-
tion, or simply as added data.
5. Present conclusions, supported by a summary of the evidence.
Whether combined with the Results section or standing alone, the Discussion section
should focus on the meaning of your findings, not recapitulate them.
Scientific speculation is encouraged, but it should be reasonable, firmly founded
in observation, and subject to tests. It must also be identified as such. Where results dif-
fer from previous results for unexplained reasons, possible explanations should not be
labored. Controversial issues should be discussed clearly and fairly.
References. The References section lists only the literature cited in the paper.
Authors are encouraged to cite only significant, published, and up-to-date references.
Figure Captions, Tables, and Figures. In the submitted manuscript, tables and fig-
ures (review quality) with captions should be placed into the text document at first mention.
Figures can also be submitted separately as image files in the following acceptable formats:
EPS, TIF, PDF, or JPG.

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1-08 Publications Handbook and Style Manual.
 For accepted manuscripts, figure captions and tables appear after the reference list,
and figures should be submitted as separate high-resolution image files in the following
acceptable formats: EPS, TIF, PDF, or JPG. No separate list of table titles is needed.
Color figures of accepted manuscripts must adhere to our color policy (see Chapter 5
and our online "ASA, CSSA, SSSA Editorial Policies" for details). To maintain clear con-
trast, use line patterns instead of shading and avoid thin, light lines. As feasible, plan for
reduction to one-column width (84 mm, or ~3.25 inches). The original should be one-third
to one-half larger than the intended final size. Keep relative sizes in mind when adding
symbols, letters, and numbers.
See Chapters 5 and 6 for more information on figures and tables.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
Most journals of ASA, CSSA, and SSSA accept supplemental material that will enhance
and support your research. Supplemental files will appear online. Authors are encouraged
to submit materials that contribute to the content and quality of the article or to use supple-
mental material as a means to shorten the text of manuscripts. Ancillary information such
as some experimental data, including schematics of apparatus and maps of study sites, or
material of interest mainly to specialists are examples of potential supplemental material.
When using supplemental material to shorten the text of a manuscript, keep in mind that
the Materials and Methods section should provide enough detail to allow the reader to
determine whether the interpretations are supported by the data. Check the journal's author
instructions to confirm that they accept supplemental material.
Supplemental material undergoes peer review and so should be submitted along with the
original manuscript. A list of the supplemental material should be included in the main manu-
script directly preceding the reference list. Supplemental tables and figures should be cited in
order in the main manuscript.
Supplemental material should be formatted with a cover sheet listing authors and manu-
script title, and the number of pages, figures, and tables. Tables and figures should be numbered
Supplemental Table S1, S2, Supplemental Figure S1, S2, etc.
Ideally, the supplement should consist of a single PDF or MS Word file (rather than
a series of files with individual images or structures); however, most file types are allowed,
including video, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint files. To keep file size down, please compress
large files if possible. The following are not allowed: executables (.exe) of any kind or TeX.
In place of supplemental material, our journals encourage the use of data repositories that
assign DOIs to the data.
CITATION STYLE
ASA, CSSA, and SSSA journals follow the APA citation style as found in the Publication
Manual of the APA, 7th edition (APA, 2020) The author–year notation system is required;
do not use numbered notation.

Two authors. For within-text citations of papers with two authors, name both authors. Use
an ampersand for citations in parentheses.
Murphy and Jones (2018) supported...
(Murphy & Jones, 2018)
Three or more authors. With three or more authors, use the first author's last name plus
"et al."
Murphy et al. (2018)
(Murphy et al., 2018)

