Author guidelines

 

NEW: Please read the revised Author guidelines for New Phytologist before submitting your paper. These include changes to the way Authors should structure their cover letter and a new policy restricting the length of articles. Submissions to New Phytologist have increased rapidly in recent years and we are continually seeking ways to manage this while maintaining the quality of service to authors (see Jan 2009 Editorial). To maximize the number published we are expanding the journal in size and are asking Authors to write the most concise papers they can. We thank our authors for their cooperation in this matter.

The Revised Author guidelines for 2009 are available below and as a PDF here: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/nphag.pdf

NEW: Online production tracking is now available for your article through Wiley-Blackwell's Author Services.
Author services enables authors to track their article - once it has been accepted - through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production. The author will receive an e-mail with a unique link that enables them to register and have their title automatically added to the system. Please ensure that a complete e-mail address is provided when submitting the manuscript. Visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.


Summary

  • New Phytologist is an international electronic/print journal published 16 times a year, and is owned by a non-profit-making charitable trust dedicated to the promotion of plant science.
  • Our regular submissions address fundamental questions across the spectrum of plant science. Short Letters and other submissions to the Forum section, as well as Research reviews, Rapid reports and both Modelling/Theory and Methods papers, are also encouraged.
  • We are committed to rapid processing - from online submission using Manuscript Central, enabling the quickest possible peer review, through to the use of e-proofs and then publication 'as-ready' via Early View.
  • 25 free offprints as well as a PDF version will be provided for each article. Online-only colour is free and there are no page charges
  • Authors may opt to make their article 'open access' by subscribing to the Wiley-Blackwell Online Open service.
  • If you have any queries do not hesitate to get in touch with Central Office or, if it is more convenient, our US Office.


Contacts

newphytol@lancaster.ac.uk - for all general enquiries

Central Office
Managing Editor
Holly Slater PhD, h.slater@lancaster.ac.uk
New Phytologist Central Office,
Bailrigg House, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YE, UK
tel: +44 1524 594691, fax: +44 1524 594696

US Office
Richard J. Norby PhD, newphytol@ornl.gov
New Phytologist US Office,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Bldg 1062, PO Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6422, USA
tel: +1 865 576 5261, fax: +1 865 576 9939


Aims and scope

New Phytologist offers rapid publication of high quality, original research in plant science. Falling within four sections - Physiology & Development, Environment, Interaction and Evolution - articles cover topics that range from intracellular processes through to global environmental change. Cross-disciplinary approaches are particularly encouraged but for guidance the journal is organized as follows and recognizes that techniques from molecular and cell biology, and functional genomics through to modelling and system-based approaches will be applied across the whole spectrum of plant science:

  • Physiology & Development: intra/inter-cellular signalling, long-distance signalling, physiology, development, eco-devo - phenotypic plasticity, transport, biochemistry.
  • Environment: global change and environmental stress, ecophysiology, plant-soil interactions, heavy metals.
  • Interaction: multitrophic systems, mycorrhizas and pathogens, fungal genomics, nitrogen-fixing symbioses.
  • Evolution: molecular evolution, population genetics, mating systems, phylogenetics, speciation, plant-enemy coevolution.

Review procedure and editorial policy

Is my paper suitable for New Phytologist? New Phytologist is asked to consider an increasingly large number of papers. To maximise the number published we are expanding the journal in size and are asking Authors to write the most concise papers they can (see
new word limit restrictions). It is, however, not possible to keep pace with the number of submissions and consequently competition for space is high with a current acceptance rate lower than 20%.

All New Phytologist submissions should focus on timely research that provides new insights into the broad principles of plant science. The original research should address clear hypotheses or questions and offer new insights on topics of interest to a broad cross-section of our readers. Studies that report incremental advances or are narrow in scope are not appropriate. Authors should include answers to the following questions (max. 50 words per question) in a covering letter, to help the Editors decide whether to send the manuscript for peer review:

  1. What hypotheses or questions does this work address?
  2. How does this work advance our current understanding of plant science?
  3. Why is this work important and timely?

