Trends in Plant Sciences

Edited by:
  • Hugh Blackbourn
Elsevier. 12/yr. NFl1,113, $687 (institutional); NFl214, $132 (personal); NFl107, $66 (students)
Credit: MARK DOBSON

Launched in January 1996 as the latest addition to Elsevier's Trends series, this eagerly awaited journal not only closes a gap in the publisher's list but, more importantly, also fills a niche for timely reviews of rapidly evolving fields in plant research.

Although early issues seem somewhat crudely cobbled together, later ones look more professional, with articles well on their way to matching the standards set by the other Trends journals. There are reviews and short research news articles reporting interesting observations, as well as an update section on new books, software, techniques and Internet services and a perspectives section carrying opinions and essays.

The scope is ambitious, embracing all of plant science. One might come across pieces on evolutionary relationships or transgenic farming; a new system for distinguishing differences between inconspicuous small yellow flowers; a table of gene names; curves showing concentrations of various chemical reagents; or photographs of the drainage system in a tree. Most reviews cover fashionable areas of modern plant research — subjects that attract both researchers and students and which, consequently, are yielding most of the novelties and so are particularly useful in updating lectures conceived years ago.

I do think the journal fills a gap. Occasionally, special reviews and summaries on plants appear in such periodicals as Plant Molecular Biology, Plant Physiology, Plant Science and Physiologia Plantarum; and, from time to time, the most competent of these even become widely cited. The reviews in the new Trends journal are similarly competent and trustworthy, covering their subfield more or less objectively and comprehensively. One can take the information at face value without having to decide what may be important and what not.

A single issue of almost any other plant journal would cost more than the yearly (personal) subscription to Trends in Plant Sciences. Indeed, the price is so attractive that I have already become a customer. The journal has proved to be a handy reference library for information not readily gathered from original articles, saving me much time, money and photocopying. But the library price is a different matter — my university, for one, cannot afford it.