The Plant Cell, Vol. 20: 12, January 2008, www.plantcell.

org 2008 American Society of Plant Biologists

EDITORIAL

The Plant Cell: Into the Fifth Dimension

The main attraction of being Editor in Chief of The Plant Cell is that it is such a great journal. However, this fact also represents one of the most daunting aspects of the new job. How can I ensure that the journal maintains its pole position in the ranking of plant science journals, and what can I contribute to make it even better? The excellence of the journal over nearly 20 years has been the result of the hard work and vision of the past Editors in Chief, Bob Goldberg, Brian Larkins, Ralph Quatrano, and Rich Jorgensen, their Editorial Board members, and The Plant Cell editorial staff. But my aim cannot be only to maintain the status quo; it has to be to secure the position of the journal for the future. I am especially grateful to Rich Jorgensen for his efforts to strengthen the journal over the past 5 years. His determination to expand the editorial board to ensure expertise across the entire range of disciplines that constitute plant biology has been of primary importance. His strong encouragement of discussion between coeditors has helped enormously in establishing equitable standards for decision making between widely different elds. The commitment of our coeditors and the quality of their decisions is paramount to the success of the journal and vital to its long-term future. The enlargement of the editorial board has also allowed for the essential mix of experience with more youthful enthusiasm. However, the work load of coeditors still is too high, primarily as a result of increased submissions and the increasing complexity of manuscripts in the post-genomics era. I hope to expand the editorial board further, to reduce the workloads of the coeditors, and to bring in new coeditors with expertise in areas that we do not yet cover. The emphasis that Rich placed on standards has been particularly benecial to the journal. These have provided benchmarks for good publishing standards for journals far

www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.108.200180

beyond The Plant Cell. His continued emphasis on publishing full stories that provide demonstrable advances to the understanding of the biology of plants may, at times, have been frustrating to authors but has ensured that Plant Cell manuscripts are of very high quality and are highly cited and that the journal has maintained its high-ranking reputation. So, what can I contribute to the journal? I want to maintain and, if possible, enhance the reputation of The Plant Cell. Citation is probably the best measure of the importance of an article to its eld (although my Department Head is fond of reminding me that the quickest way to get onto the highly cited list is to publish something that is wrong!). Ultimately, we are all in the scientic game to advance the understanding of plant biology, which comes through communication of data and interpretation of results. Articles are more useful if they cover the full story, not episodes, if they dene a new idea, not an increment, and if they provide full methods for others to follow. Citation is also inuenced by the accessibility of the work to other scientists and the readability of the manuscripts. The Plant Cell has recently taken on three science editors whose job it is to add value to accepted manuscripts prior to publication. Their objectives are to check content for compliance with journal policies and maintenance of editorial standards (nomenclature, statistical analysis, and methodological quality) and to improve the readability of manuscripts. They are scientists themselves, and their comments will reect queries that could be raised by the general reader of The Plant Cell. Plant Cell articles are becoming longer and longer, and the science editors may also suggest places where text could be shortened or omitted without loss of meaning. Our aim is that articles should be no more than 10 printed pages in length. We will provide corresponding authors with access to a calculator that can estimate the number of printed pages prior to submission. While the page limit will

not be absolute, I believe that, in general, shorter papers are much more readable and are consequently more useful to other scientists. I hope also to broaden the scope of The Plant Cell. Over the past 5 years, articles on the evolution of plants have been encouraged. I feel that manuscripts that address solely evolutionary questions with very little relevance to gene function and adaptation may have too narrow a focus to be of real interest to The Plant Cell readership, but manuscripts that combine phylogenetic analyses and calculations of evolutionary rates with studies of changing functionalities (comparative biology), selection pressures, and plant ecology should be encouraged. I believe that there will be increasing emphasis in plant cell and molecular biology on translating the knowledge gained from models into an understanding of the biology of other, nonmodel plants and understanding what denes the differences between plants. This means that I would like to encourage manuscripts in the area of plant evo-devo and manuscripts that focus on nonmodel plants. In the future, I also envisage greater coverage for The Plant Cell in plant biotechnology. In the past, there has been a view that Plant Cell manuscripts must contribute to the fundamental biology of plants, which has excluded work in which the primary focus is applied or strategic. However, almost all plant scientists receive some of their research income on the basis that their work may be of applied relevance. Therefore, I believe that consideration of the applicability of basic research is and will increasingly be of interest to the general readership of The Plant Cell. Manuscripts that tackle issues of direct relevance to applications will be assessed based on considerations of the novelty, innovation, and quality of their underpinning science but will not be declined solely for lack of fundamental biology.

The Plant Cell

I also would like to see The Plant Cell becoming more of a forum for scientic discussion. This is an aspect of science that is rapidly being lostmore and more discussion is conned to the private comments of reviewers and rebuttals. The Plant Cell is encouraging Letters to the Editor and Commentaries that provide discussion of recent ideas or data in other articles. These letters usually do not, themselves, include new data and are not heavily referenced. Such articles are generally very short, are reviewed very

rapidly, and allow for presentation of personal opinions. It is my hope that these additions will bring an added dimension to the journal, enabling it to remain at the forefront of scientic literature into the future. Suggestions from readers are welcome (genuine comments only, please!). I know I will greatly enjoy the challenge of working with the society, the editorial board, and the wonderful staff of The Plant Cell to shape the journal for the future, to ensure

that it remains the best journal for plant science research, and to guarantee not only that authors get a real sense of pride and achievement in having their work published in the journal but also that readers remain excited and engaged by the scientic content of the journal.

Cathie Martin Editor in Chief cathie.martin@bbsrc.ac.uk

The Plant Cell: Into the Fifth Dimension Cathie Martin Plant Cell 2008;20;1-2; originally published online January 31, 2008; DOI 10.1105/tpc.108.200180 This information is current as of March 3, 2013
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