---
name: agriculture-ecosystems-and-environment
description: Use when targeting Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment or deciding whether an agroecosystem-environment manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, the field-to-landscape environmental-outcome bar, data-reporting expectations, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics.
---

# Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (agriculture-ecosystems-and-environment)

## Journal positioning

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (AGEE), published by Elsevier, sits at the **interface
of agriculture and the environment at field-to-landscape scale**: how agricultural systems
affect — and are affected by — nutrient and greenhouse-gas fluxes, biodiversity, soil and
water quality, and ecosystem services. Its defining expectation is a study whose central
contribution is an **environmental outcome of agroecosystem management**, quantified with
sound design and generalizable beyond one plot. A pure crop-yield/agronomy study with no
environmental outcome, or a soil-process mechanism study with no agroecosystem/management
framing, fits a sibling journal better. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing**
tool. It does not replace the journal's current author guidelines. Before submitting, re-check
the live AGEE author guidance.

## When to trigger

- The author names AGEE and wants a fit/framing check for an agriculture–environment paper.
- A management or land-use study must be framed around its environmental outcome (fluxes,
  biodiversity, water/soil quality) rather than around yield alone.
- The author is choosing between AGEE, `field-crops-research` (crop/yield focus), and
  `soil-biology-and-biochemistry` (soil-process mechanism).
- The author needs AGEE's desk-reject heuristics and a credible alternative route.

## Scope & topic fit

- Greenhouse-gas and nutrient fluxes from agroecosystems (N2O, CH4, CO2; N and P losses) and
  their management drivers.
- Biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes: pollinators, natural enemies,
  soil biota, and habitat effects.
- Soil and water quality outcomes of agricultural management at field-to-catchment scale.
- Land-use and management effects on agroecosystem function, including conservation
  agriculture, agroforestry, and grazing systems.
- Trade-offs and synergies between production and environmental outcomes across landscapes.
- Modeling and upscaling of agroecosystem environmental outcomes when validated against
  measurements.

## Method & evidence bar

- The central claim must be an **environmental outcome at field-to-landscape scale**,
  quantified with defensible design and adequate replication across space and/or time.
- Flux measurements need appropriate sampling frequency, chamber/eddy methodology, and error
  characterization; cumulative-flux estimates must state their uncertainty.
- Biodiversity and ecosystem-service studies need sound sampling design, taxonomic/functional
  rigor, and statistics that handle landscape structure and pseudoreplication.
- Management comparisons need realistic controls and full agronomic/environmental context so
  outcomes are attributable and transferable.
- Models and upscaling must be validated against measured fluxes/outcomes with reported skill;
  data and code should be available per Elsevier policy.

## Structure & house style

- Standard IMRaD; the introduction must frame the agriculture–environment problem and the
  outcome of interest, not just a production question.
- Methods must document the agroecosystem (soil, climate, management) and the environmental
  measurement protocol in reproducible detail.
- Figures/tables should make the environmental outcome and its management drivers visible
  (flux time series, landscape comparisons, trade-off plots) with variability shown.
- A data-availability statement and complete site/management metadata are expected;
  supplementary material carries measurement detail.

## Official-submission checklist

- Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and
  `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the official source anchors, then
  cite the current Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment page you checked.
- Search the live site for "Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment guide for authors" and
  follow the current Elsevier version.
- Re-check article types, structure, word/figure expectations, and abstract format.
- Confirm the data-availability/repository policy and reporting of environmental measurement
  and management metadata.
- Re-check competing-interests, funding, author-contribution, and AI-use disclosure, and
  open-access terms.
- If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions
  win.

## Pre-submission self-check

- [ ] The central contribution is an environmental outcome of agroecosystem management, not yield alone.
- [ ] Design has adequate spatial/temporal replication and handles landscape structure.
- [ ] Flux/biodiversity measurements have appropriate methods and reported uncertainty.
- [ ] Management comparisons have realistic controls and full environmental/agronomic context.
- [ ] Models/upscaling are validated against measured outcomes with reported skill.
- [ ] Data-availability statement and site/management metadata are prepared.

## Common desk-reject triggers

- A pure crop-yield/agronomy study with no quantified environmental outcome.
- A soil-process mechanism study with no agroecosystem or management framing.
- Flux estimates without uncertainty, or sampling too sparse to support cumulative claims.
- Biodiversity/ecosystem-service claims with weak sampling design or pseudoreplication.
- A single-plot result generalized to landscape scale without justification.

## Re-routing decision

- Crop yield/agronomy and resource-use efficiency is the core → `field-crops-research`.
- Soil-process mechanism (SOM, microbial function, nutrient cycling) is the core → `soil-biology-and-biochemistry`.
- Explicit sustainability framing, review, or meta-analysis → `agronomy-for-sustainable-development`.
- Large-scale climate/global-change ecosystem process dominant → `global-change-biology`.
- Broad food-systems significance → `nature-food`.

## Output format

```text
[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest agriculture–environment topics>
[Environmental outcome] <the field-to-landscape outcome and its management driver>
[Method/evidence] <does design + measurement rigor + replication clear AGEE's bar?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / data policy / measurement + metadata reporting / disclosures>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>
```