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Publications Handbook and Style Manual. 1-09
Exception: If two references with the same year shorten to the same form (e.g., Murphy,
Smith, Davis, & Xu, 2018, and Murphy, Xu, Smith, Jones, & Davis, 2018; both shorten to
Murphy et al., 2018), list as many of the authors' surnames as needed in the citation to dif-
ferentiate the two references, followed by "et al."
Murphy, Smith, et al. (2018) and Murphy, Xu, et al. (2018)
Two or more works within the same parentheses. Separate citations with a semicolon.
(Murphy, 2001a; Murphy & Wong, 2001; Murphy et al., 2001)
(Murphy, 2001; Murphy et al., 2001, 2002; Murphy & Davis, 2002)
Two or more articles by the same author(s) in the same year. Add a distinguishing lower-
case letter (a, b, c, etc.) to the year in both the text and references list. Separate citations with
a comma.
(Murphy, 2001a, 2001b)
Authors with the same last name. Use first initials with the last names to help prevent
confusion.
(E. Murphy, 2001; C. Murphy, 2011)
See APA (2020) for additional examples.
Citing Quotations
Direct quotations from a book or very long chapter require a page number in the text cita-
tion. When practical, the exact page number is preferred for any quotation.
Citing Unpublished Sources
Only literature available through libraries or other readily accessible public media may be
cited. All other material, such as personal communications (information from someone other
than the authors) and unpublished data (information from one or more author named in the
byline), is cited in the text as parenthetical matter. Give both the source and the date for the
information. Examples:
(R. D. Jackson, personal communication, March 4, 2023)
(unpublished data, 2023) [when all authors are responsible for the data]
(Faribault, unpublished data, 2023) [when only the author Faribault is responsible
for the data]
Placing “unpublished data” or “personal communication” between the name and year
clearly distinguishes these citations from those in the reference list.
The terms in review and in press are not synonymous. Material that is in press has been
accepted for publication but has not yet been published. This material may be listed in refer-
ence sections because the reader will eventually be able to locate it. Material submitted for
publication but not yet accepted may be included in the reference list of your paper during
the review process, but upon your paper’s acceptance these entries must be converted to cita-
tions of unpublished data or personal communication. If the change from review status to in
press status occurs before or by the proof stage, the citation can be restored and completed.
Reviewers and editors are not expected to verify the accuracy of the literature cita-
tions. Authors should check the alphabetical reference list against the citations in the body
of the manuscript before submitting the manuscript for publication.

REFERENCES
Journals and books of ASA, CSSA, and SSSA follow the APA reference style as found in
the Publication Manual of the APA, 7th edition (APA, 2020).

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1-10 Publications Handbook and Style Manual.
 Preparing the Reference List
Authors are responsible for the completeness and accuracy of all references.
If you have consulted abstracts, theses or dissertations, extension bulletins, in-press
articles, or secondary materials during your research or for early drafts of the paper, check
again upon acceptance for publication whether this this information has been published in
a more readily available source.
Alphabetization
Arrange the list alphabetically by the surnames of authors. All single-authored articles
of a given individual should precede multiple-author articles with the same first author.
Alphabetize entries with the same first author according to surnames of succeeding coau-
thors and then by year, when the names are repeated exactly. Two or more articles by the
same author (or authors) are listed chronologically and then by title. Articles by the same
author or authors published within a single year by adding lowercase letters, a, b, c, etc.,
to the year. Example:
Shotwell, C. A., & Smith, G. W. (2011).
Shotwell, O. L. (1998a).
Shotwell, O. L. (1998b).
Shotwell, O. L., Goulden, M. L., & Hesseltine, C. W. (2001).
Shotwell, O. L., Hesseltine, C. W., & Goulden, M. L. (1997).
Shotwell, O. L., Hesseltine, C.W., & Goulden, M. L. (2000).
Shotwell, O. L., Hesseltine, C. W., Vandegraft, E. E., & Goulden, M. L. (1999).
Authors
An author can be a person, committee, or organization responsible for the work. Only
when no author can be determined for a document should "anonymous" be used. For web
pages, it is most common to use the name of the organization as the author. Examples:
University of Wisconsin–Madison. (2012). Wisconsin's environmental mesonet
(Wisconet). [Link]
Food and Agriculture Organization. (2021). World food and agriculture—Statistical
yearbook, 2021. FAO.

The author's name is listed by last name first, followed by initials (Smith, J. R.).
For works by more than one author, all authors' names are inverted (Smith, J. R., Li, L.,
& Rosen, C.). For works by two authors, use an ampersand (&) between the names. For
works by 3 to 20 authors, list all authors, with an ampersand before the final author. For
works by more than 20 authors, list the first 19. After the 19th author, use an ellipsis (...)
in place of the author names. Then provide the final author's name. There should be no
more than 20 names (Basso, B., Dumont, B., Maestrini, B., Shcherbak, I., Robertson,
G. P., Porter, J. R., Smith, P., Paustian, K., Grace, P. R., Asseng, S., Bassu, S., Biernath,
C., Boote, K. J., Cammarano, D., De Sanctis, G., Durand, J.‐L., Ewert, F., Gayler, S.,
Hyndman, D. W., ... Rosenzweig, C.).
Titles
Use sentence-style capitalization for titles and subtitles of articles, book chapters, bul-
letins, and books, capitalizing the first letter of the first word as well as proper nouns and
adjectives. Capitalize journal titles. Book and journal titles should be italicized.

