Dear Authors and Readers,
To further enhance the discoverability, accessibility, and interdisciplinary reach of research published in Agricultural & Rural Studies (A&R, ISSN 2959-9784), the Editorial Board continuously reviews submission practices to balance scholarly impact with author experience.
In direct response to valuable feedback from our author community, and with careful consideration of the methodological diversity and field-based nature of agricultural and rural scholarship, the Editorial Board convened an in-person special session on 1 November 2026. Following thorough deliberation, the Board resolved to introduce the following changes:
From 1 January 2027, all new submissions of Original Research, Review, and perspective Articles must include Highlights as a mandatory component. The previously announced Graphical Abstract requirement is postponed to a later date, to be determined based on further community feedback and operational readiness.
Why Highlights First, and Why Graphical Abstract Is Postponed
The decision was guided by a commitment to author convenience and disciplinary alignment:
- Author feedback: Many authors highlighted practical challenges in producing publication-ready visual summaries under typical submission timelines, particularly for data-intensive and policy-oriented work common in our field.
- Disciplinary characteristics: Agricultural and rural studies bridge natural sciences, social sciences, and policy. The diverse methodologies—from field experiments and quantitative modelling to qualitative case studies and mixed methods—require careful, nuanced consideration before mandating a visual format.
- Author convenience: Highlights are text-based, low-barrier, and immediately beneficial for indexing and cross-disciplinary discoverability. They represent a natural first step in enhancing article visibility without imposing additional technical or resource burdens on authors.
The Editorial Board remains committed to exploring Graphical Abstracts in the future and will announce a revised timeline when author support infrastructure is in place.
Technical Requirements at a Glance
Highlights: 3–5 bullets; ≤85 characters per bullet (including spaces and punctuation); present tense; no promotional language; no figure/table references; no in-text citations; semicolon-separated clauses ending with a period or semicolon; must be self-contained and preserve double-blind anonymity (no self-citations or institutional identifiers).
Where to Find Full Guidelines
Detailed formatting instructions, examples, and submission checklist are available in the updated Author Guidelines, Section 3.2.4 (Highlights), effective from the 2027 edition.
We thank our author community for your continued support and valuable feedback, which directly shape the evolution of A&R. We remain committed to advancing open, accessible scholarship in agricultural and rural studies.
Sincerely,
The Editorial Board
Agricultural & Rural Studies