Publications Policy
Faculty of the Experiment Station write manuscripts for three general types of publications: 1) Experiment Station Bulletins, Circulars and Miscellaneous Publications; 2) Refereed journal articles (and other refereed publications); 3) Nonrefereed publications. It is important that the Experiment Station have accurate records on publications that result from use of State, Federal and other funds it administers. This enables the College to receive greater credit for and recognition of its research contributions and helps assure completeness in reports of activities. The following are guidelines to be used for publications resulting from activities that utilize Experiment Station resources.

Procedures for Processing Manuscripts
The procedures vary with each of the three types of publications. The most important type publication for both the faculty member and Experiment Station are those in refereed journals since the have implications for perceptions of quality and prestige. However, other types of publications can be important, especially for providing information to the client groups and the non-scientific community in general.

Refereed Publications
1. The faculty member prepares the manuscript and submits to the appropriate journal (or other publisher) where it is peer reviewed (internal reviews are not required, but it is good practice to have colleagues at WVU or elsewhere review all articles before submission to a journal).

2. When the acceptance letter is received, complete Publications Form 1, and:

a. If there are page charges or other costs that have to be paid obtain approval from the Division Director (this step can be omitted if there are no costs involved).

b. Take the form with a copy of the acceptance letter to the Experiment Station Office where it will be assigned a Scientific Number.

c. Upon publication, a print or copy of the published paper should be sent to the Experiment Station Office.

3. The publication should, where permitted, contain the following statement in the acknowledgment (or other appropriate location):  "West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station Scientific Article No. ____."

Nonrefeered Publications
There is no need to submit these types of publications to the Experiment Station, unless there are page charges or other expenses that require use of Experiment Station Funds. In this case, the procedure described for refereed publications should be followed. However, the faculty member may request a scientific number for such publications if they are being published in professional outlets, such as proceedings, book chapter, etc. Articles in newspapers, magazines and other popular press publications generally are not professional outlets and should not have scientific numbers.

Experiment Station Bulletins and Circulars
It generally is advisable to consult with the Associate Director (or Director) of the Experiment Station and the faculty member’s Division Director before starting to write a manuscript for publication by the Experiment Station. All such publications should be refereed, either internally, externally, or both. The final publications may be either in hard copy or electronic format. Costs for publications are paid from Hatch, McIntire-Stennis or State funds allocated to the Scientist’s Division or from the Scientist’s grant, contract, or other funds where appropriate.

1. Upon completion of the manuscript, it should be submitted to the Division Director for review and approval. The Division Director will arrange for and coordinate the review process. Each manuscript should be reviewed by at least three competent scientists.

2. Upon completion of the review and revision process, the reviewers and Division Director should sign Publication Form 2, and submit it with a recommendation for type of publication together with six clean copies of the manuscript to the Associate Director, who may then submit it for further review, normally by the College’s Publications Committee although other reviewers may be selected to assure adequate expertise. The manuscript will be returned to the authors for revision if the reviewers recommend that action. It may be submitted for subsequent review if major revisions are required.

3. Upon final approval, the manuscript will be submitted to the Station’s publications and publicity office for editing and printing. Normally the author(s) will review the page proofs before final copies are printed.