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First published online January 30, 2009; 10.1105/tpc.109.210180 The Plant Cell 21:1-2 (2009) © 2009 American Society of Plant Biologists
Happy Birthday to The Plant CellEditor in Chief cathie.martin{at}bbsrc.ac.uk
The Plant Cell is 20 years old this year. It was founded to report "Exciting Plant Science," recognizing a renaissance in plant biology as plant transformation techniques became widespread and plant biotechnology moved from an exciting possibility toward a reality. The Plant Cell championed novelty in research into plant-specific problems at the molecular and cellular levels. The initial advertisements called for manuscripts with focus on the regulation of gene expression, the molecular and genetic basis of plant development, plant–microbe interactions, and molecular aspects of plant cell organization and function. Above all, The Plant Cell was designed to illustrate the beauty of plants with each issue carrying a cover illustration selected from one of the articles in that issue. There was also, right from the beginning, an emphasis on color figures of the highest quality. Within three years of its initial publication, The Plant Cell had the highest impact factor among journals publishing primary research in the plant sciences. It has maintained this standard of excellence ever since.
Some things have changed over the intervening 20 years. In 1989, just under 30% of published manuscripts came from corresponding authors outside the United States. In 2008, 75% of submitted articles were from outside the United States, as were 66% of accepted articles. The first article in the first issue of The Plant Cell was a commentary by Charles Arntzen discussing the funding available for plant sciences. While many of the points made in this commentary were of general relevance, and remain valid today, the article discussed exclusively "national" funding, as though the readership were entirely based in the United States. I doubt whether a similar article with such tight focus would be published today; more likely, it would be returned with the request that the author should broaden its scope to appeal to the general reader! Since 1989, the journal has become truly international, even appointing a non-U.S. national to be its Editor in Chief. The Plant Cell has also broadened its remit: While still strong in plant developmental and cell biology, plant–pathogen interactions, and gene regulation, it now publishes excellent articles that deal with plant biochemistry, protein structure, and plant metabolism. We are encouraging articles that are focused on plant ecology, especially where molecular and cellular biology and genetics impact on the responses of plants to their natural environments, and we are publishing more and more articles on the evolution of plants. We are developing from a journal reporting research solely on model organisms, to one with additional strong interests in translational biology. This shift in emphasis reflects the ascendancy of plant science as scientists search for solutions to the grand challenges of climate change, energy sustainability, and food security. Plant biology and, it is hoped, The Plant Cell will play major roles in finding ways to meet these challenges. The Plant Cell has maintained its commitment to the beauty of plants: Our cover images remain outstanding among strong competition from all the journals that have followed the lead set by the journal. It is not a difficult task to find cover images for each issue; the quality of the images submitted to The Plant Cell remains as high as ever. As a tribute to all the authors and all the fine work that has contributed to The Plant Cell portfolio over the past 20 years, ASPB Staff Members Susan Entwistle and Diane McCauley have selected their favorites from each year to produce the montage that graces the back cover for the January 2009 issue. The Plant Cell has also maintained its position as number 1 among the journals reporting work in plant biology. It publishes about twice the number of primary research articles now as compared with the early years. However, the manuscripts published remain the very best describing plant-specific problems at the molecular and cellular levels, and the long-term citation rates for manuscripts published in The Plant Cell are particularly impressive. This must be due to our continuing emphasis on articles of significant interest to the general reader. We have also maintained a strong commitment to publishing full methodologies and to the highest standards in images, statistical analysis, and phylogenetic methods. Our average citations per article per year rank right up there with the journals Nature and Science, which speaks to the efforts of all the editors of The Plant Cell over the years to publishing "excellent plant science." By way of illustrating just how important The Plant Cell is to the plant science community, Senior Features Editor Nan Eckardt and I have selected what we consider to be the five best Plant Cell articles of the past 20 years. These have been selected partly on citation levels and partly through a subjective process (we excluded articles with very large data sets, on the basis that their citations would be enhanced by citations of the data, rather than the scientific stories being told). Our list includes the following:
Napoli, C., Lemieux, C., and Jorgensen, R. (1990). Introduction of a chimeric chalcone synthase gene into petunia results in reversible co-suppression of homologous genes in trans. Plant Cell 2: 279–289. Article describing gene silencing in petunia. Silencing was linked to the transcription of the endogenous gene. Silencing was shown to be inherited through the germline, and the nonclonal nature of the silencing was emphasized.
