The symposium is meant to exchange knowledge amongst different stakeholders in SRI and is not an academic conference but we expect the papers to include certain standard with data. The conference will be attended by scientists, experts in the rice, farmers, promoters and even some critics. While we encourage writings from farmers, civil society organizations, extension personnel, government officials, we request them to apply some standards, format as part of better presenting their experiences and results. We also think that the experimentation, innovation by the farmers can also be presented in some what structured way so that information can be read, analysed and appreciated by the scientific community. Suggesting the papers in certain format is not to curtail the innovation, but actually facilitating the experiences of innovation to much wider audience.  The papers which might not meet the so called ‘research’ category will be included in the Discussion papers and Case studies.

With this approach we aim to (a) facilitate a much more interesting and productive dialogue between scientists and farmers (b) improving the presentations of the experiences of the farmers so that it can reach scientists and vice versa (c) improving the quality of papers in the symposium, taking the lessons from the previous symposium and (d) identification of issues for further exploration.

1. Research Articles: These should meet academic standards for publication and are original articles which highlight a technical or institutional aspect of SRI. They should therefore clearly position the issue being discussed in terms of theory and prior learning in the field addressed. Authors may kindly avoid detailed descriptions of the principles of SRI and are advised to quote necessary and standard references on SRI where these have been dealt with at length. They could concentrate more on their own modification and innovation of the principles. Articles for the National Symposium should be between 2500 and 6500 words long.

2. Discussion Papers: These should be between 2500 and 5000 words long. In contrast to articles, discussion papers do not have to be full-fledged academic papers. Discussion papers will often cover new and topical areas on, for example, the spread of SRI in a particular state, region, organization etc. Nevertheless, they should give clear references to all sources and give the reader indications of further reading in the same area where appropriate. Discussion papers are also encourage to raise questions on conventional wisdom on SRI or rice farming. Authors are encouraged to present ‘work in progress’ with clear reporting of the methods adopted, the results obtained and inferences.

3. Case Studies: These should address one or more examples of SRI innovation and / or adaptation. They should be brief (less than 5 pages) and follow the following suggested format:

a. Context (Origins and Rationale)
b. Description
c. Risks, Problems, Barriers faced
d. The Process
e. Benefits
f. Lessons Learned
g. The Future
h. Contact details for more information,

4. Format of all submissions for the symposium

a. Papers should be typed in Times New Roman 12-point, in MS-word, Adobe Acrobat pdf or WordPerfect 10 if possible, and should be submitted electronically to info@sri-india.net

b.  Please limit footnotes. If you use them, put them at the end as endnotes.

c. Reference to sources in the text should be placed in brackets and include last name of author, date of publication, and page number, namely: (Kroeker, 1996, p. 126).

d. Full Sources should then all be listed at the end of the paper, alphabetically by first author’s last name, as follows:
Vohra, B. B. 1985. Land and Water: Towards a Policy for Life Support Systems. The INTACH Environmental Series No. 2. New Delhi: Intach. 
Orr, A. 2003. Integrated pest management for resource poor African farmers: Is the emperor naked?. World Development. Vol 31 (5), 831-845.

Please consult the Chicago Manual of Style for further guidance.