Presubmissions If you are unsure whether your paper falls within the scope of New Phytologist you may submit a presubmission enquiry; send the abstract of your paper together with a letter explaining the importance of your findings to the Managing Editor (h.slater@lancaster.ac.uk).

What happens during review? All manuscripts are allocated to a relevant member of the Editorial board, who decides whether the paper should go forward to peer review. Those that do not will be returned at this stage; we make every effort to do this as quickly as possible (usually within seven days) so that the authors can take their work forward without delay. Papers sent out for review will, typically, be assessed by two or three independent referees. Authors may nominate potential referees. These should not have been coauthors or collaborators within the past 3 years, nor should they have any other conflict of interest. If authors wish to request the exclusion of certain reviewers specific justification must be provided in the covering letter for the Editor's consideration.

Editors make a final decision based on the referees' advice balanced with the editorial policy of the journal to either accept subject to
revision, reject with resubmission encouraged (where it is likely that further work or major revisions will bring the paper to New Phytologist standards) or reject (where the work typically has technical problems and/or fails to meet our standards regarding novelty, insight and significance). Revised manuscripts must be received by the date stated by the Editor in the decision letter; if received after this date, the manuscript will be treated as a new submission. Revised manuscripts may be sent for further review, at the Editors' discretion. All
resubmitted manuscripts will be treated as new submissions and undergo the full review system. New Phytologist is committed to rapid publishing. To this end, we strive to return the Editor's decision and reviewer comments within 28 days of submission and to publish papers within two months of the acceptance date.

Please note our new policy restricting the length of articles. Regular research papers that exceed 6500 words (excluding the title page, summary, references, figures/tables and supporting information) will be returned to authors without review.

New sequence data must be deposited in the EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ Nucleotide Sequence Databases, accession numbers obtained and the data made fully available at the time of publication. Authors including microarray data should comply with MIAME recommendations (for guidance see http://www.mged.org/Workgroups/MIAME/miame_checklist.html).

Manuscripts submitted to New Phytologist are considered on the understanding that they have not been published, and are not under consideration for publication, elsewhere; and that all persons entitled to authorship have been named and have approved the final version of the submitted manuscript. Submitting authors should declare this information in the covering letter.

Article types

New Phytologist publishes several types of articles. Where appropriate, these may include supporting information not published in print but which will be available via the online edition of the journal.

Original research articles comprise the largest section of the journal and include Full papers, Rapid reports and Methods. Full papers report complete studies that provide new and valuable insights in to plant science; they should not exceed 6500 words (see style notes)
and those that do will be returned without review. Rapid reports differ in that the nature of the findings makes priority publication of particular scientific importance, and your covering letter must state clearly why this is considered to be the case. They will be shorter than usual, c. 3000 words, with four figures and/or tables; in any case, they must not occupy more than 6 pages in the printed journal. Attention to both our style requirements and language must be excellent. If we decide that this route is appropriate, we would then give the paper priority in both peer review and subsequent publication. Modelling/Theory and Methods papers should still typically focus, as with any other submission, on timely research that addresses fundamental questions in plant science. However, the novel or improved methodology/analytical approach will form an important component, and description and proper evaluation will be a significant proportion of the paper. Papers which only evaluate a new method/analytical approach or critically examine existing practice, will also be considered, where the conclusion is of wide interest to plant scientists.

New Phytologist also accepts articles that contain comment and review. Do refer to recent issues of the journal for guidance on the types of format that are acceptable. Generally, Letters are our most free-ranging type of article - we positively encourage the exchange of ideas and open debate, and welcome such contributions to the Forum. Up to 1500 words is usual, with 1-2 figures as appropriate, but there are no specific restrictions; forum articles are reviewed. Short Research reviews will be in the range 3500-4000 words, with up to 40 references and six figures. Following a short introduction putting the area into context, and providing a 'way in' for the nonspecialist, these will concentrate on the most recent developments in the field. We also commission some content, such as Commentaries, Meeting reports
and Tansley reviews. Enquiries or suggestions about these or other types of article are always welcome.

