First Issue of 2013:What’s New for JIPB

It is no exaggeration to say that 2012 was an eventful year.China has a new president,Xi Jinping,and the US re-elected Barack Obama.Gmail was ranked as the world’s number one email service,and astronomers measured light from the universe’s first stars.JIPB has also undergone great transformative changes as we move forward into the new year.

Looking back to 2012,which marked JIPB’s 60thanniversary,there were several exiting developments for the journal.JIPB published its 60thanniversary issue,which included a special editorial from Prof.Chun-Ming Liu,as well as a retrospective article on the development of the journal(Liu 2012;Cui et al.2012).In August,JIPB was named an“Excellent International Science and Technology Journal”by the China Association for Science and Technology(CAST).This very competitive and prestigious award came with a grant of 3 million RMB for the coming three years,which will undoubtedly help the journal improve its quality and promote its international impact.In October,we sponsored the 2012 National Congress of Plant Biology in Yangling,which was attended by more than 800 participants from across the country.During the congress,a Scientific Writing Workshop was organized by JIPB,in which Prof.William Lucas(JIPB Associate Editor)from the University of California,Davis,gave 3 excellent talks on the scientific reviewing process,ethics in publishing,and how to write a paper for high-ranking journals.JIPB also achieved an impact factor of 2.534 for 2011,which represents a 58%increase as compared to 2010,and our expected impact factor for 2012 is over 3.0.JIPB now ranks as the 8thmost influential scientific journal among over 5,000 periodicals hosted in China.

In 2012,JIPB published five special issues:

· “Methods in Crop Molecular Breeding”,(issues 4 and 5),coedited by Profs.Martin Parry,Jiankang Wang and Jose Luis Araus(Parry et al.2012);

· “Leaf Senescence”,edited by Profs.Hong Gil Nam and Hai-Chun Jing(Jing and Nam 2012);

· “JIPB’s 60th Anniversary”,edited by Prof.Chun-Ming Liu(Liu 2012);

· “Organelle Biology”,co-edited by Profs.Jianping Hu and Chris Hawes(Hu and Hawes 2012).

JIPB relies on the hard work and dedication of its international editor team.This year,several long-serving board members have finished their terms,and I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to them:Prof.Anne-Mie Emons from Wageningen University,Prof.Dean DellaPenna from Michigan State University,Prof.Ming Yuan from China Agricultural University,Prof.Hitoshi Sakaibara from the RIKEN Plant Science Center,Prof.Shuang-Quan Huang from Wuhan University,and Prof.Jin-Xing Lin from the Institute of Botany,Chinese Academy of Sciences,all of whom have provided invaluable support to the journal.

I would also like to extend my warmest welcome to our new Associate Editor Dr.Mark Stitt from the Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology,Germany,who will be in charge of the theme of Metabolic Biology&Biochemistry.I am also very,very grateful to welcome six new Co-Editors to the JIPB board:Dr.Bart Thomma from Wageningen University,Netherlands,Dr.Anja Geitmann from the Université de Montréal,Canada,Dr.Haiyun Ren from Beijing Normal University,China,Dr.Hailing Jin from the University of California,Riverside,USA,Dr.Jiping Liu from Cornell University,USA,and Dr.Mark Johnson from Brown University,USA(see more information below).As part of our continuous push for internationalization,JIPB’s editorial board now consists of 78 members from 15 countries.Among them,65%are from countries outside of China.I am confident that,with the support of these prominent scientists,JIPB will become a scientific communication hub for international plant biologists.

As our latest development,the JIPB board has decided to introduce a new type of article,minireviews.These short review articles,published not by invitation,will be 3–4 print pages in length,and should provide critical analyses or comments on defined areas of interest for the general audience in plant biology.Minireviews may contain up to three figures and no more than 40 references.We hope that these articles will provide illustrative and broad-scale summaries of research,and will expand JIPB’s audience to people outside of the plant science community.All interested authors are encouraged to submit their minireviews by visiting http://submit-jipb.net.It is worth mentioning that,as of February 2012,JIPB has waived page charges for all submissions including expert reviews,research articles,minireviews and new technologies.

As we move forward,I foresee great achievements for JIPB and for the international plant science community as a whole.2012 was a very productive year for the journal,during which we increased our international visibility.With our teamwork,I am sure that 2013 will be another productive year for JIPB.

Chun-Ming Liu,Professor

Editor-in-Chief

Institute of Botany,the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Beijing,China

New Associate Editor

Dr.Mark Stitt

Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology,Germany

Area of expertise:Metabolic biology and plant physiology

New Co-Editors

Dr.Bart Thomma

Wageningen University,The Netherlands

Area of expertise:Plant-pathogen interactions,fungal virulence,effectors and immune receptors

Dr.Jiping Liu

Cornell University,USA

Area of expertise:Abiotic stresses,ion transport,acid soils,aluminum toxicity and tolerance,root exudates,and abiotic stress signaling

Dr.Haiyun Ren

Beijing Normal University,China

Area of expertise:Dynamics and functions of actin cytoskeleton in plant cells

Dr.Hailing Jin

University of California,Riverside,USA

Area of expertise:Gene regulation and epigenetic control in plant immunity

Dr.Mark Johnson

Brown University,USA

Area of expertise:Invasive cell growth,cellular migration and determination of cellular polarity

Dr.Anja Geitmann

Université de Montréal,Canada

Area of expertise:Plant cell biology and cytomechanics

Cui J,He P,Liu F,Tan J,Chen L,Fenn J(2012)60 years of development of the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology.J.Integr.Plant Biol.54,682–702.

Hu J,Hawes C(2012)Recent advances in plant organelle dynamics.J.Integr.Plant Biol.54,838–839.

Jing CH,Nam HG(2012)Leaf senescence in plants:From model plants to crops,still so many unknowns.J.Integr.Plant Biol.54,514–605.

Liu CM(2012)From Acta Botanica Sinica to JIPB:Connecting Chinese plant science with the international community for 60 years.J.Integr.Plant Biol.54,671–681.

Parry MAJ,Wang J,Araus JL(2012)New technologies,tools and approaches for improving crop breeding.J.Integr.Plant Biol.54,210–214.