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Peer Review and Publication

After your manuscript is submitted, the review process is as follows:

1.   The ASABE manuscript coordinator checks the manuscript and the Copyright Transfer Form for completeness and routes the manuscript to the appropriate division editor.

2.   The division editor routes it to the appropriate ASABE associate editor.

3.   The associate editor sends the manuscript to two or more qualified reviewers.

4.   The reviewers send their comments and recommendations to the associate editor. Note: This peer-review stage may take three months or longer.

5.   The associate editor evaluates the reviewers' comments along with the manuscript and makes a recommendation to the division editor. The division editor evaluates the recommendation and notifies the author of the manuscript status. The manuscript may be:

·  Accepted for publication as is,

· Accepted for publication with minor changes, with no re-review necessary,

·  Accepted for publication after substantial revision and additional review, or

· Rejected. The subject matter may be unsuitable for publication in any of the ASABE journals.

The comments of the anonymous reviewers will be forwarded to you, and also may be viewed at your Author Center at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/asabe/.

When you are ready to submit your revised manuscript, return to your Author Center and follow the instructions for "Manuscripts to be Revised." View the comments of the editors and reviewers, and respond to them by telling what modifications you have made in your manuscript or why you have not made the suggested changes. Then, upload your revised manuscript. The revised manuscript and your comments will be routed back to the associate editor. The editor will check your revisions and send the manuscript out for additional review if necessary. When the manuscript is in its final form, it is approved for publication and the final files are routed to ASABE staff for publication.

Note that revisions must be completed and submitted within six months after you received the reviewers' comments. Late manuscripts may be rejected.

The ASABE publication staff will send you an edited version of the manuscript for your review, followed by page proofs. Please respond to these proofs quickly. Only minor editorial and layout issues can be addressed at this time. If substantial changes are necessary, the manuscript will be returned to the editor for review.

Electronic File Formats

For journal production, ASABE staff uses the files you uploaded, not the PDF conversion that is circulated for review. We can accept a variety of electronic file formats, but please keep the following in mind as you gather data and prepare your manuscript:

Word processing: Microsoft Word is preferred, but we can also accept Word Perfect.

Graphics: There are many different graphics formats, but the general rule is that if you can insert a file into Microsoft Word, then we will probably be able to use that file in our process. If you cannot insert the file, please upload the native electronic file and, if you can, submit a PDF (or mail a paper printout that we can scan). We can use Photoshop files but not Freehand or Illustrator. TIFF is recommended, and JPG is also fine. Digital photos must be at least 300 dpi (i.e., medium to high file size and quality).

Spreadsheet programs: We can use charts and graphs from Excel. If you are using another spreadsheet program, then try to "save as" Excel, if possible.

Presentation programs: We can extract images from PowerPoint.

Desktop publishing: We cannot use files created with page-layout programs such as Quark, PageMaker, etc.

Page Charges

Please note that authors are required to pay, at publication, a page charge based on the number of published journal pages. The current charge is $100 ($110 for non-members) per 8.5 by 11 inch published page in Transactions of the ASABE and Applied Engineering in Agriculture, and $50 ($55 for non-members) per 6 by 9 inch published page in the Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health and Biological Engineering Journal. You will be advised of the total page charges when you receive the page proofs and billed when your article is published.

Reprints

You may download the PDF from the Technical Library http://asae.frymulti.com/toc/asp and e-mail or reproduce copies for distribution. If you have difficulty downloading the article contact Sandy Rutter at rutter@asabe.org ASABE grants permission to post the PDF to your personal or organization's website and to circulate the PDF version electronically or in print form. Paper reprints may be ordered for a fee. You will have an opportunity to purchase on the page charge invoice.

Website Posting

ASABE staff will notify you when the article is published and posted to the Technical Library at the ASABE website (http://www.asabe.org/). ASABE Technical Library material is posted in both HTML and PDF formats. Searches and abstracts are available to all users. Full text is available to ASABE members and to users affiliated with institutions that have purchased a site license. Authors will be provided with guest access.