Ward, E.R., Uknes, S.J., Williams, S.C., Dincher, S.S., Wiederhold, D.L., Alexander, D.C., Ahl-Goy, P., Metraux, J.P., and Ryals, J.A. (1991). Coordinate gene activity in response to agents that induce systemic acquired-resistance. Plant Cell 3: 1085–1094. Article defining the inductions in gene expression that occur in necrotic tissues in response to pathogen infection (systemic acquired resistance). It further showed that salicyclate induces the expression of the same genes and presented a model that tied pathogen-induced necrosis to the biosynthesis of salicylic acid and the induction of systemic acquired resistance.
Liu, Q., Kasuga, M., Sakuma, Y., Abe, H., Miura, S., Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., and Shinozaki, K. (1998). Two transcription factors, DREB1 and DREB2, with an EREBP/AP2 DNA binding domain separate two cellular signal transduction pathways in drought- and low-temperature-responsive gene expression, respectively, in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 10: 1391–1406. Article describing the identification of cDNA clones encoding two DREB proteins, which are transcription factors belonging to the AP2 family. The authors showed that these DREB proteins can induce tolerance to low temperature and to dehydration stress and that the activation of these responses may be independent of each other.
Michaels, S.D., and Amasino, R.M. (1999). FLOWERING LOCUS C encodes a novel MADS domain protein that acts as a repressor of flowering. Plant Cell 11: 949–956. Article describing FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), a gene that is central to the timing of flowering in Arabidopsis. These observations identified FLC as the point of integration of environmental and endogenous pathways that regulate flowering and identified FLC as a repressor of Arabidopsis reproductive development.
Dettmer, J., Hong-Hermesdorf, A., Stierhof, Y.-D., and Schumacher, K. (2006). Vacuolar H+-ATPase activity is required for endocytic and secretory trafficking in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 18: 715–730. Article describing the convergence of the early endocytic and secretory trafficking pathways in the trans-Golgi network using a subunit of the vacuolar ATPase as a marker. Endocytosed material (such as nascent cell plate material) is redirected into the secretory flow after reaching the trans-Golgi network. We have invited the authors of these articles to present at a special Plant Cell symposium to be held as part of the ASPB 2009 Plant Biology meeting in Hawaii, to celebrate the 20th birthday of the journal. To celebrate the coming of age of the journal, its founding Editor in Chief, Bob Goldberg, prepared a retrospective describing his original aims and ambitions for the journal (in this issue). In addition, members of the current editorial board have prepared podcasts (audio or video files) with their comments about the journal and how they wish to see it develop, which can be accessed from The Plant Cell website and at http://podcast.aspb.org/. This issue of The Plant Cell also carries a reproduction of the original flyer for The Plant Cell, defining the scope and remit of the journal, as a reminder of where the journal came from. The Plant Cell has maintained its aim of publishing rapidly. In 1989 it aimed to publish articles within 3 months of submission; we now move an article from final acceptance to publication in an average of just 16 days! Of course, online submission and electronic publishing have helped a lot. This year, 2009, marks the introduction of some new features to The Plant Cell. As a means of helping authors with the costs of publishing, we began late in 2008 to give authors the option to choose figures that will be displayed in color online, but in black-and-white in print. This can help to save authors color fees in cases where color is not necessary for interpretation of the data. This option has been available in Plant Physiology since January 2007 and seems to work well. On a related note, in 2009, the cost per color figure in The Plant Cell has been reduced from $350 to $300.
Early in 2009, the journal will be adding a new Features Editor to the staff with a remit to help strengthen The Plant Cell front matter. Beginning in January 2009, to thank all our reviewers who provide us and the plant science community with such a valuable service, we will be offering everyone who completes a review for the journal a voucher for $200 that can be put toward publication costs for an article submitted to The Plant Cell within the following 12 months, for which the reviewer is the corresponding author. Of course, the success of The Plant Cell is based on the fantastic work of the editorial board and the journal staff. The Plant Cell is where it is today because of the dedication and commitment of these guys and, of course, all the work and input from you, the authors, reviewers, and readers of the journal. Happy Birthday, Plant Cell! Footnotes www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.109.210180 This article has been cited by other articles:
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