Phytoneuron*

<www.Phytoneuron.net>

 

Editorial and publication information

 

Phytoneuron enables quick and no-cost publication of reports primarily on taxonomy, floristics, and geographic distribution of vascular plants.  At present, the scope of the journal is mostly limited to studies of plants of North America (including Mexico), Central America, and the West Indies.  Geographic exceptions will be made when exigency is required for publication of nomenclature.  Also welcome are related articles, such as reviews and commentaries on botanical issues.  

 

The editor of Phytoneuron is Guy Nesom.  Submissions will be reviewed for content and style by the editor, based on his own knowledge and expertise.  If deemed appropriate or necessary by the editor, review by other botanical peers will be sought.  An indication of the Phytoneuron review process (if beyond the Editor) will appear in the Acknowledgements.  Authors are encouraged to seek reviewers before submitting a manuscript and include appropriate acknowledgement. 

 

           In view of how quickly papers are published, authors must use extra care in checking for errors, omissions, completeness of information, etc.  The editor strongly recommends that once a manuscript appears to be in final form, authors set it aside for several weeks, then reread before submitting it.  Before a manuscript is posted, authors always will have the opportunity to review modifications and formatting by the editor, but the posted form is final.  Manuscripts will appear online upon review, editing, and acceptance and will remain there permanently, organized by year and order of appearance. 

 

          A maximum of 4 manuscripts per author (or per combination of authors) per year will be accepted. 

 

In addition to access through the Phytoneuron website, articles are available through Botanicus (www.botanicus.org/) and mirrored through the Biodiversity Heritage Library.  Updates will be at least twice a year.  All issues hosted by BHL also are duplicated on the Internet Archive (http://archive.org/index.php).  Very many thanks to Doug Holland at the Missouri Botanical Garden Library for arranging these significant archival elements. 

 

Manuscripts are posted in PDF format.  Publication in Phytoneuron complies with the PDF/A archival standard (ISO 19005-1:2005), –– enabling long-term archiving of electronic documents, ensuring that they can be reproduced exactly the same way in the future.  PDF/A documents are 100% self-contained, with all of the information necessary for displaying the document embedded in the file.  Information from external sources such as font programs and hyperlinks is not permitted.  See full information in Wikipedia ("PDF/A") and Digital Preservation ("Sustainability of Digital Formats"; http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/).  Copyrights of Phytoneuron articles belong to the author. 

 

           Because of the efficiency of major search engines, especially Google, it often is possible to search for and find a Phytoneuron article within a single day after posting. 

 

Libraries are encouraged to make permanent copies from the PDF files, enabling the existence of a full “shelf copy” for a tiny fraction of a typical subscription price.  For libraries interested in archiving the files as paper copies or digitally, contact the editor for ease of transfer. 

 

Format requirements

Submissions should be in MS Word (or comparable) and format should generally follow the papers posted.  Manuscripts should be single spaced throughout and in 11 point font; margins top and bottom 1 inch, left 1 inch, right 1.25 inches.  Double space between paragraphs.  Two character spaces between sentences.  No character space between author's initials.  Please check other format features in published manuscripts, particularly for formal typification paragraphs and for "collections cited."  Illustrations may be imbedded in the submitted manuscript but also should be sent as separate jpeg files.  Do not use section breaks.  When submitting a manuscript, please indicate that you have read through and followed the Checklist for submitted manuscripts by including the following phrase: 'I have read and followed the 'Checklist for submitted manuscripts.'   

 

            

                                                                  Citation examples

Nesom, G.L. [2 spaces] 2010. [2 spaces] Pyracantha (Rosaceae) naturalized in Texas and the southeastern United States. [2 spaces] Phytoneuron 2010-2: 1–6. 

Singhurst, J.R. and W.C. Holmes.  2010.  Carissa macrocarpa (Apocynaceae ): New to the Texas flora.  Phytoneuron 2010-19: 1–3. 

Panda, S. and J.L. Reveal.  2012.  A step-two lectotypification and epitypification of Pentapterygium sikkimense W.W. Sm. (Ericaceae) with an amplified description.  Phytoneuron 2012-8: 1–7. 

 

Please use the guide found in Format examples and commonly used references for Phytoneuron for format of many references potentially used in Literature Cited.  If your manuscript includes a reference among the 'format examples,' please use that format. 

 

As of 1 January 2012, valid publication of new taxa no longer requires that a Latin diagnosis or description be included in the protologue.  For more details see Knapp et al. (2011; Phytoneuron 2011-64).  Also as of 1 Jan 2012, publication is effective through posting in electronic-only journals that have an ISSN number.  Phytoneuron is such a journal.  New typifications also are validated through electronic posting.  Dates of electronic publication in Phytoneuron are clearly indicated for each article.

 

          A description or diagnosis, which may be in English or in Latin, still is required for validation of new taxa.  A diagnosis is preferable to a description, and for Phytoneuron the preferred format for a diagnosis is this: "Similar to [taxon] in [these features] but different from it in [these features].

 

 

 

Guy Nesom

2925 Hartwood Drive

Fort Worth, TX 76109

guynesom@sbcglobal.net

<www.guynesom.com>                                                                                                     Last update:  February 2018

 

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* The name Phytoneuron alludes to the digital/electronic Internet as the primary path of this botanical publication.  Plants, of course, don’t have neurons, but research in plant neurobiology points to the involvement of vascular tissue “in conveying electrical impulses generated in zones of special sensitivity to receptive locations throughout the plant in response to mild stress” (Barlow 2008; Baluška & Mancuso 2009). 

 

Baluška1, F. and S. Mancuso.  2009.  Plant neurobiology: From stimulus perception to adaptive behavior of plants, via integrated chemical and electrical signaling.  Plant Signaling & Behavior 4: 475–476.  [PDF]

Barlow, P.W.  2008.  Reflections on ‘plant neurobiology.’  Biosystems 92: 132–147.