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 Instructions
for Authors
[Scope]
Plant Root publishes original papers that provide novel insights into plant roots
and rhizosphere in the aspect of biology (e.g. physiology, ecology etc.).
The Journal's subjects are, for example, anatomy and morphology, cellular and molecular biology,
biochemistry and physiology of plant roots, and their interactions with soil resources
(water and nutrients), symbionts and pathogens. Work at any scale, from molecular to community level,
is welcome. This Journal is published by the Japanese Society for Root Research (JSRR).
[Authorship]
Submission of a manuscript to Plant Root is an affirmation that the work has not been previously published,
except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis,
and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Submission also indicates that publication of the study is approved by all co-authors,
and if any, as well as by the responsible authorities where the work has been carried out.
[Copyright]
From 2022, articles in Plant Root are published under terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(CC-BY; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
and copyright of an article is retained by its author(s) except for materials added by JSRR.
As for articles published in or before 2021, copyright of the articles are retained by JSRR
(Please see http://www.plantroot.org/copyright.htm).
[Article Types]
1. Original research
2. Review
3. Mini-review
4. Method paper
5. Short report
1. Original research articles are original full-length papers that have not been previously published elsewhere,
except in a preliminary form.
2. Review articles are normally solicited by the Editors. Submission of review articles is also welcome,
but please contact Editors in Chief (Editor2022@plantroot.org) before submission.
3. Mini-review articles provide an overview of a single theme or topic targeting broad plant root researchers.
Manuscripts for mini-review articles must not exceed 5,000 words excluding references,
and the number of tables and figures are limited up to five (5).
4. Method papers are expected to present novel methods for plant root researches.
Topics suitable for this category are, for example, development of new methods for root imaging,
new tools for root sampling, new system for plant culture (for root studies),
new computer programs for root analyses and so on.
5. Short reports are intended to report important new information, which can be presented concisely.
Manuscripts for Short reports should not be longer than five (5) printed pages
(including main text with roughly 3,000 words, figures and tables).
[Publishing charges]
No publishing fees are charged for all articles submitted in 2007-2022.
Manuscripts accepted for publication are assessed a publication charge
of ¥20,000 (JPY) for members of Japanese Society for Root Research
(JSRR) and ¥25,000 for non-members of JSRR for all articles submitted
in and after Jan 2023.
[Submission of manuscripts]
Please submit your manuscript and cover letter by e-mail
to Editor2023@plantroot.org.
Format of the cover letter is available in our web site
(Please see http://www.plantroot.org/index.htm.),
in which you can indicate names of five potential reviewers with their contact addresses (e-mail).
The title of the e-mail must be [submission of manuscript]. An acknowledgement of receipt
will be delivered to the corresponding author from the Editors in Chief.
The files of a manuscript (main text, tables and figures) must be attached to the submission e-mail.
If possible, please embed a series of tables and figures into the file of the main text
following the References section.
Name(s) of the file must be readily comprehensible: i.e. if the first author is Carrot,
the file name should be [CarrotMS].
[Manuscript preparation]
Since articles in Plant Root are published under terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(CC-BY; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
if materials that have been already published are used in the submitted manuscript,
please make sure to obtain necessary permission from the copyright holder on your own responsibility.
Please prepare manuscripts using the format file (.docx)
that can be downloaded from our website (http://www.plantroot.org/index.htm)
or follow the documentary instructions below.
It is recommended that the manuscript is subdivided into the sections as follows: Abstract, Introduction,
Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, References, and Figure legends.
The section "Results and Discussion" is also acceptable for "Method paper" and "Short report".
The entire manuscript must be 1.5-spaced in A4 (297 mm × 210 mm) or US Letter (279 mm × 216 mm) size. Leave margins
at least 2.5 cm on all sides of each page. Please show page numbers and
line numbers in all pages of the main text.
Use of "Times font" (e.g., Times New Roman) with 12-point size is recommended.
Scientific names and symbols for all variables and constants, except Greek letters, must be italicized.
Do not use Symbol font for a Greek letters (e.g.,"μ"), as it may be replaced by another letter (e.g.,"m")
in the typesetting process. Instead, use Insert-Symbol function of MS-Word.
In principle, units of measure must conform to the International Systemof Units (SI),
except when they conflict with current practice or are confusing.
If measurements were made in other units, make sure to also include the SI equivalents.
Separate units by adding a space between a number and unit.
Use negative exponents for units in a denominator (e.g., g m-2 d-1).
Use the capital case L as the symbol for liter, even when combined with a prefix, e.g., mL, μL.