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Publications Handbook and Style Manual. 1-11
 Acronyms and Abbreviations
Use acronyms or commonly understood abbreviations (e.g., SSSA, USEPA, ICRISAT)
for publishers in the reference list and in the text citation. For institutional authors, it
is usual to spell out acronyms and abbreviations. Some organizations do not need to be
defined in the references and may stand alone as institutional authors, including IPCC
and international agricultural research centers in the Consultative Group on Agricultural
Research (CGIAR; [Link]/)—CIAT, CIFOR, CIMMYT, CIP, ICARDA,
ICLARM, ICRAF, ICRISAT, IFPRI, IITA, ILRI, IBPGR, IPGRI, IRRI, ISNAR, IWMI,
and WARDA. Thus, the text citation "CIMMYT (1988)" would appear in the reference
list as "CIMMYT. (1988)." Alphabetize such abbreviations letter by letter.
Use postal state abbreviations with publisher locations to identify US states or
Canadian provinces (see Table 2–2).
Style of the Reference List
Some common types of references are shown below. Extensive rules and examples for
references of all kinds are given in the APA Publication Manual (APA, 2020).
Periodicals
Each reference to a periodical publication must include, in order, the author(s), year
of publication, full title of the article, publication in which it appears, and volume and
inclusive page numbers. For publications without consecutive pagination (i.e., each issue
within the volume begins with page 1), include the issue number. Example: 11(2):5–10.
An article ID may take the place of the page range.

First author, second author, & third author. (Year). Title of article. Journal Title, Vol
no.(issue no.), page range. DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

Journal article without a DOI.

Bordoli, J. M., & Mallarino, A. P. (1998). Deep and shallow banding of phosphorous and
potassium as alternatives to broadcast fertilization for no-till corn. Agronomy Journal,
90, 27–33.
Journal article with a DOI.
Doerge, T. A. (2002). Variable-rate ntirogen management creates opportunities and chal-
lenges for corn producers. Crop Management, 1. [Link]
0905-01-RS
Kato, C., Nishimura, T., Imoto, H., & Miyazaki, T. (2011). Predicting soil moisture and
temperature of Andisols under a monsoon climate in Japan. Vadose Zone Journal, 10,
541–551. [Link]
Basso, B., Dumont, B., Maestrini, B., Shcherbak, I., Robertson, G. P., Porter, J. R.,
Smith, P., Paustian, K., Grace, P. R., Asseng, S., Bassu, S., Biernath, C., Boote, K.
J., Cammarano, D., De Sanctis, G., Durand, J.‐L., Ewert, F., Gayler, S., Hyndman,
D. W., ... Rosenzweig, C. (2018). Soil organic carbon and nitrogen feedbacks on
crop yields under climate change. Agricultural & Environmental Letters, 3, 180026.
[Link]
Article in serial publication.
Brown, P. D., & Morra, M. J. (1997). Control of soil-borne plant pests using glucosinolate-
containing plants. Advances in Agronomy, 61, 167–231.

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1-12 Publications Handbook and Style Manual.
Edwards, A.C., & Cresser, M.S. (1992). Freezing and its effect on chemical and biological
properties of the soil. Advances in Soil Science, 18, 59–79. [After Vol. 20, Advances
in Soil Science is no longer published as a serial with volume numbers. Treat listings
in later editions as you would a chapter in a book.]
Article not in English with English abstract.
Title translated into English
Rosolem, C. A., Silverio, J. C. O., & Primaves, O. (1982). Foliar fertilization of soy-
bean: II. Effects of NPK and micronutrients. (In Portuguese, with English abstract.)
Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 17, 1559–1562.
Title in original language
Rosolem, C. A., Silverio, J. C. O., & Primaves, O. (1982). Adubação foliar de soja: II.
Efeitos de NPK e micronutrientes. (In Portuguese, with English abstract.) Pesquisa
Agropecuária Brasileira, 17, 1559–1562.
Article not in English and without English abstract (translated title).
He, X., Xie, W., Deng, S., & Lu, S. (1983). The problems and achievements about improv-
ing use of red-yellow soil in China. (In Chinese.) Chinese Journal of Soil Science, 2,
1–4. [Link]
Articles in press.
For an in-press article, use the current year as the date. If the manuscript has been posted
online ahead of publication, include the DOI.

