Instructions to Authors
Quick check before submission
Download Instructions for authors in PDF
Download Detailed instructions in PDF
PHOTOSYNTHETICA publishes peer-reviewed, original, scientific papers, brief communications, reviews, letters to editors, announcements, and reports concerning all research on photosynthesis. Papers dealing with diverse aspects of photosynthesis are welcome, namely if they bring novelty and further understanding in this field. The language of the journal is English (British or American).
Photosynthetica is the open-access journal starting 2019. Copyright remains with the author. Regular price of a published article is EUR 890. When submitting an article, the author agrees to make this payment if the article is accepted for publication.
All manuscripts are submitted and peer-reviewed exclusively in their electronic versions via on-line system: Manuscript submission...
If necessary, correspondence should be sent to the editorial office by e-mail: photosynthetica@ueb.cas.cz.
- Mail address: Institute of Experimental Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rozvojová 313, CZ-165 02 Praha 6, Czech Republic
- Executive Editor: Ing. Ivana ©tětinová, phone: (+420) 225 106 824, fax: (+420) 225 106 875, e-mail: photosynthetica@ueb.cas.cz
- Editor-in-Chief (EIC): Dr. Helena Synková, phone: (+420) 225 106 813, fax: (+420) 225 106 875, e-mail: synkova@ueb.cas.cz
All manuscripts are assigned by EIC to Associate Editors (AE), specialists in a particular field, and then peer-reviewed (single-anonymized process) at least by two reviewers familiar with the relevant field of photosynthesis research. Authors can follow a state of paper evaluation by the online system. A final decision is done by EIC, usually based on recommendations of AE and reviewers. Papers accepted for the publication are published after the payment of the processing fee. Papers are launched as soon as possible as Ahead of Print version accessible at journal website. Later, the issue of the journal is completed. The author receives a PDF file with the final version of the paper.
Papers already published or those elsewhere under consideration are not published. If the paper is published on any preprint server, the author is obliged to announce that fact to the editorial office and assign it on the title page below the title of the paper. The author is responsible for the correct assignment of a paper state on the preprint server (e.g. the paper must not be under review in any other journal, book, etc.)
Plagiarism-suspected papers are checked by the iThenticate plagiarism checker software.
The manuscript should be prepared in MS Word for Windows in .doc or .docx format (text and tables). The preferred formats for figures are TIFF and JPG.
The authors are strongly recommended to ask a native English speaker to check their papers before the submission. For professional language editing services, see www.aclang.com, www.enago.com, or www.editage.com.
Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced. Authors are requested to prepare figures according to the journal instructions and style, ready for printing.
Authors may insert a cover letter as a separate file.
Before submission, check if your article is prepared in accordance with basic journal requirements not to delay a review process. Articles ignoring them may be returned to authors. Use QUICK CHECK BEFORE SUBMISSION (download the PDF file at the top of the instructions).
New: Graphical abstract
A graphical abstract helps readers identify more quickly papers most relevant to their research. The graphical abstract is optional. For more details see Detailed instructions.
Submit the graphical abstract in the form of PowerPoint file (use Photosynthetica template).
- Image size: For the graphical abstract insert images with a minimum of 1600 × 900 pixels (w × h) using a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.
- Font: use Times, Arial, Symbol with a large enough font size as the image will be reduced in size to fit a window of 200 pixels high.
- File type: preferred file types are TIFF, JPG, PDF or MS Office files.
- Any text or label must be part of the image file.
A basic graphical abstract template can be found here and advice and further tips here. Photosynthetica template for the graphical abstract is available below among the attached files.
ORIGINAL PAPERS
Original papers should not exceed 8 pages of a text (e.g. about 8,000 words). The paper should be divided as follows: Title (up to 140 characters), names and addresses of the author(s), Abstract, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, and References.
Abstract
- should be concise and accurate and contain all necessary information and data of your paper. Its length should not exceed 150 words.
Keywords
- together with the title and the abstract, are used for indexing purposes. They should list words (max. 6); avoid plural terms and multiple concepts.
Highlights
- are three bullet points that help increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. These bullet points should be maximum of 85 characters or fewer each, including spaces. Highlights should not contain abbreviations except of those generally known.
Acknowledgements
- list all individuals or supporting programmes that provided help during the research.
Abbreviations
- should be defined if not standard in this field (see Detailed instructions) for the list of abbreviations used without explanation). After the first mention of a term together with its abbreviation in parentheses, use only the abbreviation in the following text. Abbreviation can be used in Abstract only if unavoidable (if the term is used more than once there).
A separate paragraph of Theory can be included in case of papers containing theoretical models and comprehensive calculations. Appendix should contain more voluminous formulae, equations, or tables and figures.
Introduction
- provides adequate background, objectives, and goals of the work. Avoid summary of results in this section.
Materials and methods
- should provide sufficient details and correct descriptions of experimental conditions and plant materials to enable the work to be reproduced.
Plant (algae, bacteria, virus, and fungi) should be given in a full name at least in this section of the manuscript according to corresponding nomenclature:
- Prokaryotic names: www.bacterio.cict.fr
- Bacteria and Archaea: www.taxonomicoutline.org/index.php/toba;
- Bacterial nomenclature: https://www.dsmz.de/bacterial-diversity/prokaryotic-nomenclature-up-to-date.html
- Virus nomenclature: www.ictvonline.org/codeOfVirusClassification_2002.asp)
- Plant nomenclature: http://www.ipni.org
The shorter version of the name can be used in the following text.