Early View

As soon as any New Phytologist paper is complete and final, it is published via Wiley-Blackwell's Early View service. Articles are therefore available as soon as they are ready, rather than having to wait for the next scheduled print issue. A unique DOI number (see www.doi.org/faq.html for information) allows the article to be cited at this point, although as soon as it appears in print, volume and page numbers can be used as usual. Please note that Early View articles are complete and final, therefore no changes can be made after online publication.

Online Open

Online Open is a pay-to-publish service from Blackwell that offers authors whose papers are accepted for publication the opportunity to pay up-front for their maunscript to become open access (i.e. free for all to view and download) online. Each Online Open article will be subject to a one-off fee of US$3000, excluding colour charges, to be met by or on behalf of the Author in advance of publication. Upon online publication, the article (both full-text and PDF versions) will be available to all for viewing and download free of charge. The print version of the article will also be branded as Online Open and will draw attention to the fact that the paper can be downloaded free online.

English-language editing service

Authors for whom English is a second language may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission to improve the English. A list of independent suppliers of editing services can be found at www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor/english_language.asp. All services are paid for and arranged by the author, and use of one of these services does not guarantee acceptance or preference for publication.

Submission procedure

  • Compile the electronic version of your manuscript and complete the submission check list at the end of this document.
  • Go to the New Phytologist Manuscript Central site (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/newphytologist/) to make a submission. Please note that submission must be done from the New Phytologist Manuscript Central account belonging to the Corresponding Author.
  • Enter the Author Centre and click 'submit a new manuscript'. Progress through the screens, inputting your manuscript information, Summary and covering letter. Note you must input an email address for each author named on your manuscript. You are also encouraged to nominate up to six potential referees. There are instructions to guide you all the way through, and you can break off at any point in the process and come back to it later. Everything is saved automatically whenever you click on 'next'.
  • The final stage involves the upload of the manuscript. Manuscripts must now be submitted as individual original files i.e. not as a single document with text and figures embedded. Do make sure that you have only used standard fonts (e.g. Times New Roman for text, Symbol for additional characters) in the main text.

- Text as Microsoft Word, Rich Text Format or Post Script.
- Figures as EPS, TIFF, JPEG or GIF.
- Additional files such as Supporting Information.

  • It is possible to upload other file types such as LaTeX files and QuickTime movies, but Manuscript Central will not convert these. Journal staff and referees will only be able to view these files if they have the relevant software. For more information on file types see the 'Tips for Uploading Files and Images on Manuscript Central' by clicking the 'Get Help Now' link in the top right-hand corner of the screen, followed by the 'Author file upload tips' link.
  • All main document and figure files uploaded will be combined to a single PDF and also into a tagged HTML proof for peer review. The original files that you upload will be saved and can be accessed by the journal office if necessary. Note: if the manuscript text is submitted as a PDF file the HTML tags do not work so PDF should be avoided for the original text file (main document).
  • Complete the submission process by clicking 'Submit', after which you will see an automatic Submission Confirmation, including your manuscript number.

Any problems? Click on 'Get Help Now' when in Manuscript Central if you encounter any technical difficulties or simply contact us at newphytol@lancaster.ac.uk

