Submission Guidelines

September 15, 1995

Who should submit

All authors of articles that deal with turfgrass science will be considered for publication in Super Journal.  We are particularly interested in articles by golf course superintendents, other turf managers, independent researchers, university researchers and students.  Authors must be independent of product sales that are related to the subject matter of their article (see “Avoiding conflict of interest” below).

How to submit

Email your article, as well as any tables, figures or photos as attachments to pace@paceturf.org.

Article content

Super Journal publishes science-based articles on all aspects of turfgrass management. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) turf agronomy, pest management (weed, insect, disease, nematode), cultural practices, soil and water management, plant nutrition, weather and climate impacts, plant growth regulators, equipment evaluation and turf variety evaluations.

Originality

The article should contain only original work.  If this work has been published elsewhere previously, you must obtain written permission to publish it in Super Journal. If you wish to reproduce any text, illustration or other material that is not your own, you will need written permission from the appropriate person.  Needless to say, plagiarizing any other published work is unacceptable.

Avoiding conflict of interest

As stated above, authors must be independent of product sales that are related to the subject matter of their article.  In addition, all submitters will be asked to supply the name of any company or institution that provides support for the experiment — whether it is financial support, or in-kind support (in the form of free product or equipment). By addressing the issue of conflict of interest, we hope to remove some of the more obvious sources of bias from the reporting of turf management results.

Article Format

Articles should contain the following sections. With the exception of Cooperators and References, inclusion of all the sections below is mandatory.

1. Title of article
2. Investigators: names and company/institutional affiliations of all involved in conducting the research project. The senior investigator’s street address and email address should be included.
3. Cooperators (optional): names and affiliations of any individuals or institutions who provided indirect assistance in the project. If you wish to acknowledge your employer or others who provided moral or intellectual support, this is where you do it.

• Sponsors: names of any companies or institutions that have provided financial support for the conduct of the experiment. Financial support can entail cash as well as “in-kind” support in the form of free products, equipment, etc.
• Summary: Explain, in your own words, the purpose of the study, summarize the key findings and explain why the research is important to turf management.
• Materials and Methods: the purpose of this section is to provide enough information on the way you did your experiment to allow someone else to reproduce your efforts.  The easiest way to do this is to put yourself in a colleague’s shoes — someone who is interested in conducting the same experiment as you did, but in their own location.  Imagine that your colleague is reading the article and trying to implement exactly the same experiment.  At a minimum, you will need to list the materials you have used and from which companies you obtained them (products, equipment) as well as the methods used to conduct the experiment (spayer settings, product rates, evaluation methods, etc).
• Results and Discussion: Report all results found in the trial, and discuss their significance for turf management.  Efforts should be made to base the discussion on statistically analyzed data (rather than the “raw”, or unanalyzed data).  For guidance on data analysis, see the Super Journal research guide and/or the statistics references listed within the guide.  Results and Discussion is also the section in which you can insert tables, graphs or photos to help summarize and illustrate your findings.
• References (optional). A list of books or articles that you refer to you in your manuscript can be included at the end of the submission. This is particularly important if your Materials and Methods are based on procedures described in another publication. The following styles are suggested for use in listing references:
  • Book reference: Beard, JB. 2002. Turf management for golf courses. Ann Arbor Press, Chelsea, MI.
  • Journal reference: Gelernter, W and L Stowell. 2005. Improved overseeding programs 2: managing the spring transition. Golf Course Management 73:114-118- Raw data: a copy of all of the unanalyzed data that you collected during the course of the experiment should be provided, but separately from the research article. The raw data will not be published on the Super Journal website, but will be used by the reviewers in their evaluation process.

For an example of acceptable article format for Super Journal, click here

Review procedure

All articles will be reviewed by Dr. Larry Stowell and Dr. Wendy Gelernter for appropriateness of subject matter, clarity and scientific content, originality, conflict of interest issues, compliance with basic research guidelines (see research guide) and the submission guidelines provided in this document.  Additional reviewers will be contacted if special expertise is required during the review process. Authors will be provided with review results, including reviewer comments and any suggestions for revisions.

Assistance with experimental design, data analysis and write-up

In an effort to promote more superintendent-conducted turf research, we are happy to provide guidance in the design, analysis and write-up of your research projects. Please contact us to request assistance in any of these areas.