Editorial Policy

Preample

Rubber Research Institute of India ( RRII ) under the Rubber Board, Ministry of Commerce & Industries, Government of India, Kottayam, Kerala, India has been publishing a peer-reviewed scientific journal, named Indian Journal of Natural Rubber Research since 1988. This was renamed as Natural Rubber Research in 2004 and subsequently as Rubber Science in 2012,reflecting its widening scope and inclusive character in tune with the changing trends in rubber research in India and outside. Rubber Science (Print ISSN 2454-4841; Online ISSN 2454-485X) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original research articles, short scientific communications, theoretical papers, reviews, general articles, opinion papers and commentaries on all aspects relevant to natural rubber cultivation, processing and product manufacture, including blends of natural rubber with synthetic and reclaimed rubbers as well as plastics.

Rubber Science,published in English, has emerged as a major international scientific journal in the field of rubber research with contributions from those who are actively engaged in R&D programmes in rubber and rubber products and extension of rubber cultivation in different parts of the world. The journal publishes two issues in each volume, published in June and December every year. From 2015 onwards, the journal started three issues every year (April, August and December). This will be reverted to two issues in each volume, published in June and December every year from 2022 onwards. There is no page charge for publishing in Rubber Science.

Editorial Board

Executive Director, Rubber Board, is the Patron of the Editorial Board of Rubber Science. Director of RRII is the Editor-in-Chief. The Editorial Board consists of Editors, Associate Editors, Editorial Members and a Secretary. The journal also has a panel of advisers consisting of eminent researchers and academicians from different countries. The address of the editorial office of the journal is as follows:

                    Rubber Science
                    Rubber Research Institute of India
                    Rubber Board P.O.
                    Kottayam - 686 009, Kerala, India
                    Email: rubberscience@rubberboard.org.in
                    Fax: +91 481 2353327

Scope and subject areas

Articles on biology, cultivation, processing, physics, chemistry, technology and socio-economic aspects of natural rubber are published in Rubber Science. Articles on all sources of natural rubber like Hevea, Guayule, Russian Dandelion etc., synthetic rubbers, reclaimed rubber and their blends are accepted. Rubber Science considers the following categories of articles.

Research articles not exceeding 8000 words, reporting original research work of major significance. The articles should include an abstract (about 250 words), a brief introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion (separately or together) with illustrations, conclusion and recent references.

Review articles not exceeding 10000 words with relevant illustrations and appropriate references. The review articles should provide updated information on any specific area of rubber research, discuss historic and current developments in the area and should be well structured and organized avoiding a general text book style or pedestrian narrative of literature. The review articles should have an extended abstract (of about 500 words), introduction, relevant subtitles, summary and references.

Short scientific communications should not exceed 3000 words and contain important findings that are novel and of broad interest. It should include a brief abstract (200 words) and an introductory paragraph. The text should not be broken up into sub-heads and relevant references should be given at the end.

General articles not exceeding 8000 words discussing current trends in science and technology, science policy and administration, matters related to application of science and technology for human needs or the impact of science and technology on society/environment etc. that are of interest to the general readers. The articles should include an abstract (less than 250 words), introduction, brief sub-heads at appropriate places with relevant illustrations and references.

Opinion papers and commentaries are shorter versions of general articles (about 5000 words) which analyze a particular issue or subject of topical relevance and come up with well thought out views, suggestions or opinions or a running commentary on the issue.

Keywords should be given in alphabetical order in all categories of articles. Keywords should be limited to a maximum of five and should be given immediately after the abstract.

Tables and figures should be referred in the text by Arabic numerals, eg. Table 3, Fig. 2 etc. and should have self-explanatory titles and wherever appropriate, a clear legend, scale bars etc. For detailed instructions for preparation of figures, prospective authors are invited to refer the latest guidelines for authors published in the journal. Authors should submit a separate file for figures, multimedia illustrations etc. in high resolution JPG/Tiff format (300 dpi). Colour photos and illustrations may be limited to the most essential ones.

Submission of manuscript

All manuscripts, along with a covering letter should be submitted electronically to the email address: rubberscience@rubberboard.org.in nd hard copies of the manuscript may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief at the address shown above. The manuscript written in English shall be typed in double space on one side, if submitting hard copies. All pages shall be numbered serially. Spelling conforming to the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English is preferred. The appropriate article category may be indicated clearly in the covering letter or email accompanying submission of the manuscript. Complete contact details, i.e. name and address of the corresponding author with pin/zip code numbers and email ID should be included in the title page of the article. Authors are advised to refer latest issues of Rubber Science to familiarize themselves with the style and scope of papers before preparing their manuscripts for submission to the journal.