Style notes for all submissions

  • Texts should be double-spaced with settings for letter (8.5 x 11 inch) or A4 (210 x 297 mm) paper with wide margins. Use Times New Roman font, pt-size 12. Lines and pages should be numbered. Both American and British English are acceptable.
  • Include, on the first page, a concise and informative title (for research papers, ideally stating the key finding or framing a question), authors and addresses. Where authors have different addresses, use numbered superscripts to refer to each address provided. State the author for correspondence and include their telephone, fax and email details. A total word count for the main body of the text (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Acknowledgements), word counts for each section plus the number of figures and tables must also be stated on the front page.
  • The main body of the text for Regular research papers should not exceed 6500 words. Manuscripts over this limit will be returned without review. Please be as concise as possible consistent with an appropriate level of explanation for the science presented, with the Discussion in research papers not exceeding 20% of the number of pages. Authors should also consider the use of supporting information where appropriate.
  • Arrange research papers under the headings Summary, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements and References. In the case of Modelling/Theory papers, include a heading of Description in place of Materials and Methods, to include description of the model or theoretical framework.
  • The Summary for research papers, which must be usable as a stand-alone document, must not exceed 200 words and should be organized using four bullet points to indicate (1) the research conducted, including the rationale, (2) methods, (3) key results and (4) the main conclusion, including key points of discussion. It should not contain citations of other papers. For reviews, keep to the word limit, but bullet points do not apply. A Summary is not required for Forum submissions.
  • Five to eight key words must be given at the end of the Summary (research papers, reviews) or after the References (Forum submissions) to enable efficient searching online. Words that are in the title can, and should, be among these. Very short phrases and scientific names with their common equivalents (e.g. Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco)) are acceptable.
  • Any Materials and Methods section should allow replication of all experiments described and demonstrate the validity of those experiments for the research being conducted.


Tables and figures

Tables

These must be self-explanatory and each presented on a separate page outside the main text, but as part of the same document. Following a concise (single-sentence), informative heading, each table should be fully understandable either through column headings or, if these are insufficient in themselves, through a footnote.

Figures

  • Refer to all diagrams, graphs and photographs as 'Figures'.
  • Present at approximately twice the size that they will appear. Ensure that, after reduction, they will be compatible with the double-column format of the journal (column width of 80 mm; maximum printed size of 226 x 170 mm).
  • Subdivisions of figures should be labelled with lower case, bold letters (e.g. (a), (b)) and referred to in the text in the form Fig. 1a, Fig. 1a,b. Avoid including explanatory material in the figure itself - this should be in the legend.
  • Present diagrams and graphs on a white background, with lines approx. 0.5 mm thick, any shading inserted as lines or dots, and symbols approx. 3 mm across. The preferred symbols, in order, are open circles, closed circles, open and closed squares, and open and closed triangles. The same symbol should be used for the same entity in different figures. The scale marks on graphs should be inside the axes. Axes should be clearly marked with units in brackets after the axis title.
  • With photographs, include any scale bars on the picture. Where a figure is made up of several photographs, these should be abutted unless this affects the clarity.
  • Figure legends should be included with the main text of the paper, after the References. Key information describing each figure should be in the first sentence of the legend, because this is the text that will be immediately visible, with the figure thumbnail, to readers online. The rest of the legend should be a self-contained, full explanation of the figure, with all abbreviations defined.
  • In general, figures should be kept to a minimum consistent with scientific necessity.
  • We need to receive your figures in electronic form. To minimise publication time of your manuscript and help you get the best printed figures it is important that all electronic artwork is supplied in the correct format and resolution. Please save vector graphics (e.g. line artwork) in EPS format at 600 dpi, and bitmap files (e.g. half-tones) in TIFF format at 300dpi.
  • We recommend that you consult the Illustration guidelines at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor/illustration.asp if you need advice on any aspect of preparing your artwork.

Colour

We welcome colour figures but please note the current options available. Free online-only colour - figures can be supplied which will reproduce equally well in greyscale or in colour. We will then reproduce these figures in greyscale in the hardcopy, but in colour online. It is essential in these cases that the figure legends apply equally well to both versions, and do not specifically refer to the colour. There is no cost involved. Alternatively, colour figures can be supplied, and you can opt for paid full colour (see the Colour Work Agreement Form at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/SN_Sub2000_F_CoW.pdf), covering the full cost of reproduction, such that colour is used both in the hardcopy and online. In this case, legends should make reference to colour if necessary, such as for a key. Please consider the nature of your colour requirements from the start, stating your preferences in your covering letter. If your paper is accepted and you have opted for paid full colour, we will need a completed Colour Work Agreement Form. If colour is both essential for the clear presentation of the science in a paper and authors are unable to pay for its use, then we will help to ensure that this does not prevent publication.

