Guidelines for Scientific Review of Contributed Papers

Dear Reviewer

Thank you for agreeing to review contributed papers for the 4^th World Congress on Allelopathy. The Congress papers are now ready for review. Due to delayed submission of full papers and tight timeframe we require your comments to be submitted online by the 31^st May. This will enable us to obtain the required changes from authors by 15^th June and then organise printing of the abstracts and the proceedings for the Congress. We know the demands on your time are great and very much appreciate your assistance in this regard.

The Congress paper is not a research paper for a journal, and should be seen more as a review paper in which personal views are acceptable if supported by evidence. Accordingly, bear in mind that it is not intended to be as rigorous a scientific review as top journals require.

This is an international congress. Perfect English is not essential but meaning needs to be clear and the paper should be well structured and logically argued. It should avoid repetition and excess wordiness. Spelling should be corrected.

The Process

• Go to www.regional.org.au/au/allelopathy/
• Click the Reviewers link on the left of the page to access these guidelines. Use the Print Friendly link to print this page. Please read carefully before you begin your review.
• Click on the Login link on the left of the page and enter your username and password

• Look for the My Papers button at right to access the Author Gateway page.
• In the Reviewer section click My Reviews to proceed to the review papers. The details of your first review paper will be displayed. Download each paper onto your computer, following the instructions and accessing additional review papers, if allocated, from the list.
• Review each paper in the Word document by following the Review Instructions below. We suggest you save a new version of each review paper before you start by adding a version number to distinguish it from the original

To remain anonymous when using track-changes in Word, you need to:

1. From the File menu choose properties and in the Summary tab, remove contact details and click OK
2. From the Tools menu choose Options and in the User Information tab, change your name to "Reviewer" so that track changes do not reveal your identity.

When you have completed your review, go back to the My Reviews page to upload the revised version of the paper including any comments for authors using track changes.

Again on the My Reviews, please make your recommendation as follows: (1) approve, (2) minor change, (3) major change, or (4) reject. Add any relevant comments for the Congress Editorial Committee in the box. The author will be advised via the Author Gateway that the review is complete. The reviewer's identity will be kept from the authors at all times

Review Instructions

• Does the title adequately reflect the contents?
• Is the Abstract sufficiently informative when read in isolation and not over the 250-word limit? If it is excessive in length (say >400 words) please reduce it.
• Are the objectives adequately and clearly presented? Does the introduction provide sufficient and appropriate background?
• Is the paper organized satisfactorily, the methodology sufficiently described, and are the results clearly presented?
• Does the paper exceed the 4-page limit?
• Some papers may also not conform to the specified format, and may require technical editing, or may lack the key authors email address. In such a case please advise the Technical Editor at publish@regional.org.au.
• Are the interpretations and conclusions sound and justified by the data and statistical analyses?
• Are the illustrations and tables all necessary and complete? Are the captions or titles appropriate?
• Are references adequate but not exhaustive?
• Does the paper meet its stated aims or overall purpose?

Editorial Committee
4th World Congress on Allelopathy