Author. (Year). Article title. Journal title. DOI link (in press).
Preprint papers.
Include the DOI or other persistent indentifier if one is given. For articles without a DOI,
include the URL.

Al-Halbouni, D., Watson, R. A., Holohan, E. P., Meyer, R., Polom, U., Dos Santos, F. M.,
Comas, X., Alrshdan, H., Krawczyk, C. M., & Dahm, T. (2021). Dynamics of hydro-
logical and geomorphological processes in evaporite karst at the eastern Dead Sea:
A multidisciplinary study. Hydrology and Earth Systems Science Discussions. https://
[Link]/10.5194/hess-2021-37
Huijser, D., Goodman, J., & Brewer, B. J. (2015). Properties of the affine invariant ensemble
sampler in high dimensions. arXiv. [Link]
Magazine article.
Davenport, C. H. (1981, March 2). Sowing the seeds. Barron’s, p. 10.
Mulla, D. (2021). Trends in satellite remote sensing for precision agriculture. Crops and
Soils, 54(1), 3–5. [Link]
Books (including bulletins, reports, multivolume works, series)

Author. (Year). Book title. Publisher.

Brown, J. (1966). Soils of the Okpilak River region, Alaska (CRREL Research Report
188). U.S. Army Cold Regions Research Engineering Laboratory.
Budavari, S. (Ed.). (1996). The Merck index (12th ed.). Merck.

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Publications Handbook and Style Manual. 1-13
California Certified Organic Farmers. (1995). California Certified Organic Farmers cer-
tification handbook. CCOF.
Chemical Abstracts Service. (1989). Chemical Abstracts Service source index: 1907–1984
cumulative, plus annual supplements. Chemical Abstracts Service.
Doty, W. T., Amacher, M., & Baker, D. E. (1982). Manual of methods: Soil and envi-
ronmental chemistry laboratory. Department of Agronomy, Pennsylvania State
University.
Dzombak, D. A., & Morel, F. M. M. (1990). Surface complexation modeling: Hydrous
ferric oxide. Wiley.
Fehr, W. R., & Caviness, C. E. (1977). Stages of soybean development (Special Report 80).
Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station, Iowa State University.
Goering, H. K., & Van Soest, P. J. (1971). Forage fiber analysis (apparatus, reagents,
procedures, and some applications) (USDA Agriculture Handbook 379). U.S.
Government Printing Office.
Schneiter, A. A. (Ed.). (1997). Sunflower technology and production. ASA, CSSA, and
SSSA.
Soil Survey Staff. (1999). Soil Taxonomy: A basic system of soil classification for making
and interpreting soil surveys (Agriculture Handbook 436, 2nd ed.). U.S. Government
Printing Office.
Southern Cooperative Series. (1983). Reference soil test methods for the southern region of
the United States (Southern Cooperative Series Bulletin 289). Georgia Agricultural
Experiment Station. [Publisher varies as the series rotates among institutions.]
Steel, R. G. D., & Torrie, J. H. (1960). Principles and procedures of statistics, with special
reference to the biological sciences. McGraw-Hill.
Steel, R. G. D., & Torrie, J. H. (1980). Principles and procedures of statistics: A biometri-
cal approach (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Taylor, B. N. (1995). Guide for the use of the International System of Units (SI) (NIST
Special Publication 811). U.S. Government Printing Office.
USEPA. (1981). Process design manual for land treatment of municipal wastewater
(USEPA Report 625/1-77-008, COE EM1110-1-501). U.S. Government Printing
Office.
Westerman, R. L. (Ed.). (1990). Soil testing and plant analysis (3rd ed.). SSSA.
Online Books
Online books usually correspond to printed versions, and the reference style is similar. Use
the DOI if available.

Boverhof, D. R., & Gollapudi, B. B. (Eds.). (2011). Applications of toxicogenomics in

safety evaluation and risk assessment. Wiley. [Link]
Chapter in a Book
The entry for a chapter or article within a larger work must give the author(s), year,
chapter title, the word "In," any editors, and the publication title, followed by the volume
(for multi­volume works), edition (when more than one has been published), page range,
publisher, and DOI if known.