References

Citations in the text should take the following format:

Single author (Lerdau, 2007); two-author (Colmer & Flowers, 2008); and three or more authors (Desprez et al., 2007). Where different references would appear identical when cited in this manner, use letters after the date in the citations and reference list (López-Rodas
et al., 2008a,b). Where two authors have the same last name, add their initials (F. J. Zhao et al., 2008). Order lists of references in date order (oldest first), and alphabetically when of the same date: (Rosenstiel et al., 2003; Loreto et al., 2007; Monson et al., 2007).

In press and unpublished citations Cite references 'in press' only if accepted by a named journal. All other references (including submitted papers and abstracts) must be cited in the text as unpublished (C. J. Frost & H. Liang, unpublished) and should not be included in the reference list.

Reference list At end of the text list references alphabetically (up to a maximum of 10 authors per citation) using these standard forms:

Darbah JNT. 2007. Impacts of elevated atmospheric CO2 and/or O3 on carbon gain and reproductive capacity in northern forest ecosystems. PhD thesis, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA.

Eckert CG, Samis KE, Dart S. 2006. Reproductive assurance and the evolution of uniparental reproduction in flowering plants. In: Harder LD, Barrett SCH, eds. The ecology and evolution of flowers. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 183-203.

Giraud E, Mouline L, Vallent D, Barbe V, Cytryn E, Avarre J-C, Jaubert M, Simon D, Cartieaux F, Prin Y et al. 2007. Legumes symbioses: absence of Nod genes in photosynthetic Bradyrhizobia. Science 316: 1307-1312.

Godard KA, White R, Bohlmann J. 2008. Monoterpene-induced molecular responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. Phytochemistry 69: 1838-1849.

Kimball S, Campbell DR, Lessin C. 2008. Differential performance of reciprocal hybrids in multiple environments. Journal of Ecology, in press.

Smith SE, Read DJ. 2008. Mycorrhizal symbiosis. Cambridge, UK: Academic Press.

References that are available online pending their appearance in a scheduled print issue (for New Phytologist papers this means availability in Early View) to be listed as:

Kruse J, Adams MA. 2008. Integrating two physiological approaches helps relate respiration to growth of Pinus radiata. New Phytologist.
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02601.x

If work that is 'in press' from the authors' own lab(s) forms a close companion to the paper submitted, then an electronic version should be included with the submission. We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote (http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp) or Reference Manager (http://www.refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp) for reference management and formatting.

Supporting Information

Supporting Information Data that are integral to the manuscript but impractical to include in the printed journal (e.g., large-scale data sets and videos) may be presented as Supporting Information, viewable via the online edition. Data and information that are peripheral to the conclusions may, subject to Editor approval, be provided as supporting information if these data would be valuable to specialist readers and are not necessary for other readers to understand the experimental support for important claims and conclusions. All data that are directly relevant to, and necessary for support of the central claims and conclusions of the article must be presented in the manuscript itself. Authors should note that supporting information provides an opportunity to present data and information that would not normally be published in the print journal, rather than to reduce article length. It should be clearly stated at the time of submission that the material is intended to be made available in electronic form free of charge through www.newphytologist.com. Alternatively, if the size or format of the material is very large, the author will be asked to make it available on a permanent website, to which links will be set up. All supporting information available online is subject to the same copyright restrictions as published manuscripts and cannot be presented elsewhere without proper citation.

Presentation of Supporting Information The following categories of supporting information are acceptable: Figures, Tables, Methods,
Videos/movies and Notes. Supporting information should be specifically referred to in the main text (Supporting Information Fig. S1, Table S1, Video S1 etc.), numbered sequentially within each category, and a brief, single sentence legend for each listed in the 'Supporting Information' section at the end of the References. Full legends should be included in a Word file with the supplementary files, and all text should be consistent with New Phytologist style. Citations are not encouraged in the Supporting Information as these are not linked or cross-referenced with literature databases. The material must be submitted in final form, ready for viewing. This supporting information is considered an integral part of the article and will be reviewed accordingly; it cannot be altered after acceptance.

