A merger of the APS online publications F&N Tests and B&C Tests

Editorial Quality and Style

General

  • Reports should be prepared using MS Word.
  • One-page reports are preferred. Two or more pages are permitted when needed to adequately present multiple tables of results. The text describing the trial and results should be limited to the first page.
  • Authors may only submit one report for a given treatment list/timing/plot. If multiple diseases are evaluated for the same plot at the same application timings, they need to be included in the same report. Separate reports for each disease rating in a single plot are not allowed.
  • Authors do not receive galley proofs.

Content

  • Reports on disease, abiotic injury, and host productivity in response to chemical, biological, and culture controls are appropriate for the journal.
  • Your report should consist of headings, two paragraphs, and a data table. Use complete sentences and be concise.
  • Data published in PDMR must be from replicated plots or observations, and reports must be accurate and complete. Reports with serious errors or omissions, ambiguous or data, improper formatting, or which are otherwise not suitable for publication will be rejected. Revised reports may be resubmitted for inclusion in a later volume.

Statistical analysis and data transformation

  • Statistical analysis or a suitable measure of variability of the data must be provided for all reports. Plant Disease Management Reports will follow the same guidelines for statistical analysis as APS journals: Plant Disease, Phytopathology, and MPMI. In this regard, statistical analyses for continuous data (e.g. ANOVA) may not be performed on categorical or ordinal data (e.g. disease severity rating scale). Non-parametric analyses based on ranks should be used for categorical or ordinal data. If the ordinal rating scale is based on disease severity ranges, “mid-point” back transform to a severity score would be acceptable for subsequent parametric analysis. Performing mathematics (e.g. mean calculations or other unpublished transformations) to transform categorical data to continuous data for statistical analysis will no longer be allowed. The use of AUDPC with parametric analysis is acceptable.
  • In trials with no significant differences among treatments, subjective statements of trial. The use of AUDPC with parametric analysis is acceptable. Product performance in the discussion may not be made unless there are positive and negative controls treatments in the trial.

Formatting

Style

  • Use of either metric or English units of measurement is acceptable; choice of a system should be guided by the likely audience for the data. Do not use the two systems interchangeably within a report unless conversion from one system to the other results in nonstandard notation. Examples include inoculum concentration (number of spores/ml) or instances where conversion from English to metric would result in extremely small values, i.e. grams of dry weight.
  • Express dates as day month, i.e., 10 Mar (use only the first three letters of the month) unless the trial was conducted over multiple years. In these situations, express the date as day, month, and year, i.e. 10 Mar 14.
  • Use trade names (names of commercial products), or codes for experimental materials; include formulation designators (50W, 5F, 3E, 18%EC, 75DF, etc.). To avoid unnecessary clutter, formulation designators need not be included in the text unless the same product is being tested at more than one formulation. Avoid use of product common name and the expression of quantities as active ingredient and formulation interchangeably within a report. For acceptable designations of recently tested products refer to the Materials Under Trial section of previously published volumes.
  • Use the degree symbol for temperatures, i.e. 28°C.
  • Be sure to differentiate between dry (oz) and fluid ounces (fl oz) when specifying amounts of products.
  • Use hyphens between words that form compound adjectives, i.e. "6-ft buffer" or "two-row planter". An exception to this occurs when adverbs ending in "-ly" are used to form the compound adjective, i.e. "rarely seen occurrence".

Abbreviations

Use approved abbreviations from the CSE Style Manual (Council of Science Editors, Wheat Ridge CO). The following are almost always abbreviated:

acre = A

amount = amt

average = avg

bushel = bu

Celsius = C

centimeter = cm

circa = ca.

colony forming units = cfu

day = d

diameter = diam

Fahrenheit = F

fluid ounce = fl oz

foot = ft

gallon = gal

gram = g

hectare = ha

hour = hr

inch = in.

kilogram = kg

liter = L

maximum = max

meter = m

miles per hour = mph

milligram = mg

milliliter = ml

millimeter = mm

minute = min

month = mo

number = no.

ounce = oz

percent = %

pint = pt

pound = lb

pounds per square inch = psi

second = sec

temperature = temp

ton = t

ton (metric) = MT or Mg

quart = qt

week = wk

year = yr

Abbreviations are never plural (e.g., 3 lb, not 3 lbs) and, except for circa, inch, and number, are rarely followed by periods.

Note:
If you have questions regarding preparation and submission of reports, please contact the editor-in-chief, Kerik Cox,
Phone: 315.787.2401
Fax: 315.787.2389
Email: kdc33@cornell.edu