Accepted manuscripts will be typeset to produce PDF files as a virtual A4-size paper
with two columns in a 240 mm × 170 mm printing area, which contains ca. 800 words per page.
Manuscripts must be written in clear and comprehensible English.
If English is not your first language, or if you have concerns about the level of English in your submission,
please ensure that the manuscript is proofread by a native English speaker or a scientific editing service
for correct usage and clarity before submission.
The front page must contain the Title, Authors' information, Subject area, Abstract, Keywords, Number of figures and tables, and Abbreviations.
Title: The title of the paper should be concise and informative. (A running title is not required.)
Authors' information: List all authors' full names,
academic or professional affiliations, and postal addresses.
In addition, please indicate an e-mail address of the corresponding author.
--- Example ---
Ichiro Karahara1 and Satoru Muranaka2
1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Toyama, 3190 Gofuku,
Toyama 930-8555, Japan
2Cowpea Physiologist/Agronomist, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA),
Kano Station Sabo, Kano, PMB 3112, Nigeria
Corresponding author: S. Muranaka, E-mail: root-lab@plantroot.or.jp, Phone: +234-64-1000001 ext. 007,
Fax: +234-64-1000002
Subject areas: Select one or two subject areas from the list below.
1) Morphology, anatomy and structure
2) Physiology, growth and movement
3) Soil environmental stress
4) Plant nutrition and water uptake
5) Rhizosphere ecology and biology
6) Molecular biology, biotechnology and genetics
7) Tree root science
8) Applied technology for plant production
9) Methodology for root study
Abstract: Maximum length of the Abstract is 250 words except for Short report,
where it is 150 words.
Keywords: List 3-6 keywords in alphabetical order.
If possible, include the common name or scientific name, or both, of the materials.
For better visibility, it is recommended to select words that are not used in Title.
--- Example ---
Keywords: fertilization, microorganism, nematode, rice (Oryza sativa L.), root hair
Abbreviations:It is not recommended to use abbreviations.
But, if necessary, show the abbreviations and their full spellings after the Keywords.
--- Example ---
Abbreviations:R/I ratio, rhizosphere/interrow ratio; SIR, substrate-induced respiration
Pages subsequent to the front page contain the following items in order:
Main text – Acknowledgments – References –
Tables – Figure captions and Figures.
If possible, please embed the series of tables and figures into the file of main text
following the References. If it is impossible, please prepare separate files of the tables and figures
that are named with the number of the tables or figures.
Main Text: Original research article, Method paper and Short report must include
Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and, if necessary, Conclusion. Results and Discussion may be combined into one section in Method paper and Short report. If necessary, Acknowledgments may be included between Discussion (or Conclusion) and References. Funding information should be included in the Acknowledgments.
Do not use tabs or spaces for indentation at the beginning of paragraphs.
If you want to indent, use the function of Indentation of MS Word.
References; In the main text, literature citations must be made by name(s) of author(s)
and year. For references with more than two authors, use the name of the
first author followed by ‘et al.’, as in the following:
Karahara and Oyanagi (2000) reported that ...
The results have been interpreted (Oyanagi et al. 2002, Araki and Abe
2004) as…
References must be cited in full in the reference list,
including the title and the first and last page numbers.
References must be listed in alphabetical order according to the first authors' last names.
For the same first author, arrange the list in order of second author's name alphabetically.
If there are two or more publications by the same authors, they must be arranged chronologically.
If these papers (by same authors) were published in the same year, the letters 'a', 'b', etc.
must be added to the year. Do not use indentations in typing references.
Insert one line of space to separate each reference.
Unpublished data and personal communications must not be cited as literature
citations, but must instead be given in the main text in parentheses. 'In
press' articles that have been accepted for publication may be cited in
References.
In the Reference list, [1] periodicals, [2] books, [3] multi-author books
and [4] web contents must accord with the following examples:
[1] Periodicals
Tamaoki D, Karahara I, Schreiber L, Wakasugi T, Yamada K, Kamisaka S 2005
Effects of hypergravity conditions on elongation growth and lignin formation
in the inflorescence stem of Arabidopsis thaliana. J. Plant Res. 119: 79-84.
Eo J, Nakamoto T 2007 Evaluation of root effects on soil organisms under
different fertilization regimes by comparing rhizosphere and interrow soil in a wheat field.
Plant Root (in press).
Taga M, Goto H 2003 Recovery of tree vigor by root pruning in weeping-type Japanese flowering cherry.
