Weed Biology and Management

Author Guidelines

1. SUBMISSION

Authors should kindly note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.

Free format submission

Weed Biology and Management now offers free format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process.
The journal no longer has strict formatting requirements for your FIRST submission as far as all required parts established in “6. PREPARING THE MANUSCRIPT” are contained in your manuscript. But If your manuscript is difficult to read, the editorial office may send it back to you for revision.
If you are invited to revise your manuscript after peer review, the journal will also request the revised manuscript to be formatted according to journal requirements as described in “6. PREPARING THE MANUSCRIPT” and “7. SUBMISSION FORMAT”.

To submit, login at https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/WBM and create a new submission. Follow the submission steps as required and submit the manuscript. 

ORCID. As part of our commitment to supporting authors at every step of the publishing process, the journal requires the submitting author (only) to provide an ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript. This takes around 2 minutes to complete. Click here for more information about ORCID.

For authors unable to submit their manuscript online, please consult the Editor-in-Chief at the Editorial Office address [email protected]

Preprints

The journal will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. Authors may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time. The submitted version of an article is the author's version that has not been peer-reviewed. Authors are requested to update the entry on the preprint server so that it links to and cites the DOI for the published version.

2. AIMS AND SCOPE

Weed Biology and Management is an international journal published four times per year.

The journal accepts contributions in the form of research paper, technical report and review in all aspects of weed science. The content of the contributions may relate to weed taxonomy, ecology and physiology, weed management and control methodologies, herbicide behaviors in plants, soils and environment, utilization of weeds and other aspects of weed science. Technical report describes new technology development or case study which contains highly useful information for advance of weed science or practical weed management. All contributions must be of sufficient quality to extend our knowledge in weed science.

3. EDITORIAL AND CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS

Editorial Review and Acceptance

Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are single-blind peer reviewed by two anonymous reviewers and the Editor. Submission to the journal implies that the article has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Final acceptance or rejection rests with the Editorial Board and the Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse any material for publication. Invited Articles may also be accepted, on occasion, at the request of the Editorial Board.

Where contributions are judged as acceptable for publication on the basis of scientific content, the Editor or the Publisher reserves the right to modify typescripts to eliminate ambiguity and repetition and improve communication between author and reader.

Data Sharing and Data Accessibility

The journal encourages authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors should include a data availability statement, including a link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published alongside their paper.

Publication Ethics

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Note this journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read Wiley'sTop 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors here. Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines can be found here.

4. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS

Research Papers and Technical Reports should not exceed 12 typeset pages (approximately 7000 words), inclusive of the title page, tables and figures.

Reviews should not exceed 12 typeset pages, inclusive of the title page, tables and figures.

Articles exceeding the 12 typeset page length will be charged an excess pages fee (see 8. PAGE CHARGES).

Articles of other categories such as Proceedings may be published under the responsibility of the Editorial Board.

5. AUTHOR RESOURCES: PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU START WRITING A MANUSCRIPT

Wiley Author Resources

Manuscript Preparation Tips: Wiley has a range of resources for authors preparing manuscripts for submission available here. In particular, authors may benefit from referring to Wiley’s best practice tips on Writing for Search Engine Optimization.

Article Preparation Support: Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence.

Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

6. PREPARING THE MANUSCRIPT

Manuscript Format and Style

Formatting

Double-spaced text, continuous line numbering and page numbers are required for all manuscript types.

Spelling

The journal uses US English and spelling should therefore follow the latest edition of Merriam–Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

Scientific names

Scientific name should be used throughout the paper, and authority should be given at the first use in the text (not the title or abstract). The common name should also be given in parentheses after the first mention in the text. If no common name exists in English, the scientific name should be used only. Genus, species, and infraspecific names should be in italics.　For crop names, the common name should be used throughout the paper, but the scientific name with authority should be given in parentheses at the first mention in the main text (not the title or abstract). At the first mention of a herbicide or other chemical substance, give its generic name only. Trade names should not be used.