When there are multiple authors, one corresponding author should be designated. It will be the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that the authorship is correct and there are no conflicts of interests among authors or between authors and the organizations they work for or any other party. Rubber Science accepts a manuscript for publishing on the assumption that the corresponding author has adhered to all ethics of publishing scientific articles that include ensuring there are no copyright violations, the work is original and accurate, the results are not already published or currently under consideration for publishing in a peer reviewed journal, the manuscript will not be submitted to another journal while under consideration of Rubber Science, all concerned have been included in the author listing, all listed authors have contributed substantially to the work and they have consented to publishing the manuscript in Rubber Science. The journal will retain the copy right of all articles published in Rubber Science.

Peer review process and editorial procedures

Rubber Science has a strict peer reviewing policy to ensure highest standards for the articles that it publishes. Papers that are in line with the general scope of the journal, well organized and written in a simple and comprehensible language are preferred. Upon receipt of a manuscript, the Editorial Board will assess its general suitability for publication in Rubber Science. Those manuscripts that do not meet the minimum requirements for publishing in the journal will be returned without external peer reviewing. If the article meets the general requirements of the journal, it will be sent to two referees with a request to offer critical comments on the merit of the article in three weeks. The referees will be asked to submit the report in the format and grade the article on a 1-10 scale, taking into account the various parameters pertaining to its suitability for publishing in Rubber Science as given in the appendix. Peer reviewers will remain anonymous to the authors and vice versa.

Once the referees' comments are received, the same will be assessed by the Editorial Board on the suitability of the article for publishing in Rubber Science. Upon receipt of the referees' report, the Editorial Board will evaluate the comments on the manuscript and return the article to the corresponding author along with the comments of the referees. The corresponding author will be asked to resubmit the manuscript after addressing all comments of the referees with point-to-point reply to the comments of referee within 10 days. The authors need not accept all or any of the suggestions made by the referee(s) but clear justification /explanation should be provided on every point raised, by the referees. Based on the replies submitted by the corresponding author, the Editorial Board makes a final decision on the suitability of the manuscript for publishing in Rubber Science.

The Editorial Board may normally accept the article if the mean score given by the two referees is 6 or above. If both the referees give a score below 4, the manuscript is straight away rejected. In all cases the Editorial Board may communicate the comments of the referees to the author(s).

However, even if an article gets the minimum score for accepting it in Rubber Science, and if the Editorial Board notices that the article still has major problems that are not noticed by the referee(s), the manuscript will be either rejected or the author will be asked to revise the manuscript and a final decision will be taken by the Editorial Board. The final responsibility of accepting or rejecting or asking the author to revise a manuscript (irrespective of the score) will be vested with the Editorial Board. In exceptional cases, where the Editorial Board recognizes major flaws in a manuscript, it may decide to reject a manuscript that has received the bench mark score (by a majority of 2/3rd of the Editorial Board). However, a manuscript that does not get the required bench mark score through the peer review process will not be entertained further.

Proof of the articles will be sent to the corresponding author by email, unless otherwise requested. The corrected proof shall be returned to the Editor within one week for processing and timely printing.

Date of receipt and acceptance

The dates of receipt and acceptance of a paper will be shown in the article. The date of receipt is normally the date on which the manuscript is first received in the publication office. If an author fails to submit the revised final version of the manuscript within a reasonable time (usually one month), the date of original receipt will be replaced by the date on which the new version is received in the publication office.

Post publication and access policies

Articles published in Rubber Science (Print ISSN 2454-4841; Online ISSN 2454-485X) are covered by copyright. The corresponding author will receive a soft copy of the article published in Rubber Science in his/her email. No part of the article published in this journal shall be reproduced in another publication without taking prior permission and proper acknowledgement Rubber Science.

Authors wishing to reproduce in their manuscript submitted to Rubber Science portions of texts or figures etc. that are already published elsewhere should seek permission from the copyright holder and copies of permission granted should be forwarded to the Rubber Science. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to get the required permission prior to publicationRubber Science.

Disclaimer

Articles published in Rubber Science are reported findings of authors and these are not official recommendations from Rubber Research Institute of India or Rubber Board. The journal does not take responsibility for the authenticity / accuracy of the results published in Rubber Science, is entrusted with the authors of the article.

Indexing and rating

The articles published in Rubber Science are abstracted in Agrindex, Applied Botany Abstracts, Biological Abstracts, CAB Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, Indian Science Abstracts, Indian Citation Index and RAPRA Abstracts. The rating of the journal can be viewed from the websites of National Academy of Agriculture Science (NAAS). The Journal is in the list of approved journals of University Grands Commission (UGC).