Editorial Scope:

The prime purpose of the Journal of the American Pomological Society is to provide a repository for information on all aspects of fruit and nut crops. The long-term emphasis of the journal on cultivars and rootstocks continues, but manuscripts reporting original research on a wide range of fruit and nut crops are welcomed. Acceptable areas of research include pruning, nutrition, irrigation, growth regulators, cultural practices, economics, and pest control. Studies involving the interaction of one or more of these aspects with either cultivars and/or rootstocks are particularly appropriate. If in doubt about the suitability of a particular manuscript, please e-mail the Editor...

Instructions for Authors

  • Prior Publication: Manuscripts submitted for publication must not have been previously published, and submission implies no concurrent submission elsewhere.
  • Manuscript Preparation: Research reports on field studies are expected to contain data from multiple years. Reports are to be the result of adequately replicated trials and the data should be subjected to appropriate statistical analysis. Scientific names and authorities for plants, disease organisms, and insects should be included parenthetically when the organism is first mentioned. SI units and American spelling should be used throughout the manuscript.
    • All manuscripts must be double-spaced. 
    • All manuscripts must contain line and page numbers to enable easy reference for reviews. 
    • Typical organization is as follows: Title, Authors, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Literature Cited, Tables, Figures. The Results and Discussion sections are often combined.
      • Author addresses and acknowledgements are in footnotes on the first page.
      • An abstract is required for research reports and reviews and is recommended for cultivar release papers.
      • “Additional Index Words” can be determined by the author and included after the abstract. The citation form appears below.
    • Tables should appear in the manuscript after the Literature Cited section. Tables should be understandable without reference to the text, and hence the title should be complete and informative.
      • Horizontal spanners appear at the head and foot of the table and under column headings. No vertical rules are used.
      • Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the table and are denoted in reverse alphabetical sequence (i.e., z, y, x, etc.).
    • Figures appear last, usually one per page, and should also be self-explanatory, with a complete and informative caption.
      • All figures (including graphs, photos, etc.) should be clear with good resolution. Please consider the size of the ultimate graph when sizing its components such as font size and line thickness. Figures will be black and white in print and authors are reminded to keep this in mind during figure preparation..

Citation Format

APS style for listing literature citations is the Harvard system, with the last name(s) of the author(s) and the year of the publication cited in the text. List citations alphabetically (letter by letter not word by word) by last names of authors (then initials if last names are the same) and chronologically if duplicate author names appear. Authors are listed first by senior author (last name first, followed by initials) and then additional authors (initials first).

The style will be consistent with that used by the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science (which can be referenced at: http://ashs.org/downloads/style_manual.pdf).

  • An extract from that manual is as follows: The reference section should include only published, significant, and relevant sources accessible through a library or an information system. These include journal articles, books, theses, dissertations, proceedings, bulletins, reports, and published abstracts of papers presented at meetings.
  • Unpublished work, privileged data, or information received personally should be noted parenthetically in the text [e.g., “(E.D. Brown, unpublished data)” or “(J.B. Smith, personal communication)”]. Papers or manuscripts submitted to a publisher may not be used in literature citations unless the work has been accepted for publication, in which case the work may be cited as “(In press.)” at the end of the citation.
  • All citations mentioned in the text must be included in the Literature Cited; also, all references listed in the Literature Cited must be mentioned somewhere in the text. Check the alphabetical reference list against literature citations in the text before submitting the manuscript for publication. When two or more citations are listed in the text, list the citations alphabetically first, then chronologically, e.g., “(Jones, 1998, 2000; Kader, 2001; Smith, 1996).”
  • Authors are responsible for verifying that each reference is complete, accurate, and traceable. Authors must check the original source—do not copy a reference from a previous list of citations, because the odds are that at least one error will be copied. Citations must appear exactly (misspellings included and followed by “[sic]”) as written in the original published work.

Example:
Jones, B.F., T.C. Wesson, and J.E. Smith. 1998a. Hollies. Wiley, New York.

Jones, B.F., Z.C. Wesson, and J.E. Smith. 1998b. Holly berries. Wiley, New York.

If a name is followed by “Jr.” or a Roman numeral, the correct form is “Smith, Jr., B.F.,” or “Smith, II., B.F. Do not include professional and honorary titles. All authors of a reference must be listed. If an author is cited more than once, repeat the author’s name—do not substitute the underline for the author’s name. Names of foreign authors retain their native spellings and diacritical marks. If a work has no author, give the name of the publisher or the organization (committee, agency, etc.) responsible for the work. If no authority is known, credit the work to the publisher, not to Anonymous. If an editor or editors is given, their names are followed by “(ed.)” or “(eds.),” respectively, followed by a period. Following the name(s) of the author(s), give the year of publication (the copyright or publication date listed on the publication, not the actual release date), followed by a period. If no year is given, then either estimate the year in parentheses “(1918?)”—or indicate no date—e.g., “(n.d.).” If more than one work by the same author or set of authors is cited, list the publications in chronological order and, if the year is also identical, insert lowercase letters (in alphabetical sequence) after the date, according to the order in which they are cited in the text. All single-authored articles of a given individual precede multiple-authored articles of which that individual is senior author.

Titles should be lowercase except for the first word, proper names, or certain foreign-language conventions. Do not italicize titles except for words or phrases italicized in the title of the published work. Do not use quotation marks around titles. If an article, book, or chapter title has a subtitle (indicated by a dash, colon, semicolon, smaller type, or different typeface), place a colon before the subtitle and capitalize the first letter of the first word. Never abbreviate titles. Titles of foreign publications retain their native spelling and diacritical marks. Languages that capitalize nouns (such as German) retain their capitalization, but the rest of the title should follow style in lowercase. Do not translate foreign titles into English unless a translated copy was used. Titles that have been translated or transliterated into Roman characters should carry a parenthetical note [e.g., “(in Russian)”] before the period ending the title. When giving the name of a publisher, use the short form, e.g., “Wiley” not “John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,” or “Macmillan,” not “Macmillan Publishing Co.” When the publisher is a professional society, abbreviate the name and include the location of the publisher.

