About the Journal

Journal Overview

Annals of Arid Zone (ISSN: 0570-1791) is a peer-reviewed, open access quarterly journal published by the Arid Zone Research Association of India (AZRAI), Jodhpur, India. Established in 1963, the journal has been regularly publishing quality scientific research related to dryland and arid zone ecosystems. The journal publishes original research articles, review articles and short communications of relevance to hot and cold arid regions.

Open Access Policy

The Journal is available as Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License. All published articles are freely accessible immediately upon publication without subscription or access charges.

Processing Charges

The journal does not charge towards processing and publication of manuscripts. The journal does not charge any manuscript submission fee, processing charge, article processing charge (APC), publication charge or page charge.

Focus and Scope

The Annals of Arid Zone is an open access peer reviewed journal largely focused on dryland and arid zone research. The Journal accepts the original research and review articles covering diverse fields like dryland agriculture, crop management, soil-plant-water relationship, range ecology and management, solar energy utilization, desertification, rangelands, sand dunes, livestock, agroforestry, wind erosion, watershed management, biodiversity, integrated farming systems, climate change, hydrology, etc. publishes the findings of research relevant to dryland in general and arid zone (hot and cold) in particular. The journal welcomes quality scientific contributions from researchers and institutions across the globe.

Peer Review Process

The research or review article is sent to one or two referees who are chosen based on their expertise in the relevant research domain of the submitted manuscript. These referees are expected to conduct a logical review without any conflict of interest and within the specified timeframe. Referee(s) are expected to respond to the editor's request for advice within a limited period of time (3-4 weeks), which is clearly stated by the editor. A comment sheet is also provided to him/her for seeking his/her advice on all aspects of the article. If the referees do not submit their comments within the stipulated timeframe, a reminder is sent to them. If there is still no response, the manuscript is forwarded to a new referee. The acceptance or rejection of the article by the referees is considered by the editorial board, and the author is informed of the decision thereafter. If the author(s) disagree with the rejection on specific grounds, the editorial board reviews the merits of their response to make a final decision. Generally it takes 6-8 week time to complete the review process. The journal follows a confidential peer-review process. Referees are required to disclose any conflict of interest before accepting a manuscript for review. The final decision regarding acceptance, revision or rejection of a manuscript rests with the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board.

Plagiarism Policy

Submissions will be checked for originality and evaluated using standard plagiarism detection software, with a preference for less than 20% text resemblance for publication. In exceptional cases, sections such as the introduction, literature review, and methods may be exempted if supported by references. Authors must cite copyrighted material and obtain necessary permissions, as applicable. Similarity reports are evaluated by the Editorial Board and editorial decisions are not based solely on similarity percentages.

Publication Frequency

The journal is published quarterly (04 issues in a year; Jan to Mar, Apr to June, July to Sep and Oct to Dec).

Ethical Policy

Annals of Arid Zone follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, transparency and ethical publishing. 

Our interaction with authors is founded on trust and good faith. Authors, reviewers and editors are expected to disclose any financial, professional or personal conflicts of interest related to a submitted manuscript.

All manuscripts are evaluated solely on their scientific merit, originality, quality and relevance to the journal, without regard to the authors' race, gender, religion, nationality, age, institutional affiliation or reputation.

The journal considers only original manuscripts that have not been published or submitted elsewhere. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission, where required, for the use of copyrighted material and for providing appropriate acknowledgement of all sources. Plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification and any other form of research misconduct are unacceptable and remain the sole responsibility of the authors.

Simultaneous submission of the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal is considered unethical, except where permitted under accepted publishing practices with appropriate disclosure.

Authors are responsible for appropriately acknowledging the contributions of all individuals, institutions and funding agencies associated with the research.

Any allegation of publication misconduct, ethical concern or conflict of interest is handled confidentially by the Chief Editor in consultation with the Publisher, following COPE guidance. Appropriate editorial action, including manuscript rejection, publication of corrections, expressions of concern or article retraction, may be taken whenever necessary to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.

The journal considers allegations of publication misconduct fairly and confidentially and provides the concerned parties an opportunity to respond. Editorial actions are taken solely to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.

Editorial Policies

Annals of Arid Zone is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, transparency and editorial integrity. The journal has established editorial policies concerning:

  • Authorship and Contributorship
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)-assisted Technologies
  • Plagiarism and Research Misconduct
  • Complaints and Appeals
  • Corrections and Retractions
  • Data Availability

Editorial Decision and Conditional Acceptance: Editorial decisions are based on scientific merit, originality and compliance with the journal's ethical and editorial standards. A manuscript accepted after peer review remains subject to final editorial, technical, ethical and production checks. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to withdraw the acceptance and reject the manuscript before publication if any issue affecting its scientific integrity, originality, ethical compliance or suitability for publication is identified.

Detailed information is available under the Submissions section of the journal website.

Abstracting and Indexing

Annals of Arid Zone is abstracted and indexed in nationally and internationally recognized databases and indexing services. Published articles are assigned Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) through Crossref.

Details of the journal's indexing and abstracting services are periodically updated on the journal website.

Journal History

The Arid Zone Research Association of India, Jodhpur (India) (AZRAI; Regd No: 17988/69) was formed in 1962 to disseminate research findings related to a variety of issues through interdisciplinary researches concerned with the development of arid zone. A quarterly journal, Annals of Arid Zone was started in 1963 and is being regularly published since.

Ownership and Publisher

  • Journal Title: Annals of Arid Zone
  • ISSN: 0570-1791
  • Owner: Arid Zone Research Association of India (AZRAI), Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
  • Publisher: Arid Zone Research Association of India (AZRAI), Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
  • Publication Frequency: Quarterly
  • Year of Establishment: 1963
  • Email: annals.cazri@gmail.com

For Authors and Readers

Detailed information regarding manuscript submission, author guidelines, publication ethics, editorial policies, editorial team, copyright and licensing, and contact details is available under the respective sections of the journal website.

  • Submissions
  • Editorial Team
  • Privacy Statement
  • Contact