Author. (Year). Chapter title. In Editor name(s) (Ed.), Book title (page range). Publisher.
DOI

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1-14 Publications Handbook and Style Manual.
Boutton, T. W. (1991). Stable carbon isotope ratios of natural materials: II. Atmospheric,
terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments. In D. C. Coleman & B. Fry (Eds.),
Carbon isotope techniques (pp. 173–185). Academic Press.
Buresh, R. J., Smithson, P. C., & Hellums, D. T. (1997). Building soil phosphorus capi-
tal in Africa. In R. J. Buresh et al. (Eds.), Replenishing soil fertility in Africa (pp.
111–149). SSSA. [Link]
Gardner, W. H. (1986). Water content. In A. Klute (Ed.), Methods of soil analysis: Part 1.
Physical and mineralogical methods (2nd ed., pp. 493–544). ASA and SSSA.
Online Chapter in a Book
Casado, M. R., Corstanje, R., Bellamy, P., & Marchant, B. (2013). Issues of sampling
design in wetlands. In R. D. DeLaune et al. (Eds.), Methods in biogeochemistry
of wetlands (pp. 1–19). SSSA. [Link]
Conference, Symposium, or Workshop Proceedings and Transactions
An entry for conference proceedings is similar to an entry for a book. Conference
proceedings often have two titles: the title of the book of proceedings and the name of the
conference or symposum. Capitalize the name of the conference; use sentence style for the
name of the book.
Published proceedings.
Editor. (Year). Title of book: Number and Name of Conference. Publisher.
Faw, W. (Ed.). (1992). Forages '92, grassroots of animal agriculture: 1992 American
Forage Grassland Council Proceedings. AFGC.
Pascale, A. J. (Ed.). (1989). Proceedings of the World Soybean Research Conference IV.
Orientación Gráfica Editora S.R.L.
Wilkinson, D. (Ed.). (1993). Proceedings of the 49th Annual Corn and Sorghum Industry
Research Conference. American Seed Trade Association.
Chapter in a proceedings volume.
Papers published in a proceedings volume are treated much like a book chapter. If only an
abstract of the article appears in the proceedings, insert "[Abstract]" after the article title
and before the period. Include the DOI at the end if one is available.

Dawson, J. C., & Goldringer, I. (2009). Direct or indirect selection in breeding for organic
agriculture. In H. Østergård et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the BioExploit/Eucarpia
Workshop on the Role of Marker Assisted Selection in Breeding Varieties for Organic
Agriculture (pp. 15–18). BioExploit Project.
Golding, K. A., Davidson, D. A., & Wilson, C. A. (2010). Micromorphological evidence
for the use of urban waste as a soil fertiliser in and near to historic Scottish towns. In
R. J. Gilkes & N. Prakongkep (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th World Congress of Soil
Science, Brisbane, Australia: Soil solutions for a changing world (pp. 12–15). IUSS.
Power, J. F., & Biederbeck, V. O. (1991). Role of cover crops in integrated crop pro-
duction systems. In W. L. Hargrove (Ed.), Cover crops for clean water: The
Proceedings of an International Conference, West Tennessee Experiment Station,
April 9–11, Jackson, Tennessee (pp. 167–174). Soil and Water Conservation Society.
Abstracts.
Cite meeting abstracts only until a more formal publication becomes available.

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Publications Handbook and Style Manual. 1-15
Caldwell, B. A. (1997). Fatty acid esterase activity in forest soils and ectomycorrhizal mat
communities. In 1997 Agronomy abstracts (p. 223). ASA.
Krischnamurti, G. S. R., & Huang, P. M. (1991, October). The role of Al in Fe(II) trans-
formation. In Abstracts, Annual Meeting, Clay Mineral Society (p. 96). Clay Mineral
Society.
Papers and poster sessions presented at meetings.
Use the following format when citing unpublished conference papers. Include the month
of the meeting. When possible, avoid citing conference papers older than 2 years. If sub-
sequent publication is known, cite the published form.

Author. (Date). Title of paper [Paper or poster presentation]. Conference name, Place of
Conference. DOI or URL
Kaeppler, S., De Leon, N., Sekhon, R., Hansey, C., Buell, C., Lin, H., & Childs, K. (2011,
October 16–19). Expression analysis supporting functional genomics research in
maize [Paper presentation]. 2011 ASA, CSSA, and SSSA International Annual
Meeting, San Antonio, TX.
Miscellaneous

Dissertations and theses.