Units of Measurement

Please use SI units wherever possible, as outlined in Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Medical and Scientific Editors and Authors, 5th edn (ed. by Baron D.N.), Royal Society of Medicine Press, London, 1994. Herbicide rates should be expressed in terms of the active ingredient, but where this is not possible, express units in terms of formulated product.

Abbreviations

should be used sparingly and only where they ease the reader’s task by reducing the repetition of long, technical terms. On first use in the abstract and text, use the word in full (followed by the abbreviation in parentheses) and thereafter use the abbreviation. Abbreviations should not be used in the title.

Parts of the Manuscript

Manuscripts should contain following parts and be presented in this order:

(i) title page;
(ii) abstract and keywords;
(iii) text;
(iv) acknowledgments;
(v) author contributions;
(vi) conflict of interest statement;
(vii) data availability statement;
(viii) references;
(ix) figure legends; and
(x) tables (each table complete with title and footnotes).

Figures and supporting information should be supplied as separate files. Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter.

Title page

The title page should contain:

(i) the category of article;
(ii) a short, informative title that contains the major keywords;
(iii) the full names of the authors with family name last;
(iv) the addresses of the institutions at which the work was carried out;
(v) the full postal address, telephone number and email address of the author to whom correspondence about the manuscript, proofs and requests for offprints should be sent.

For useful tips how to write the title of the paper and the abstract for maximizing the readership, please refer to "Optimizing Your Article for Search Engines" included in 5. AUTHOR RESOURCES: PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU START WRITING A MANUSCRIPT”.

Abstract and keywords

Articles must have an abstract in 250 words or less that states the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references. Up to five keywords should be provided to assist with the indexing of the article.

Text

Authors should use subheadings to label sections of their manuscript: Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion.

Acknowledgments

The source of financial grants and the contribution of colleagues or institutions should be acknowledged.

Author contributions

All submissions with more than one author must include an author contributions statement. All persons listed as authors on a paper are expected to meet ALL of the following criteria for authorship

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
• Final approval of the version to be published;
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
  
  

Conflicts of interest statement

This statement must disclose any commercial interest of the authors in the findings presented. If there is none, this must be stated that “The authors declare no conflicts of interest”.

Data availability statement

This journal expects data sharing. Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.

References

There is no submission requirement for formatting references.

We do ask that authors use a consistent reference style throughout the manuscript and include:

• Author(s) name(s)
• Journal title/book title
• Article title (where applicable)
• Year of Publication
• Volume & Issue / Book Chapter
• Pagination
• Optional: DOI

If your manuscript is accepted for publication, we will update the formatting into the journal style.

Tables

Tables should be self-contained and complement but not duplicate information contained in the text. tables numbered consecutively arabic numerals. Type tables on a separate sheet with the legend above. Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the table, legend and footnotes must be understandable without referring to the text. Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses; all abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings. Tables should be submitted in Microsoft Word or Excel. Tables in RTF file can be accepted as long as it is editable. Image files and groupings of text boxes should be avoided.

Figure Legends

Legends should be included in the main text of the manuscript, after the references on separate page(s). The figure and its legend must be understandable without referring to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement.

Figures

All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in consecutive order in the text.Figures should be sized to fit within the column (88 mm), intermediate (114 mm) or the full text width (180 mm). Each figure should be supplied as a separate file, with the figure number incorporated in the file name.

Color figures: Figures submitted in color will be reproduced in color online free of charge.

Supporting Information

Supporting information is information that is not essential to the article, but provides greater depth and background. It is hosted online and appears without editing or typesetting. It may include tables, figures, videos, datasets, etc.

Click here for Wiley’s FAQs on supporting information.

Note: if data, scripts, or other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper are available via a publicly available data repository, authors should include a reference to the location of the material within their paper.

