J Integr Plant Biol. ›› 2007, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (1): 1-2.DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7909.2006.00423.x

• Editorial •     Next Articles

A Note from the Executive Editor

Chun-Ming Liu   

  • Published:2007-01-01

Abstract:

When Professor Xing-Guo Han, one of the Chief Editors of Journal of Integrative Plant Biology (JIPB) and President of the Botanical Society of China, and Professor Ke-Ping Ma, the Director General of the Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), asked me if I would like to be the Executive Editor for JIPB, it really took me a few days to think about it. The major reason for me to be so reluctant to take such a position was that I felt I really did not have enough time to manage a journal promptly, by hiding away from my daily business. At the moment, I run my own laboratory, and take care of the management job for the Center of Signal Transduction & Metabolomics. In addition, I also did not have any experience in editorial business. However, they managed to convince me to take the challenge, by giving me their full support. Anyway, I agreed in the end. I will do my best to assist the Editors to bring up the quality of the journal. Regardless of whether or not I reach my goal, it will be a valuable experience for me. JIPB was established in 1952, for the first 52 years published under the name of Acta Botanica Sinica, and changed to its current name in 2005. It was a quarterly magazine first, and then published bimonthly from 1981, and monthly since 1989. During its 54-year history, the Journal has always been the leading plant science journal in China. It has also witnessed the dark period of the country, when the Journal was stopped for a period of 7 years (between mid-1966 and mid-1973) due to the cultural revolution? In January 2005, the Journal formally entered into a co-publishing partnership with Blackwell Publishing, and now it appears online in Blackwell Synergy, which is available to over 3 000 universities worldwide. Over the last few weeks, I have spoken to many plant scientists, and Dr. Jin-Zhong Cui, the managing editor, to get their advice. The general idea is that to improve the quality of the journal, we need to rethink the strategy. After these discussions we came to the following conclusions: 1) The general scope: with the aim to bring the Journal to a higher standard, we need to have a clear scope for the Journal. We will publish invited reviews to bring our readers to state-of-the-art scientific developments, and research articles with broad interests to plant scientists, with particular focus on those articles that could answer basic biological questions by using reproducible experimental and statistical analyses. We will not consider those purely descriptive observations or confirmation works. The way of describing and discussing the results must be appropriate for a wide audience of plant biologists. 2) The reviewing process: one major change we made in terms of the peer-review process was to establish a board of enthusiastic scientists (see the list below) to be Area Responsible Editors (ARE). These Editors take full responsibility of an area of his/her expertise, and facilitate the peer-reviewing process and decision-making thereafter. To speed up the publication cycle, we are making several changes to the review process: a) we will use Stanford University Library抯 HighWire Press software (the same publication platform used by Plant Cell and Plant Physiology) for handling the manuscript processing; b) at the time when the corresponding author submits the article, he/she must identify the proper ARE; c) we will eliminate the page restriction for each issue, to allow a fast publication even when too many or too few papers have been accepted; d) we will have a PubExp column for rapid publication of papers with exceptional discoveries whereby the manuscript is submitted directly to the Executive Editor; e) we will hire two or three new editorial staff to support the communication, editing and typesetting. 3) New protocols: we will publish methodology papers to describe procedures that could be used reproducibly in other laboratories for studies in plant sciences. Of course, the most important thing to make a good journal is to get the support from you, the readers, the authors, the reviewers and the editors. I hope we can work together with you to allow JIPB to be an internationally recognized journal. To reach this goal, we need good manuscripts, critical reviewers, speedy publication and the best services. If you have suggestions and comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Chun-Ming Liu, PhD The ARE members 1) Ecology Prof. Jianguo (Jingle) Wu (landscape & urban ecology) Arizona State University, USA Prof. Jianxin Sun (ecosystems & modeling) Institute of Botany, CAS, China Prof. Jiquan Chen (forest ecology, conservation biology) The University of Toledo, USA Prof. Weixin Cheng (ecosystem) University of California, USA 2) Stress & Phytochemistry Prof. Wei-Hua Wu (membrane channel) China Agricultural University, China Prof. Zhi-Zhong Gong (abiotic