When more than one location is listed for a publisher, give only the first one. The following is the correct spelling of several commonly used publishers:

Commonly Cited Publishers

Kluwer Academic Publishers
Macmillan
McGraw Hill
Pergamon Press
Springer-Verlag
Wiley

  • Spell out all publication titles with one-word names, e.g., Ecology, Euphytica, Hilgardia, HortScience, Nature, Phytopathology, and Science.
  • Do not italicize publication titles.
  • Capitalize the first letter of all words, but delete extraneous prepositions and articles.
  • Abbreviate the roots of words when they stand alone or with a prefix, e.g., Anal. Biochem. (See “Abbreviations for Literature Cited” for abbreviations of commonly used words in periodical titles.)
  • Give the volume number in Arabic numerals, followed by the issue number (if available) in Arabic numerals in parentheses.
  • Issue numbers are only necessary if the publication’s pages are renumbered from 1 with each issue within a volume.
  • The pagination of the publication follows, connected to the volume number and/or issue number by a colon, and all closed up (no spaces): 96(5):645–648.
  • Give full pagination, e.g., use “1101–1102,” not “1101–2” or “1101–02.”
  • Supply the abstract number or university microfilm number for dissertations available from Dissertation Abstracts or on microfilm.

Electronic citations should follow the MLA-recommended minimum format as follows.

1) Name of author, editor, compiler, or translator of the source

2) Year of electronic publication, latest update, or posting

3) Title

4) Date (day, month, year) author accessed the source

5) Complete electronic address (e.g., DOI)

Specific Examples of Citations

Commonly used citations for ASHS publications follow. Note punctuation and abbreviation in each case.

ABSTRACT
Nesmith, W.C. and W.M. Dowler. 1973. Cold hardiness of peach trees as affected by certain cultural practices. HortScience 8(3):267 (abstr.).

ABSTRACT FOR HORTICULTURAL ABSTRACTS
Gherghi, A., I. Bwrza, K. Millim, and O. Tudosescu. 1998. The behavior in controlled atmosphere storage of ‘Jonathan’ apples grown on different rootstocks (in Romanian). Lucr. Stün, Inst. Cerc. Val. Leg. Fruct. 9:71–75 (Hort. Abstr. 48:10310; 1978).

BOOK
Hartmann, H.T., D.E. Kester, and F.T. Davies, Jr. 1990. Plant propagation principles and practices. 5th ed. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

BOOK CHAPTER
Brown, A.G. 1995. Apples, p. 3–37. In: J. Janick and J.N. Moore (eds.). Advances in fruit breeding. Purdue Univ. Press, West Lafayette, Ind.

BULLETIN (Extension)
Rollins, H.A., F.S. Howlett, and E.H. Emmert. 2002. Factors affecting apple hardiness and methods of measuring resistance of tissue to low temperature injury. Mich. Agr. Expt. Sta. Res. Bul. 901.

ELECTRONIC CITATION
State of California. 2002. California Code of Regulations, Title 3. Food and Agriculture. Office of Administrative Law, Sacramento. 10 July 2002. <http://ccr.oal. ca.gov/>.

PERIODICAL
Goldberg, D., B. Cornat, and Y. Bar. 1991. The distribution of roots, water, and minerals as a result of trickle irrigation. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 96:645–648.

PROCEEDINGS
American Society for Horticultural Science. Tropical Region. 2000. Proc. XVIII Annu. Mtg., Miami, 25–30 Oct. 2000. (Proc. Trop. Reg. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 14).

PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Locascio, S.J., J.G.A. Fiskell, and P.E. Everett. 2000. Advances in watermelon fertility. Proc. Trop. Reg. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 14:223–231.

REPORTS
U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1997. Agricultural statistics for 1996. U.S. Dept. Agr., Washington, D.C.

THESIS OR DISSERTATION
Reeder, J.D. 2001. Nitrogen transformations in revegetated coal spoils. Colo. State Univ., Fort Collins, PhD Diss. Abstr. 81-26447.

Submitting a Manuscript

Prior to submission, manuscripts should be reviewed by at least two colleagues and revised accordingly.

At the time of submission, the corresponding author must attest in the covering letter to the Editor that:

  1. All co-authors on the paper have had the opportunity to review it prior to submission.
  2. It has not been published previously.
  3. That it is not presently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

In addition, the names and full contact information (e-mail address) for three potential reviewers should be provided...

  • Submit an electronic copy to the Editor:
    Dr. Mercy Olmstead
    (e-mail address: pomologyeditor@outlook.com)
  • Acceptable format is a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) file.…

The Review Process:

Manuscripts are sent to three reviewers competent to evaluate scientific content. Acceptance for publication depends upon the combined judgment of the three reviewers and the Editor. In some circumstances the Editor, without further review, may return a manuscript, which obviously does not meet Journal standards, to the author.

Depending on the contents of the peer reviews, the manuscript may be rejected, recommended for publication pending suitable revisions, or accepted without revisions...

  • Revising Manuscripts: If necessary, reviewed manuscripts are returned to the author for revision and the revised articles are submitted electronically...
  • Publication Charges: A charge of U.S. $65.00 per page ($32.50 per half page) will be made to authors for those articles constituting publication of research. Tables and Figures are subject to additional page charges of $40.00 per page.