We are pleased to announce that our next 2017 ECHO Asia Agriculture and Community Development Conference in Chiang Mai will provide conference delegates with an opportunity to submit research papers for publication. For those that may be interested, this will provide conference attendees with an opportunity to publish their own research findings in a conference proceedings that will be compiled and sent out to the ECHO network following the conclusion of the conference.

If you plan to attend the conference in October 2017 (full details and registration here), please consider submitting a paper summarizing some of the research you may have conducted in recent years. We hope that in this way, any interesting research findings from within our network may be shared in a more formal manner with practitioners throughout the region.

Abstracts can be submitted to Patrick Trail (Research & Technical Associate) in MS Word format at ptrail@echonet.org by 15 August 2017.

Below are some specific expectations and guides on how to participate in our conference paper proceedings.

General Expectations of Submissions

Papers should relate to small-scale agriculture and community development research appropriate to the Asia context. Research work will be reviewed and approved by a team of ECHO reviewers with high levels of experience in the appropriate disciplines listed below.

An abstract of your work can be submitted by 15 August 2017 for initial review, followed by an invitation to submit a full-length paper prior to the conference. The work that you write a paper for can be the same work that you create a poster for during the conference.

Although there are minimal specific requirements at this stage, it is our hope that any research submitted will have been designed in an intentional and statistically sound manner, and utilize randomization and replication to an appropriate degree.

Research Categories

In order to facilitate quicker and easier reviewing, we ask that you categorize your work into one of the following sets of disciplines:

Crop, Soil, & Environmental Practices in the Tropics

Papers submitted in this category should include technical experiments and trials related to crops, soils, and the environments specific to smallholder farmers with limited means and resources. Techniques, practices, systems, and discoveries should be replicable by smallholder farmers and/or their communities. Research in this category may include field trials, greenhouse studies, nursery studies, pot studies, seed studies, lab experiments, and/or experimental comparisons/evaluations across farmer groups, fields, sites, villages, regions, or countries, etc…

Livestock & Animal Husbandry in the Tropics

Papers submitted in this category should be of a technical nature, and relate to livestock management practices, nutrition, health, and/or integration into smallholder farming operations in the tropics. Experiments related to biogas production, the use of animal waste products, and aquaculture systems should be included here.

Agricultural Extension & Community Development

Research in this category may include work of a less technical nature, the social sciences, and may include work on a broader scope. Research linked to agricultural extension, education, and community development of smallholder farmers and their specific contexts should be submitted in this category. Survey work, teaching and extension technique evaluations, community development models, evaluations of successful (or failed) projects, etc…should be included here.

Appropriate Technology

Papers submitted in this category should also include research of a technical manner, however, they should be related to technologies, tools, implements, techniques, and discoveries aimed at reducing labor, increasing efficiency, improving food related products and storage techniques, etc… related to improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and communities with limited means and resources. Technologies should be context appropriate, economically practical, and easily replicated.

Underutilized Crops

This is a distinct category focused on the evaluation and application of appropriate crops for smallholder farmers, specifically in Asia. Featured crops could include cereal grains, multipurpose trees, fruits, vegetables, forages, legumes, oil crops, Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) or any other category of plants found to improve the lives of farmers and gardeners. Whether the information is gleaned from replicated research or a development project, this is a good way to share insights on how well a crop or set of crops has performed or been adopted/adapted by farmers in your part of the world.

 

Abstract Submission Guidelines

Conference attendees are invited to submit an abstract of their work by 15 August. After an initial review to verify that abstracts and research meet minimum criteria and are appropriate in scope and design, authors will be invited to submit a full paper. Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words, and at least one of the authors should plan on attending the conference. All research should be original works of the author(s). All abstracts should be in English and written as a single paragraph.

Accepted abstracts will be included in the conference handbook, and shared with conference attendees.

Below you will find a guide to writing an abstract:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Abstracts can be submitted to Patrick Trail (Research & Technical Associate) in MS Word format at ptrail@echonet.org by 15 August 2017.

 

Full Paper Submission

Once your abstract has been accepted, you will be invited to submit a full 8-page paper closer to the time of the conference. Papers can be submitted any time before the conference with a submission deadline no later than three weeks after the conclusion of the conference. All papers will then be compiled by ECHO into an ECHO Asia Conference Proceedings and sent out to the entire network via electronic format (Asia Note and on www.echocommunity.org).

Papers will be reviewed using a blind review process. Abstracts will initially be reviewed by the Research & Technical Associate to ensure minimum criteria are met; thereafter full paper submissions will be sent to the appropriate members of the reviewing committee in an anonymous format.

Submissions should adhere as closely as possible to the formatting instructions laid out below. All papers should be original works of the author(s) and avoid plagiarism of any kind. Papers should be formatted as such:

 

Title

Author(s)

Author Affiliations

Corresponding Author

Abstract

Key Words (max 8, min 3)

Introduction

Materials & Methods

Results & Discussion

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

References

 

***Click here to download the template that should be used when formatting your paper for submission.