Submission of Supporting Information Authors should provide a single file for each type of supporting information (e.g., a single file of all the supplementary figures) or separate files for each item as appropriate (e.g. large data sets can be presented as separate .xls files), and a Word (.doc) listing the full legends. Files should be as small as possible, and in appropriate formats, so that users can download quickly. Any queries relating to Supporting information please contact newphytol@lancaster.ac.uk.

Abbreviations

All non-standard abbreviations must first appear in parentheses following their meaning written in full at first mention in the Summary, main text and each table and figure legend. Where there are more than five such abbreviations, they should be grouped into an abbreviations list for use as a footnote at the beginning of the paper. Avoid abbreviations if possible in the title, headings and Summary.

Standard abbreviations do not need to be defined and include such terms as the metabolites ATP, NADP and OAA; buffers such as Hepes and Mes; growth regulators such as ABA and IAA; and statistical terms such as SD and ANOVA. There follows a short list of preferred standard abbreviations for cases where confusion is possible.

Preferred abbreviations: A, Absorbance; C3plant, plant with C3metabolism (also C4plant); Chl; Chlorophyll (also Chla, Chlb); DW, FW, dry weight, fresh weight; Fig. (Figs), Figure; g, acceleration due to gravity (not rpm); GA, GA1, GA3, gibberellin, gibberellin A1, gibberellic acid; Loge, natural logarithm (not Ln); n, number of replicates; ns, not significant; P, probability; Pr/Pfr, far-red/red light-absorbing form of phytochrome; Pi, inorganic orthophosphate; sp. (spp.), ssp., species, subspecies; var., variety.

Spell out numbers up to and including nine except when used with units (e.g. two trees, seven species, but 3 mg, 5 mm3).

Scientific names

If the species is in very common usage then the common name will suffice, although the scientific name should still be given at first mention (e.g. soybean (Glycine max)) in the Summary and main text. Otherwise, give the genus and species names at first mention in the Summary, main text and each table and figure. For subsequent uses, abbreviate genera to their initial letters, except where this could result in confusion between species. In all cases, give the genus, species and authority of species under study in the Materials and Methods section. Cultivars should be preceded by cv. Use a standard regional flora; for non-vascular plants and other organisms, cite standard or local works of reference. When referring to articles containing old nomenclature, the currently accepted forms should still be used; the old name should be given at first mention (e.g. Pulsatilla vulgaris (formerly Anemone pulsatilla)).

Statistics

When appropriate, a statistical treatment of data, stating what methods have been used, must be given. As a minimum, give some measure of variability, such as standard error or confidence interval, together with the mean. In presenting error bars on figures, make clear whether the bars represent one or two standard errors, or confidence limits. If necessary, present results of tests of significance, such as analysis of variance, in addition to tests of variability. After an analysis of variance, comparisons of treatment means that are restricted to specific comparisons planned before the collection of data are preferable to simultaneous tests of all treatment means. Present the number of degrees of freedom for error with all statistical analyses. The following are standard statistical parameters that require no definition: F, t, r, r2.

Units and symbols

The journal uses SI units wherever possible, but accepts that other units may on occasion have to be used. Products of two units must be written with a space between the units (e.g. 10 g m-2). Units derived by division must be written using the appropriate index (e.g. m s-1 (not m/s)). Note the placing of the name of a substance in, for example, 10 g mg-1 protein. Use the appropriate prefix for units and thus avoid using multipliers on axes of graphs or in headings of tables. When these have to be used, because no SI prefix is appropriate, apply the multiplier to the physical quantity, not to the unit. Thus, 135 000 cells should be written as cells x10-5 = 1.35. The multiplier is that by which the original number has to be multiplied to yield the number given in the table or figure.

For volume units based either on the litre (e.g. l, ml, µl) or on the cubic metre (e.g. m3, mm3, cm3, dm3) will be accepted, provided that consistent use is made of one system only. For concentration the same applies, as well as units such as µM, mM and M.

Use units based on energy for heat or energy balance, and units based on photons for photochemical processes such as photosynthesis or photomorphogenesis. The waveband over which measurements are made should be specified (e.g. energy fluence rate (irradiance) of 650 W m-2 over the waveband 300-1000 nm; photosynthetic photon fluence rate (PPFR) of 720 µmol m-2 s-1 over the waveband 400-700 nm).