7. SUBMISSION FORMAT

• A cover letter should be included in the ‘Cover Letter Field’ of the submission system. The text can be entered directly into the field or uploaded as a file.
• The main text file should be submitted as Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format. The top, bottom and side margins should be 30 mm and the lines should be double-spaced. All pages should be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner, beginning with the first page of the main text file. Continuous line numbers should be added throughout the main text.
• Each figure should be supplied as a separate file, with the figure number incorporated in the file name. For submission, low-resolution figures saved as .JPG or .BMP files should be uploaded, for ease of transmission during the review process. Upon acceptance of the article, high-resolution figures (at least 300 dpi.) saved as .EPS or .TIFF files should be uploaded. Digital images supplied only as low-resolution files cannot be used. Click here for the basic figure requirements for figures submitted with manuscripts for initial peer review, as well as the more detailed post-acceptance figure requirements.

8. PAGE CHARGES

Articles where at least one author is a WSSJ members

For articles where at least one author has a current WSSJ membership, there are no page charges for articles publishing within the page limit (maximum of 12 published pages). For articles exceeding the pages limits, the corresponding author will be billed ¥8000 per 1/2 typeset page for the excess pages.

Non WSSJ members

A fee of ¥5000 per typeset page will be billed for articles when none of the authors has WSSJ membership. In addition, for articles exceeding the pages limits, the corresponding author will be billed ¥8000 per 1/2 typeset page for the excess pages.

9. AUTHOR LICENSING

If your paper is accepted, the author identified as the formal corresponding author will receive an email prompting them to log in to Author Services, where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be required to complete a copyright license agreement on behalf of all authors of the paper.

You may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or Open Access under the terms of a Creative Commons License. Standard re-use and licensing rights vary by journal. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used. This journal uses the CC-BY/CC-BY-NC/CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License.

General information regarding licensing and copyright is available here. To review the Creative Commons License options, please click here. (Note that certain funders mandate that a particular type of CC license has to be used; to check this please click here.)

Open Access fees: If you choose to make your article open access after acceptance, which will be subject to an APC. You can read more about APCs and whether you may be eligible for waivers or discounts, through your institution, funder, or a country waiver.

Self-Archiving definitions and policies. Note that the journal’s standard copyright agreement allows for self-archiving of different versions of the article under specific conditions.

10. PUBLICATION PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Accepted article received in production

When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. The author will be asked to sign a publication license at this point.

Proofs

Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online. Page proofs should be carefully proofread for any copyediting or typesetting errors. Online guidelines are provided within the system. No special software is required, all common browsers are supported. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email. Return of proofs via e-mail is possible in the event that the online system cannot be used or accessed.

Early View

The journal offers rapid speed to publication via Wiley’s Early View service. Early View (Online Version of Record) articles are published on Wiley Online Library before inclusion in an issue. Note there may be a delay after corrections are received before the article appears online, as Editors also need to review proofs. Once the article is published on Early View, no further changes to the article are possible. The Early View article is fully citable and carries an online publication date and DOI for citations.

11. POST PUBLICATION

Printed Offprints

Printed offprints may be ordered online for a fee. Please click on the following link and fill in the necessary details and ensure that you type information in all of the required fields: https://www.sheridan.com/wiley/eoc

Access and sharing

When the article is published online:

• The author receives an email alert (if requested).
• The link to the published article can be shared through social media.
• The author will have free access to the paper (after accepting the Terms & Conditions of use, they can view the article).
• The corresponding author and co-authors can nominate up to ten colleagues to receive a publication alert and free online access to the article.
  
  

Article Promotion Support

Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

Promoting the Article

To find out how to best promote an article, click here.

Measuring the Impact of an Article

Wiley also helps authors measure the impact of their research through specialist partnerships with Kudos and Altmetric.

12. EDITORIAL OFFICE CONTACT

Editorial Office: [email protected]

Author Guidelines updated 02 April 2025