Scope
The Crop Journal is an international journal that publishes on the broadest aspects of crop sciences. The journal welcomes original submissions that offer new and fundamental insights into the origins, development, and functions of crops from molecular to the whole organismal levels as well as crop-environment interactions under biotic and abiotic conditions. The Crop Journal encourages submissions that span a range of emerging technologies, from basic ones like structural, molecular, and cellular biology, biochemistry, genetics, and molecular physiology to more recent advancement like genome editing, high-resolution single cell transcriptome analysis, genome selection, molecular breeding, and smart agriculture theory and applications. The Crop Journal also welcomes advanced works in crop sciences such as synthetic biology, modeling, bioinformatics softwares, and large-scale “omics” analyses and databases, with minimal experimental support on major conclusions.
Manuscripts submitted to The Crop Journal must not be under simultaneous consideration or have been published elsewhere, either in part or in whole. Prior publication on preprint servers, as a poster abstract or an oral presentation or as a thesis for a degree is not considered formal publication of the research.
Research themes include but are not limited to:
√ Crop genetics and breeding
√ Crop genomics and molecular breeding
√ Crop domestication and important germplasm
√ Crop molecular physiology and ecology
√ Crop cultivation and farming system
√ Crop and microbe interaction
√ Crop and environment interaction and adaptation
√ Crop genome evolution and selection
√ Development of important agronomic traits
√ Plant biotechnology advance/New software for genetic analysis and breeding
√ Crop big data & database /genomic resources
Article type
The Crop Journal article types include Research papers and Short communications that are submitted through journal’s manuscript submission portal (https://www.editorialmanager.com/cj/default.aspx). Other types of manuscripts include Review articles, Spotlight, Highlight, and Perspective are generally commissioned by invitation only. However, authors are welcome to consult the editorial office when one has a plan or intent to write these types of papers.
√ Research paper
Research papers report original studies on the above topics. Novelty is crucial in determining whether the manuscript will be initially accepted for a full review. Research should provide minimal mechanistic insights instead of simple description of experimental data. Study of orthologous/homologous genes that have been studied in other/model species should have sufficient novel discoveries in the target species. Research papers should typically have 7 figures/ tables, no more than 7000 words in the main text (excluding the title page, references, figure legends, and tables), with the number of references up to 70.
√ Short communication
The Crop Journal welcomes manuscripts reporting significant discoveries, but temporarily incomplete works, or novel but limited data, as short communications, with 1-2 figures/tables and up to 3000 words in the main text (excluding the title page, references, figure legends, and tables).
√ Review
Review articles are commissioned by invitation only. Authors are welcome to enquire the editorial office for the appropriateness of planning review papers. Review papers should summarize most recent progress in the last five years and refrain from introducing the lengthy history of the topics that authors are reviewing. Direct submissions are not absolutely returned, but have to be accompanied with evidence and support that authors are experts in the field reviewing and very familiar with the topics. Review papers should be comprehensive and insightful, rather than a pileup of related literatures. It should have 2-3 summarized figures and/or tables to depict the major content reviewed in the paper. A review article should not exceed 8000 words in the main text (excluding the title page, references, figure legends, and tables), with the number of references up to 200.
√ Spotlight
Spotlight papers are short and timely papers that provide brief introduction or comments on a most recent major progress, and/or important issues in crop science research. Timeliness is a characteristic of this type of papers that are usually written by authors familiar with the subjects. Authors of Spotlight papers must make enquiries with editorial office before submission. A Spotlight paper should have no more than 2000 words, no abstract, with a maximum of 1 figure/table and up to 20 references. Qualified manuscripts will undergo peer review for publication.
√ Perspective
A Perspective article discusses emerging future directions of a research area based on current research development. Authors should demonstrate that they are experts in the field and familiar with these forward-looking themes. Perspectives can be in the same format of a review article. Authors for Perspective papers must contact editorial office before submission.
√ Highlight
Highlight papers are short and timely papers that provide brief introduction or comments on most recent major progress, and/or important issues in one aspect or a theme of crop science research. Authors of Highlight papers are usually editorial members, but enquiries are welcome as an invited Highlight paper by working with the editorial team. A Highlight paper should contain no more than 2000 words, no abstract, with a maximum of 1 figure/table and up to 20 references. Qualified manuscripts will undergo peer review for publication.
√ Editorial
An Editorial is generally commissioned by invitation or by arrangement with the editorial office only. Editorials should introduce, comment, and/or discuss works recently published in this journal, together with related works from other major journals.