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Plant Physiology 139:1573

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EDITORIAL

Plant Physiology Adopts Incentives for Concise Articles

The average length of research articles published in Plant Physiology has been growing and reached an average of 11 pages over last 2 years. As shown in the histogram below (Fig. 1), in 2003 and 2004, about 35% of the research articles published were over 11 pages.



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  		Figure 1. Plant Physiology article length.

 
The research sections "Biochemical Processes and Macromolecular Structures," "Genetics, Genomics, and Molecular Evolution," and "Environmental Stress and Adaptation to Stress" typically have had the longest papers. While article length in and of itself is not a concern, many of the longest articles that Plant Physiology has published are ones in which authors are not taking advantage of the supplemental data option. Papers appearing in the "Genetic, Genomics, and Molecular Evolution" section have used the online supplemental data option most frequently. Our review of research articles published in 2003 and 2004 also shows that many of the longer papers were not tightly written and, in particular, contained significant repetition between the "Results" and "Discussion" sections. In addition to perhaps lowering the impact of these papers, significant costs are associated with printing and mailing the "extra/unnecessary" pages. Because the editorial board and I believe that concisely written papers improve the impact of what we publish, there will be a limit of 10 journal pages for submissions after January 1, 2006. While longer papers will be permitted at a higher page charge, we believe that the 10-page target will be a positive incentive for tight composition, reduced repetition, and appropriate use of supplemental data files. Beginning on January 1, 2006, page charges will be $75 per page for the first 10 pages ($55 per page when the corresponding author is a member of ASPB). The charge for the 11th page and above will be doubled. As with other publication costs, Plant Physiology authors may request a waiver of this extra page surcharge if special circumstances justify.

Plant Physiology has developed a user-friendly page calculator that will determine the number of printed pages your article will run if it is accepted for publication. Upon submission the author will be asked for the following information:

  • Number of characters in the manuscript (including spaces)
  • Number of one-column figures
  • Number of two-column figures
  • Number of lines in one-column tables
  • Number of lines in two-column tables

The resulting page number projection will be returned to the author as well as automatically inserted into a field with the other article data. Our testing shows that, even with these simple inputs, the calculator is quite accurate in estimating the length of printed articles. Should there be any inaccurate estimates, authors will of course not be held responsible for them. The calculator will also be accessible from the Instructions for Authors Web page (http://www.plantphysiol.org/misc/ifora.shtml) as an author tool that can be used during the preparation of manuscripts.

I would like to close by reminding all of the opportunity to publish your article in Plant Physiology with full and immediate Open Access (http://www.aspb.org/openaccess/). This option allows immediate free access for everyone upon online publication of accepted manuscripts. Open Access articles will be so indicated on eToCs (our electronic content alerts [sign up at http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/alerts/etoc and http://www.plantcell.org/cgi/alerts/etoc]), on the print and online table of contents, and on the opening page of the article itself, both online and in print. In this, the inaugural issue for the Open Access option, several groups of your colleagues have selected the Open Access option and in doing so invested in the increased visibility and impact of their published work.

Donald R. Ort, Editor-in-Chief

FOOTNOTES

www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.104.900180.





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