Editorial Work

Pat Heslop-Harrison was Chief Editor of Annals of Botany from 2008 to 2020. Annals of Botany is an international Journal of Plant Sciences, covering all areas of botany from taxonomy, though crop production and biodiversity to molecular biology It has a wide readership throughout the world so manuscripts should make a significant advance and be both of broad interest and accessible to the readers. Manuscripts should be submitted on-line.

He was also accepting Editor for the three important journals Chromosome Research (where he is now Emeritus Editor),

Plant Reproduction, and

Theoretical and Applied Genetics.

Pat Heslop-Harrison was also an member of the Faculty of 1000, and identifies papers which fit his interests in plant genome evolution and related topics for review.

In the role of accepting Editor, I receive newly submitted manuscripts and send them out to appropriate experts for review. Based on the reviews and my reading of the manuscript, I then decide whether I am able to recommend the manuscript for publication in the Journal, or usually the modifications that are required before I would recommend publication. While trying to keep the editorial time to a minimum, this process takes a minimum of about three weeks and longer if reviewer with time are hard to find, if there are disagreements between reviewers, or if a review is not returned in time. Almost all Journals rely on the generosity of reviewers who are mostly senior academics, and many will not be able to dedicate the time to provide a useful review in less time than this.

BELOW THIS POINT IS OLDER MATERIAL NOT CURRENT IN 2023

I am very happy to talk to authors about work they might like to submit to the Journal, and advise on its suitability, editorial policies and other matters. I am happy to look at titles and abstracts, but will not 'pre-review' manuscripts before submission: this can put me in the invidious position of not being able to follow the usual procedure including consultation with referees. Virtually all reviewing and manuscript processing is by specialist web-sites for manuscript submission. Please follow the submission instructions for the relevant Journals (via websites, electronically with the office).

General Points for Submission of Manuscripts
The manuscript should be in the final form and will be reviewed as such: this means that you would be proud, and indeed expect, to see it typeset and published exactly as you submit it. The reviewing process is not part of the writing process, and papers which are not in a final form will be returned without review. (Deficiencies specifically related to English language will never prejudice acceptance although there are now many excellent manuscript editing services which should be used; these cannot correct lack of logical thought, excessive verbosity and repetition which will always be grounds for rejection.) Pictures should be high quality: referees have instructions to review on the basis of the quality sent to them less the anticipated loss in reproduction. In most cases, JPG images of 100-200kb should be adequate for review. Larger images will be needed for reproduction. Conciseness is always an advantage, but all papers should make significant advances in the science - they should not be 'salami-sliced' to multiple submissions!

Annals of Botany Annals of Botany Annals of Botany is an international Journal of Plant Sciences, covering all areas of botany from taxonomy, though crop production and biodiversity to molecular biology It has a wide readership throughout the world so manuscripts should make a significant advance and be both of broad interest and accessible to the readers. Manuscripts should be submitted on-line, with a suggestion of a suitable editor to arrange refereeing. The citation index/impact factor of Annals of Botany is 2.939 in 2008 rising to 5.04 in 2021.
Link to current Annals of Botany issue The Journal is owned by the Charity Annals of Botany Company; the publishers are Oxford University Press.

Link to my recent publications in the Journal

Instructions to Authors

Online submission webpage here

Journal Web page and full text search


Chromosome Research

Chromosome Research

Chromosome Research is the international Journal for all aspects of chromosome and nuclear biology. It provides for publication of significant papers including experimental studies of chromosome organization, function and behaviour, as well as studies in genomics (functional and structural, comparative and within species) and evolutionary biology. Free colour is offered to authors, and we aim for rapid decisions on publication.
Link to Journal homepage
Link to my recent publications in the Journal

Sexual Plant Reproduction

Sexual Plant Reproduction

An international Journal covering the dynamics and mechanisms of sexual processes in all plant groups. Emphasis is placed on experimental approaches, and the Journal is highly cited in its field, having included many of the most significant advances in the area.

Link to Journal homepage and online submission.

Theoretical and Applied Genetics

Theoretical and Applied Genetics

Link to Journal homepage

TAG publishes original articles in the following areas:

  • Genetic and physiological fundamentals of plant breeding
  • Applications of plant biotechnology
  • Theoretical considerations in combination with experimental data

Pat Heslop-Harrison Homepage at University of Leicester

PHH4(a)le.ac.uk