Stanton B. Gelvin, Editor-in-Chief, MPMI The Senior Editorial board of Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (MPMI) met this past July at APS Press headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. This was the first time that the board had held such a "board meeting," and these discussions promise to result in a number of improvements to the journal.
The current Senior Editorial board consists of Drs. Stanton Gelvin (Editor-in-Chief), David Baulcombe (virus-plant interactions), Jan Leach (bacterial pathogenesis), John Ryals (plant response), Gary Stacey (bacterial-plant symbioses), and Jonathan Walton (fungus-plantinteractions). John Ryals' position is newly-established and reflects the increased emphasis MPMI will be placing upon manuscripts dealing with the plant's response to microbes. In addition, the Senior Editors discussed changes in the Associate Editorial board. Most of the current Associate Editors were appointed in 1988 when MPMI was first published, and only approximately 1/3 of the board has changed since that time. The expertise of the new Associate Editorial board will better reflect the range of manuscripts currently published, and will include editors representing the areas of nematode-plant interactions and biocontrol. The new board, whose members will serve a three-year term with approximately 1/3 of the board changing each year, will assume its duties in January, 1996.
Readers of MPMI and scientists submitting manuscripts to the journal will soon see a number of improvements. Most noticeable will be an increase from six to nine issues published per year. This jump in the frequency of issues has been made possible by a steady increase in the number of high-quality manuscripts submitted to the journal. Our ultimate goal is to publish 12 issues per year.
The increase in the number of annual issues will permit more rapid publication of manuscripts. In addition, the Senior Editorial board and the publications staff have made a number of changes in the manuscript routing procedures. Taken together, these changes will reduce the average time of publication (from submission to final publication) by two to three months. As an additional incentive to encourage manuscript submissions, we have just lowered the price of publishing color plates in MPMI.
The new charges will be $500 for each of the first two plates, and $250 for each additional figure. These prices are equal to or lower than those of other leading journals publishing articles in the areas of plant-microbe interactions and plant molecular biology.
Readers will also soon see an increased number of "review-type" articles published in MPMI. These reviews will be of several types, including standard 4-6 page reviews of a particular field, short "current opinion" types of articles that cover important advances within a field during the past 12 months, "point/counter-point" discussions in the form of letters from scientists having differing views on currently-important topics, and summaries of important meetings. In addition, MPMI may soon publish issues devoted to a particular "theme." Authors should consult the appropriate Senior Editor before submitting these types of articles.
In only a few short years, MPMI has become a leading journal in the molecular plant sciences. To continue and build on this tradition, we need your help. We encourage you to submit your best manuscripts to MPMI. In addition, we encourage you to take out a personal subscription to the journal. Finally, to assure that articles published in MPMI receive maximum exposure within the scientific community, we request that you encourage your institutional library to subscribe to MPMI.
We encourage your suggestions regarding how MPMI can better serve your needs and the needs of the scientific community. Please address your comments to the appropriate Senior Editor or to the Editor-in-Chief.