Christianson, L. E. (2011). Design and performance of denitrification bioreactors for
agricultural drainage [Doctoral dissertation, Iowa State University]. Iowa State
University Digital Repository. [Link]
Oba, M. (2015). Adsorption selectivity of cations in constrained environments [Master’s
thesis, University of Connecticut]. UCONN Library. [Link]
edu/gs_theses/781/
Software and software documentation.
References are not needed for common software such as Microsoft Excel and SAS soft-
ware.

Abacus Concepts. (1991). SuperANOVA user’s guide (Release 1.11). Abacus Concepts.
Minitab. (1998). MINITAB 12 [Software]. Minitab.
Map.
Cite a map separately only if it is a stand-alone publication. If there is no author for a map,
do not use "Anonymous." In such cases, the name of the map stands in for the author.
Author. (Year). Map title [map type, e.g., demographic map]. Map number (if included).
Publisher. Notes (e.g., scale).
Patent and plant patent.
Dudeck, A. E. (1995). Bermudagrass plant ‘FHB-135’ (U.S. Plant Patent No. 9030). U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office.
Titcomb, S. T., & Juers, A. A. (1976). Reduced calorie bread and method of making same
(U.S. Patent No. 3,979,523). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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1-16 Publications Handbook and Style Manual.
Performance and variety test.
Pietsch, D., Gaas, R., Rosenow, D. T., Miller, F., & Peterson, G. C. (1992). Grain sorghum per-
formance tests in Texas: 1991 (Technical Report 92-2). Texas Agricultural Experiment
Station.
Schapaugh, W. T., & Roozeboom, K. L. (1993). 1992 Kansas performance tests with
soybean varieties (Report of Progress 673). Kansas State University.
Tyler, J. M., & Bell, P. P. (1998). Uniform soybean tests, southern states, 1997.
USDA-ARS.
Crochet, W. D. (2011). The uniform soybean tests, northern states: 2010. USDA-ARS.
Standard.
Institution. (Year). Title (Rule number). Publisher.

ASABE (1993). Manure production characteristics (ASABE Standard D384.1). ASABE.

ASTM. (2003). Specification for concrete aggregates (ASTM Standard C33). ASTM
International. [Link]
Electronic Sources
Treat electronic sources as you would the same kind of material in print. Start with
the author, date, article or web page title, and further information essential to the online
reference. When citing an entire website, give the URL in text only.
Some electronic sources are the equivalent of personal communications or unpublished
data (e.g., email, an online interview or chat session, or information posted on an individual's
home page). Cite these in the text only as personal communication; include the date (F. Li,
personal communication, January 29, 2019).
Author. This is the organization or person responsible for the web page. The web-
master or contact person for the page is not usually considered the author. If the page's
author is not listed, use the title of page as author.
Date. Three dates are important: (a) the date when the publication was placed on the
internet or was copyrighted, (b) the latest date of any update or revision, and (c) the date
of access if the page's content is likely to change over time.
Title. Book and journal titles are usually clearly stated on a website. For original
content from online sources, other than formally published documents such as journal
articles and books, include as much of the following as can be determined: Author of the
content, date, title or description of the page, website name, and the URL. Citations to
databases should include the URL or preferably, the DOI if one is given. Include the site
name for web pages on websites.
For citing an online document that gives no publication date, use n.d. If the author is
the same as the website name, omit the site name to avoid repetition.

Author. (Year). Title of document. Site name. URL

Rummer, B., Prestemon, J. P., May, D., Miles, P., Vissage, J., McRoberts, R., Liknes, G.,
Shepperd, W. D., Ferguson, D., Elliot, W., Miller, S., Reutebuch, S., Barbour, J.,
Fried, J., Stokes, B., Bilek, E., & Skog, K. (2003). A strategic assessment of forest
biomass and fuel reduction treatments in western states. USDA Forest Service. http://
[Link]/research/pdf/Western_final.pdf

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Publications Handbook and Style Manual. 1-17
Soil Survey Staff. (n.d.). Web soil survey: Soil data mart. USDA-NRCS. [Link]
[Link]
USEPA. (2002). National Water Quality Inventory: 2000 report (EPA-841-R-02-001).
[Link]

Electronic, Non-Internet Sources

It is standard practice to indicate a publication is not in print format by placing after the
title a word that describes the specific nonprint medium. Use brackets, such as [CD].
Watschke, T. L., DiPaola, J. M., & Shepard, D. P. (2012). Turf growth regulation [CD].
CSSA.

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1-18 Publications Handbook and Style Manual.