About Plant Genomes and Systems Biology

What is Plant Genomes and Systems Biology?

Plant Genomes and Systems Biology is an open access, online journal that accepts manuscripts documenting original research and review articles in a wide range of topics that unravel the biology of plants using plant genome and system analysis. These may include the following:

1. Gene discovery and cloning.
2. Translational genomics and QTL analyses.
3. Structural, functional, and comparative genomics.
4. Molecular cytogenetics, developmental genetics.
5. Proteomics, metabolomics, and metagenomics.
6. Biotechnology and transgenics.
7. Novel genetic/physical mapping and DNA sequencing technologies.
8. Bioinformatics, computational genomics and computational modeling.

Plant Genomes and Systems Biology addresses an interdisciplinary and international audience of research scientists including plant geneticists, plant pathologists, plant molecular biologists, plant biotechnologists, plant physiologists, system biologists, bioinformaticists and scientists from other related disciplines.

Plant Genomes and Systems Biology aims to become a leading international journal in the field of plant sciences, publishing high-quality research and review articles addressing strategic science issues relevant to plant genome and systems biology.

Content overview

Plant Genomes and Systems Biology considers the following types of articles:

• Research: research reports must address a hypothesis tested with rigorous experimental design and sound statistical procedures.The primary factor determining suitability for publication is that the research presents new and significant findings on an issue relevant to plant genomics, genetics, breeding, biotechnology and systems biology.
• Reviews: comprehensive, authoritative, descriptions of any subject within the scope of the journal. These articles are usually written by opinion leaders that have been invited by the Editorial Board.
• Database articles: describe a new database or a substantial improvement of an existing database (for example by an expansion of data to broaden the range of users, or by a major increase in functionality).
• Meeting reports: a meeting report is a short description of a conference that the author has attended. It is usually best for the article to be published as soon after the meeting as possible, and should focus on the key developments presented and discussed at the meeting. These articles are usually commissioned but reports and suggestions may also be submitted for the editors' consideration.
• Methodology articles: present a new experimental method, test or procedure. The method described may either be completely new, or may offer a better version of an existing method.
• Short reports: brief reports of data from original research.

Peer review policies

Articles submitted to Plant Genomes and Systems Biology will be peer-reviewed. After consulting with the Co-Editors-in-Chief, the Managing Editor will send manuscripts to two appropriate members of the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board members will then communicate the manuscript to at least two experts in the field. In total 4 reviews will be obtained for each manuscript to ensure high quality publications. After review, depending on the reviewers’ reports and editors’ recommendations, one of the following decisions will be made for each manuscript:

1. To accept with minor revisions
2. Neither accept nor reject until author(s) make revisions and resubmit
3. To reject. The Co-Editors-in-Chief will make the final decision.

Edited by Peter Gresshoff, Guenter Kahl and Khalid Meksem, Plant Genomes and Systems Biology is supported by an international Editorial Board.

Publishing in Plant Genomes and Systems Biology

All articles will be listed in PubMed immediately upon acceptance (after peer review), and will be covered by PubMed Central.

Articles in Plant Genomes and Systems Biology should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. However, because articles in this journal are not printed, they do not have page numbers. Instead, they have a unique article number.

The following citation:

Plant Genomes Syst Biol 2004, 2:1

refers to article 1 from volume 2 of the journal.

As an online journal, Plant Genomes and Systems Biology does not have issue numbers. Each volume corresponds to a calendar year.

To keep up to date with the latest articles from Plant Genomes and Systems Biology, why not register to receive alerts? Registration also enables you to customise your subject areas of interest, store your searches, and submit your manuscripts.

Submission of manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to Plant Genomes and Systems Biology using the online submission system. Full details of how to submit a manuscript are given in the instructions for authors.

General journal policies

Plant Genomes and Systems Biology is published  by BioMed Central, an independent publisher committed to ensuring peer-reviewed biomedical research is Open Access. That means it is freely and universally accessible online, it is archived in at least one internationally recognised free access repository, and its authors retain copyright, allowing anyone to reproduce or disseminate articles, according to the BioMed Central copyright and licence agreement. Plant Genomes and Systems Biology however, has taken this further by making all its content Open Access.

Plant Genomes and Systems Biology's articles are archived in PubMed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's full-text repository of life science literature, and also in repositories at the University of Potsdam in Germany, at INIST in France and in e-Depot, the National Library of the Netherlands' digital archive of all electronic publications. The journal is also participating in the British Library's e-journals pilot project, and plans to deposit copies of all articles with the British Library.

BioMed Central is working closely with the Thomson Reuters (ISI) to ensure that citation analysis of articles published in Plant Genomes and Systems Biology will be available.

Plant Genomes and Systems Biology is able to deliver summaries of frequently updated content via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. For more information about RSS feeds see our publisher's website.

For further information about general policies please see the instructions for authors.