For radioactivity use the becquerel (Bq, disintegrations s-1) in preference to counts per minute (cpm) or disintegrations per minute (dpm). For simple molecules, indicate labelling by writing the isotope in the chemical formula (e.g. 14CO2, 15NH4+). For other molecules, place the isotope in square brackets directly in front of the name without a hyphen or space (e.g. [3H]alanine). Indicate the positions of isotopic labelling by numbers or prefixes placed within the bracket and followed by a hyphen (e.g. [6-14C]glucose). The symbol U indicates uniform labelling (e.g. [U-14C]glucose).

Legal requirements

  • Submissions must not have been published in, or accepted for publication by, any other journal.
  • The policy of the New Phytologist Trust is to acquire an exclusive licence for all contributions (an Exclusive Licence Form (ELF) will need to be signed after any article is accepted for publication). However, the Trust will not put any limitation on the personal freedom of the author(s) to use material contained in the article in other works. We recognize the need for activities such as posting preprints or the actual published text on personal or departmental web pages, copying in full or after adaptation for teaching purposes, and reproduction in full or after adaptation in any volume of which they are editor or author. Permission will automatically be given for these subject to normal acknowledgement.
  • Authors wishing to send their paper OnlineOpen will be required to complete the payment form available from our website at: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/nph_oof.pdf
  • Where copyright is held by the contributor's employer, the Trust requires non-exclusive permission to deal with requests from third parties.
  • If your contribution includes material not in your copyright and not covered by fair use/fair dealing, permission must be obtained from the relevant copyright owner (usually the publisher or via the publisher) for the non-exclusive right to reproduce the material worldwide in all forms and media, including electronic publication.

Author submission checklist for New Phytologist

This checklist is designed to help ensure that you have gathered all the necessary information required for submission and that your manuscript is in the correct format. Please click here to download a PDF file of the author submission checklist. Please ensure that you read the detailed author guidelines before you begin preparation of your manuscript.

Information required

  • Have you prepared your covering letter, and included answers to the three key questions set out in the Author guidelines?
  • Have you read the exclusive licence agreement and are you able to sign it on behalf of all authors? Note that manuscripts submitted to New Phytologist are considered on the understanding that they have not been published, nor under consideration for publication, elsewhere.
  • Have all persons entitled to authorship been named and each approved the final version of the submitted manuscript?
  • Have you identified up to six potential reviewers and can you provide their email addresses?
  • Does this paper form a close companion to other work in press? If so please supply an electronic version of this paper.
  • Does your manuscript have colour figures and have you considered the different options?
  • Is this paper a resubmission? If so do you have the previous manuscript number and have you prepared the point-by-point response document as requested by the editor?

Manuscript preparation

  • Is your manuscript prepared according to New Phytologist style as set out in the Author guidelines?
  • Is the text double-spaced and the lines and pages numbered?
  • For regular research papers is the main body of the text below 6500 words? Those exceeding the limit will be returned without review.
  • On the front page have you included the title, authors and addresses, correspondence details, word counts and the number of tables and figures?
  • For research papers is your summary no more than 200 words and is it organized using four bullet points to indicate (1) the research conducted, including the rationale, (2) methods, (3) key results and (4) the main conclusion, including key points of discussion?
  • Are the references and in text citations formatted according to the journal style?
  • Are the tables self-explanatory and each presented on a separate page outside the text, but as part of the same document?
  • Have you prepared the original figures in electronic form and at high enough resolution? Wiley-Blackwell recommends 600 dpi Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) for line art, and 300 dpi TIFF for continuous tone, but figures can also be set from other formats.
  • Is Supporting information included with your paper? Is a brief listing included at the end of the main document, after the References, and are full legends included with the supplementary files and formatted according to journal style?
  • Have you completed the submission process? Submission is complete when you are provided with a Successful Submission Confirmation that includes your manuscript number.

 

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