The conditions of cultivation should be described in details (place, season, length of day, temperature, air humidity, light intensity, nutrition, growth regime).The ontogenetic stage of plants should be given.
Use text tables to present experimental sets of several different parameters. For details, see guidelines on: http://www.ease.org.uk/publications/author-guidelines-authors-and-translators/.
Instruments or specific materials (chemicals) should be identified by its type, producer, town, and country of origin.
All enzymes assayed in the work should be identified by its corresponding EC number. Enzyme activities should be expressed as amount of product (e.g. μmol) per time (e.g. s–1 or min–1 or h–1) calculated per sample amount [e.g. g–1 (fresh or dry mass, protein, leaf area, etc.)]. Gene nomenclature should conform to accepted community standards. Some helpful resources follow.
- www.arabidopsis.org/portals/nomenclature/guidelines.jsp (Arabidopsis)
- www.maizegdb.org/maize_nomenclature.php (maize)
- www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/rice/oryzabase_submission/gene_nomenclature/ (rice)
- wheat.pw.usda.gov/ggpages/wgc/98/ (wheat)
- tgrc.ucdavis.edu (tomato)
- www.brassica.info/info/reference/gene-nomenclature.php (Brassica)
- www.chlamy.org/nomenclature.html (Chlamydomonas)
Chemical and protein nomenclature should be used according to:
Gene and protein symbols and abbreviations should be used consistently throughout the manuscript to clearly distinguish proteins and genes. Use schemes for the description of gene constructs used in the work.
Units, dimensions, terms, symbols, abbreviations, etc., recommended by the Système International d'Unités (SI) should be used (www.bipm.org/en/si/). See also Detailed instructions
Statistical treatment should be described in details including methods and software used for the evaluation.
Results
This section should bring the most important results of the work. Total number of tables and figures is limited to 8. A single table or figure should not exceed one page. Longer and additional tables or figures can be published as supplementary files.
The figures should be exclusively in the recommended format (see Detailed instructions) and have to be sent in a quality suitable for press.
Photographs must be of the highest quality. The scale bars should be shown. Image manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud is seen as scientific ethical abuse and is dealt with accordingly. No specific feature of the image may be enhanced, obscured, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, and colour balance are acceptable as long as they do not eliminate any information present in the original.
For figures formatting, the authors may also use the services of professional editing companies (e.g. American Journal Experts etc.) or the figures can be partly formatted in the editorial office (see Detailed instructions).
The legends to tables and figures should be typed on separate pages and should be self-explanatory without reference to the text. Statistical bars should be shown together with the number of replicates.
Discussion
- should evaluate the significance of the results without repeating them. Avoid excessive overview of the field of study and mere speculations. Soundly based hypothesis may be included.
Quotations in the text should contain the authors' names followed by the year of publication in parentheses, if more references, then arranged chronologically.
References
References at the end of the paper should be arranged alphabetically (by authors' names). EndNote template file is available at the Attachments below.
The abbreviations of the journal titles should follow the generally accepted form according to Web of Science, Journal Title Abbreviations. Use full stops after the abbreviations, not after the unabbreviated names.
Titles of articles (not books) written in languages other than English are given only in their English translation, the original language is mentioned in square brackets.
In the case of more than four authors in a reference, use only three first names and et al. For more examples see Detailed instructions.
If available, please always include DOIs as full DOI links in your reference list (e.g. “https://doi.org/abc”).
Alric J., Johnson X.: Alternative electron transport pathways in photosynthesis: a confluence of regulation. – Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 37: 78-86, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2017.03.014
Gao G.L., Feng Q., Zhang X.Y. et al.: [An overview of stomatal and non-stomatal limitations to photosynthesis of plants.] – Arid Zone Res. 35: 929-937, 2018. [In Chinese] https://doi.org/10.13866/j.azr.2018.04.22
Jain L., Jajoo A.: Protection of PSI and PSII complexes of wheat from toxic effect of anthracene by Bacillus subtilis (NCIM 5594). – Photosynth. Res. 146: 197-211, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-019-00692-z
Baker S., Satish S., Prasad N., Chouhan R.S.: Nanoagro-materials: Influence on plant growth and crop protection. – In: Thomas S., Grohens Y., Pottathara Y.B. (ed.): Industrial Applications of Nanomaterials. Pp. 341-363. Elsevier Academic Press, Amsterdam 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815749-7.00012-8
Only fully accepted and reviewed articles should be cited. Do not cite articles published on preprint servers only.
BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
Manuscripts are not longer than 4 pages (about 4,000 words) of a text (including title, abstract, text without subdivision, references) plus maximum of 1 table and 1 figure or 2 figures or 2 tables. Brief Communications are peer-reviewed in the same way as Original Articles.
REVIEWS
Short, but comprehensive reviews on specialized topics are welcome. The manuscript should not exceed 12,000 words and up to 10 tables or figures in total. The written permission from a copyright owner is needed in case of already published tables or figures. Reviews are peer-reviewed similarly as above mentioned.
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REPORTS
The journal publishes short announcements and reports from conferences, symposia, etc. in all fields of photosynthesis research.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A short commentary on a paper published earlier in the journal is possible as a Letter to the Editor. This form is not considered an original paper and should not contain unpublished results. Answers or counter-arguments of the authors of the original paper may be published in the next journal issue. This form of contribution does not contain figures and tables; they may be published as supplements only.