stress) China Agricultural University, Beijing Prof. Daoxin Xie (viral and bacterium diseases) Tsinghua University, China Prof. Ninghua Tan (phytochemistry & functional products) Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS, China Prof. Xiao-Quan Qi (metabolites/fungal diseases) Institute of Botany, CAS, China 3) Omics & Epigenetics Prof. Jun Yu (transcriptome, bioinformatics) Beijing Institute of Genomics, CAS, China Prof. Dabing Zhang (rice functional genomics) Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China Prof. Bin Han (genomics; genome evolution) National Center for Gene Research, CAS, China Prof. Tai Wang (proteomics) Institute of Botany, CAS, China Prof. Xiaofeng Cao (epigenetics) Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology, CAS, China 4) Development & Photosynthesis Prof. Da Luo (flower development) Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology, CAS, China Prof. Yuxin Hu (vegetative organ development & architecture) Institute of Botany, CAS, China Prof. Wei-Cai Yang (pollen, embryo sac and embryo development) Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology, CAS, China Prof. Yong-Biao Xue (fertilization and self-incomparability) Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology, CAS, China Prof. Jin-Xing Lin (cell biology) Institute of Botany, CAS, China Prof. Cong-Ming Lu (photosynthesis) Institute of Botany, CAS, China 5) Signal Transduction Prof. Hongwei Xue (auxin and BR signaling) Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology, CAS, China Prof. Xiangdong Fu (GA signaling) Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology, CAS, China Prof. Hongwei Guo (ethylene signaling) Peking University, China Prof. Jianru Zuo (cytokinin/regeneration/programmed cell death) Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology, CAS, China Prof. Qi Xie (ABA & protein degradation) Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology, CAS, China Prof. Chentao Lin (light signal transduction) University of California, Los Angeles, USA 6) Evolution Prof. Yang Zhong (molecular evolution, bioinformatics, statistics) Fudan University, China Prof. Shuang-Quan Huang (reproductive ecology) Wuhan University, China Prof. Song Ge (conservation genetics, molecular systematics) Institute of Botany, CAS, China Prof. Xiao-Quan Wang (biogeography, molecular ecology) Institute of Botany, CAS, China About Professor Chun-Ming Liu Professor Chun-Ming Liu received his BSc degree in 1984 from Shandong Normal University (Jinan), MSc degree in 1987 from Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology (Shanghai), the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his PhD degree in 1996 from John Innes Center/University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK). Thereafter, he went to Professor David Meinke抯 laboratory (Stillwater, USA) for his 3-year post-doctoral training. Between 1999 and 2005 he worked as a senior scientist and group leader at Plant Research International (Wageningen, The Netherlands). From the beginning of the year, he became a Professor and Director of the Center for Signal Transduction & Metabolomics, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. His research is always associated with seed development, in particular in embryogenesis, endosperm development and meristem formation. Selected publications Liu CM, Xu ZH and Chua NH (1993). Auxin polar transport is essential for the establishment of bilateral symmetry during early plant embryogenesis. Plant Cell 5: 621-630. Liu CM, Xu ZH and Chua NH (1993). Proembryo culture: in vitro development of early globular-staged zygotic embryos of Brassica juncea. Plant J 3: 291-300. Liu CM and Meinke DW (1998). The titan mutants of Arabidopsis are disrupted in mitosis and cell cycle control during seed development. Plant J 16: 21-31. Liu CM, McElver J, Tzafrir I, Joosen R, Wittich P, Patton D, van Lammeren AAM and Meinke D (2002). Condensin and cohesin knockouts in Arabidopsis exhibit a titan seed phenotype. Plant J 29: 405-415. Fiers M, Hause G, Boutilier K, Casamitjana-Marinez E, Weijers D, Offringa R, van der Geest L, van Lookeren Campagne M and Liu CM (2004). Mis-expression of the CLV3/ESR-like gene CLE19 in Arabidopsis leads to a consumption of root meristem. Gene 327: 37-49. Xu J, Zhang HY, Xie CH, Xue HW, Dijkhuis P and Liu CM (2005). EMBRYONIC FACTOR 1 encodes an AMP deaminase and is essential for the zygote to embryo transition in Arabidopsis. Plant J 42: 743-756. Fiers M, Golemiec E, Xu J, van der Geest L, Heidstra R, Stiekema W and Liu CM (2005). The 14-amino acid CLV3, CLE19 and CLE40 peptides trigger consumption of the root meristem in Arabidopsis through a CLAVATA2-dependent pathway. Plant Cell 17: 2542-2553. Fiers M, Golemiec E, van der Schors R, van der Geest L, Li KW, Stiekema WJ and Liu CM (2006). The CLV3/ESR motif of CLV3 is functionally independent from the non-conserved flanking sequences. Plant Physiol 141: 1284-1294. Fiers M, Ku KL and Liu CM (2007). CLE peptide ligands and their roles in establishing meristems. Curr Opin Plant Biol (in press).

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