Plant Species Biology: New steps for the future

Abstract

Time flies! Plant Species Biology (PSB) has been published since 1986 as an international vehicle in which plant biologists can communicate knowledge and ideas regarding plant species, their biological aspects including life histories, population dynamics, evolutionary mechanisms, phylogenies, and coevolutionary networks among plants and various organisms. Plant Species Biology has covered such diverse subjects as evolutionary studies on sexual systems in plants (1990), maintenance mechanism and diversity of plant species populations (1993), differentiation patterns of plant populations and adaptive mechanisms (1996), and new perspectives in pollination biology: floral fragrances (1999). All this knowledge is essential for ‘Modern Conservation Biology’, which has a key role in today's preservation of endangered biodiversity. For the first 15 years (until 2000; volume 15), Professor Shoichi Kawano, the first Editor-in-Chief of Plant Species Biology, devoted himself to editing this journal as an international journal. In 1993, Professor William F. Grant was elected as the Honorary Editor-in-Chief in praise of his support for Plant Species Biology. In 2001, Professor Toshihiko Hara started his service as Editor-in-Chief and, simultaneously, Professor Kawano was naturally elected as the Honorary Editor-in-Chief. From 2001 to 2006, Toshihiko and his editorial team, including Ms Takako Saeki (editorial assistant), have guided PSB through some important innovations. Above all, we are very proud of the acceptance to ISI Web of Knowledge (Thomson Scientific). I say thank you to Toshihiko. I would like to introduce my editorial team of Plant Species Biology from 2007. The editorial committee members are Dr Gaku Kudo, Dr Keiko Kitamura, Dr Makoto Kato, Dr Tsuyoshi Kobayashi and Dr Nobumitsu Kawakubo. In addition to the six editorial committee members, there are also staff members at Wiley-Blackwell, including Ms Saho Tateno (Publishing Manager), Ms Sylvia Ong (Production Editor) and Ms Miyuki Hattori (Manuscript Central Coordinator). Ms Risa Kawata supports us as an editorial assistant at the editorial office at Hokkaido University. We do our best to maintain and enhance the quality, novelty and importance of the papers published in Plant Species Biology, to maximize the usage, impact and value of our distinguished journal. Online manuscript submissions have been available since August 2007. Authors can submit manuscripts to Plant Species Biology online through Manuscript Central. Safe, secure and easy to use, this new system will help to reduce the time it takes to make an initial decision on your paper. Our editorial team, along with the authors and reviewers ensure the publication of a timely, attractive and informative journal. The Society for the Study of Species Biology decided in 2007 to give Best Paper Awards to excellent papers published in Plant Species Biology that have been judged to be the best in scientific importance. In 2007, two regular papers contributed by Teruyoshi Nagamitsu, Takayuki Kawahara and Ayako Kanazashi (2006, volume 21: pp. 19–29) entitled ‘Endemic dwarf birch Betula apoiensis (Betulaceae) is a hybrid that originated from Betula ermanii and Betula ovalifolia’, and by Lena K. Ward (2007, volume 22: pp. 11–21) entitled ‘Lifetime sexual dimorphism in Juniperus communis var. communis’ were selected for the Plant Species Biology Best Paper Award 2007 by the Editorial Committee of Plant Species Biology. I encourage all of you to submit your very best paper to Plant Species Biology.