Editorial (2001)

This Editorial marks the 10th anniversary of publication of The Plant Journal. As Editor-in-Chief, I would like to thank everyone who, over these 10 years, has made The Plant Journal as successful as it is today: all of you in the research community, who have worked with us as Editors, members of the Advisory Board, reviewers and authors. Your vision, sense of commitment to increasing knowledge, and enthusiasm for world-class research have been instrumental in enabling us to publish the exciting and relevant science you want to bring to the awareness of our global community Publishing a journal is an integrated activity – all aspects must be equally nurtured and equally successful to achieve the best possible process from submission to publication. The Plant Journal has benefitted enormously throughout these first 10 years from the tireless involvement and good will of Irene Hames, who has led the Editorial Office from the start, and now works closely with Lynne Fiddy and Sarah Threapleton to ensure that daily events are managed with maximum care, attention to detail, and good humour. My thanks also go to the owners of The Plant Journal, Blackwell Science and the Society for Experimental Biology: without their initial foresight, commitment and continuing investment, we would not have been able to start the journal, nor progress our ideas for the journal's development – the latest being the full electronic submission scheduled for this year. This Editorial also marks the last Editorial I shall be writing as Editor-in-Chief of The Plant Journal. Eleven years ago, I had the idea of a new journal that would bring together the different disciplines: an environment and forum in which researchers specialising in molecular biology would meet those specialising in plant biology. At the time, many of the ‘in-comers’ into plant molecular biology had trained in virology, microbiology or genetics. They had recognised plants provided useful models to explore understanding of such fundamental processes as development, responses to the environment, plasticity of metabolism, but many of those molecular biologists did not have classical training in plant science. Other researchers, who had a great love and knowledge of botany and plant physiology, had not experienced genetics, nor had they had an opportunity to update their skills in DNA-based technologies. Surprisingly as it must seem to scientists of 2001, there was a considerable chasm between these communities and a growing elitism amongst the molecular-based journals that had little time or space for other kinds of knowledge. I wanted a journal that explored ‘science-in-the-round’, that published papers of any discipline required to understand what plants are and how plants function. It was a journal born of idealism and born of a burning sense of respect for anyone who wanted to understand the natural world and the place of plants within that world. I hope The Plant Journal has at least gone some way towards achieving that ideal. After many years of believing I was an Aristotelian by philosophical nature – firmly established in existence and the study of reality – I realise increasingly I must be a raging Platonist – glimpsing a world of glorious ideas and hoping everyone else sees them and shares them equally. Irrespective of our different philosophies of life, The Plant Journal has, I believe, achieved a real and important presence, and a place of respect in the plant research community. The journal is also recognised for its sense of fairness, helpfulness and openness to new ideas and new ways of trying to understand the plant world around us. I hope we have all, over these 10 years, brought you exciting science – and science that you have found important to your own paths of research and study. I am not a geneticist; in fact, I have never formally studied genetics, nor, I have to admit, did I in the first few stages of my career, think it was particularly relevant! The beauty of cells – of molecules and how they recognise and interact with one another – seemed more than enough to take on. But these 10 years of The Plant Journal have seen a major sea-change in how we, as plant researchers, ‘do’ science. Ten years on from the start, and there are no longer two communities and a chasm. Understanding has progressed, and an awareness of gene function has provided a fundamentally important gateway through which to approach plant science. Even a ‘die-hard’ such as myself, who was a convinced biochemist, realises that, with a ‘little help from my friend(s)’, mutants can clear up a lot of arguments! Correlations may make for good discussions in the bars at conferences and in lab meetings, but the use of genetics can cut through these debates in quite an awesome and silencing manner. Arabidopsis, which I used to regard as merely a weed, has provided the means of really integrating our understanding of gene function with our love of plant science. Completion of its genome sequencing programme highlights the question of how to deal with genes of unknown function – and makes us realise ever more that, for the most part, we remain some considerable way from understanding the events linking cause and effect. Plants are amazing organisms – millions of years of evolution, plasticity in every aspect of their existence, and increasingly we have the tools and the technologies to progress our understanding and start to satiate our curiosity. I hope you – as the research community – will continue to support our efforts to ensure The Plant Journal reflects the excitement of new knowledge and new ways of achieving that knowledge. Looking forward to the future – I wonder what the Editor-in-Chief will be writing in another 10 years? By then, perhaps we shall be looking at molecular interactions as they take place in real time within cells and organisms, and science even more will be ′coming together', driven forward by ever more exact technologies. I have always been committed to true internationalism for The Plant Journal, with the aim of serving research communities in locations world-wide. In this context, I am glad to report that from now on the geographical location of each new Editor-in-Chief will rotate to reflect this internationalism. I am delighted that the incoming Editor-in-Chief will be Harry Klee, in the United States, who will be taking up the post from January 2002.I wish Harry and the team of Editors all the best for the future years. The end of 2000 and this year see a number of Editors also, like myself, rotating from the Board, namely Jean Dénarié, Cathie Martin and Jérôme Giraudat. The journal has benefitted greatly from their commitment and hard work, and all of us thank them for their years of support. New Editors joining the Board include Csaba Koncz, Jeff Harper, Chris Bowler, Ottoline Leyser, Peter McCourt, José Martinez-Zapater and Ian Baldwin – they greatly extend the expertise of the Editorial Board, and I'm sure, together with the Editors in place, will take The Plant Journal into new and important issues and areas of research over the coming years. As scientists, I believe all of us have a tremendously important educational role to play in society. It is clear that the benefits of science – the benefits of knowledge of the natural world – are not obvious to many people, even though we work as researchers within a milieu that takes them for granted. Personally speaking, I want everyone to realise there is a world that is unseen – the cells within the leaf or the flower, the molecules that make up those cells and participate in the dance that is life. Whether we have been in the trade for 30 or more years, or are just starting out on the road studying for our PhDs, the awareness we have of this unseen world is an important gift that I believe should be shared with others in society – whether children at school, ministers in government, or leaders of industry. I hope personally to become increasingly involved in these issues – and perhaps, as the research community which helps to ensure the continuing success of The Plant Journal, all of you equally will also undertake this important and relevant work. Our forthcoming GM issue is one step along the way of providing facts for everyone to consider, but education and awareness of science must of needs go well beyond only this immediately urgent issue. I look forward with you all to the future of The Plant Journal– and to its continued success. and thank you for your support in these first 10 years.