Root Res. 12: 41-49. (in Japanese with English abstract)
[2] Books
Bengochea T, Dodds JH 1986 Plant protoplasts. Chapman & Hall, London,New York, pp. 1-90.
[3] Multi-author books
Bohnert HJ, Crouse EJ, Schmitt JM 1982 Organization and expression of plastid genomes.
In: Parthier B, Boulter D, Eds., Encyclopedia of plant physiology.
New series 14B, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany, pp. 475-530.
[4] Web contents
IRRI 2009 Farm data-Rice ecosystems, 30. Distribution of rice crop area,by environment, 2004-2006.
In: IRRI ed., IRRI World Rice Statistics. International Rice Research Institute,
Los Banos, Phillipines. http://beta.irri.org/statistics
(latest update: January 28, 2009)
Rost TL 1996. Virtual crops. http://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/Rost/Virtual%20crops.htm
(retrieved: June 5, 2010)
--- Editor's tip for EndNote users ---
An EndNote citation style file for Plant Root is downloadable from
http://www.plantroot.org/formatarc.htm
Tables: Each table must be prepared on a separate page and numbered consecutively
with Arabic numerals. First mention of tables in the main text must be in sequential order.
Submission along with the DOC and RTF are preferred for smooth editing.
The width of tables must not be greater than 80 mm for one-column tables or 170 mm for two-column tables.
Use of 0.5 pt lines is recommended.
Put a period after the table number (e.g., Table 1.) and do not include a period at the end of the table title.
Explanatory material must be given under the table.
To avoid numbers with many digits, express such numbers as powers of 10.
The unit may be changed using prefixes such as "m" or "μ".
For example, 0.001 and 1000 g must be expressed respectively as 1 × 10-3 and × 103 g.
Express a concentration of 0.0015 M as 1.5 with "concn. (mM)".
Figure legends: Legends must be typed on a separate sheet.
Put a period after the figure number (e.g., Fig. 1. The relationship ....).
Explanatory information must be placed in the legend and not in the figure itself.
Figures: Each figure must be prepared on a separate page and numbered consecutively
with Arabic numerals. Please type figure numbers consecutively in the figure sheets according to the order
in which they are called out in the text.
Figures must be converted to JPEG, TIFF, PDF or MS Office metafile (picture in Word or Powerpoint) format.
Use of color images is free of charge. The width of figures must not be greater than 80 mm for one-column figures
or 170 mm for two-column figures. Dot-shading and hatching figures should be prepared in print size,
because size reduction in typesetting process may cause an irregular pattern of shading.
Line drawings must be clear with high contrast. In general, we require 200-300 dpi resolution
for review and publishing. Please advise Editors in Chief
(Editor2023@plantroot.org) after the manuscript is accepted
if authors want to use higher resolution. Figures submitted in color will be displayed in color
on the journal web-site (J-Stage), but the degree of calibration and color reproducibility is not ensured.
For the review process, to keep the file(s) of the manuscript smaller than 5 MB,
please consider attaching low-resolution figures that are sufficiently clear for reviewing.
[Revised Manuscript Preparation]
The corresponding author will receive a review report via e-mail with the decision of the
Subject Editor and reviewers' comments. Please revise the manuscript accordingly.
All changes should be highlighted or indicated with colored font in the revised manuscript.
Prepare a cover letter containing the manuscript number and point-by-point responses
to the editor's and reviewers' comments.
Revised manuscripts attached with the cover letter must be returned to the Plant Root editorial board
(Editor2023@plantroot.org) within 60 days.
Please show the previous manuscript number in the e-mail title and the cover letter.
[After Your Manuscript is Accepted]
The Editors in Chief will inform the corresponding author what the authors need to do
when the manuscript is accepted. The Editors in Chief may request that the authors submit the materials
(main text, figures, etc.) in a proper format. Revision may be required from the Editors in Chief
if the manuscript is not fully in accordance with the "Instructions for Authors".
[Proofs]
When the manuscript is received by the Editor, it is considered to be in its final form.
Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'. One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent
by e-mail to the corresponding author, to be checked for typesetting and editing.
No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed
at this stage. Proofreading is solely the author’s responsibility.
A form with queries from the Editors in Chief may be included with the proofs.
Please answer all queries and make any corrections or additions that are required.
The Editors in Chief reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are
not communicated. Please return corrections within a week after receiving the proofs.
[Enquiries]
In case of problems or questions, please contact the Editorial Board:
Plant Root Editors in Chief
E-mail: Editor2023@plantroot.org
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