Journal of Integrative Plant Biology对标国际著名植物学期刊的卓越之路

【目的】Journal of Integrative Plant Biology(JIPB)通过对标国际著名植物学期刊,探索追赶、超越发展的对策与举措,为我国加快国际一流科技期刊建设提供参考与借鉴。【方法】采用数据比较分析法和案例分析法。利用VOSviewer软件构建关键词共现网络图谱。通过与植物学领域国际著名期刊Journal of Experimental Botany(JXB)对标,分析JIPB与JXB的主要文献计量指标,包括期刊影响因子、总被引频次、国际论文比、期刊引文指标、作者分布、学科辐射范围、年发文量和顶尖论文方面的情况。【结果】JIPB受“中国科技期刊卓越行动计划”(以下简称“卓越计划”)资助以来,通过采取由国内外一线权威科学家深度参与办刊、发表具有原始创新性的重大成果、建立专业的期刊管理体系、提供高效优质的出版服务等一系列举措,追赶并部分超越JXB,建设成效显著。【结论】JIPB在“卓越计划”的资助下,以国际著名植物学期刊为标杆,不断提升学术水平和国际影响力,其国际化发展策略以及办刊实践是建设卓越期刊的有益尝试,探索出一条我国建设国际一流科技期刊的卓越之路。

60 Years of Development of the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology

In celebration of JIPB＇s 60th anniversary, this paper summarizes and reviews the development process of the journal. To start, we offer our heartfelt thanks to JIPB＇s pioneer Editors-in-Chief who helped get the journal off the ground and make it successful. Academic achievement is the soul of academic journals, and this paper summarizes JIPB＇s course of academic development by analyzing it in four stages： the first two stages are mostly qualitative analyses, and the latter two stages are dedicated to quantitative analyses. Most-cited papers were statistically analyzed. Improvements in editing, pub- lication, distribution and online accessibility--which are detailed in this paper--contribute to JIPB＇s sustainable development. In addition, JIPB＇s evaluation index and awards are provided with accompany- ing pictures. At the end of the paper, JIPB＇s milestones are listed chronologically. We believe that JIPB＇s development, from a national journal to an international one, parallels the development of the Chinese plant sciences.

2nd International Symposium on Integrative Plant Biology

The 2nd International Symposium on August 26-28, 2011. The symposium will provide a Integrative Plant Biology will be held in Lanzhou, China, great occasion for members of the international plant science community, senior scientists as well as students, to meet and to discuss the latest trends and innovations in plant biology. The symposium will cover areas of plant growth and development, sexual reproduction, metabolic regulation, molecular ecology and evolution, and environmental physiology. Following the extremely successful 1st International Symposium on Integrative Plant Biology held 2009 in Yantai, we hope this meeting will provide an even better platform for the participants to communicate new ideas, to discuss new technologies, and to explore future collaborations.

On the necessity of an integrative approach to understand protein structural dynamics

Proteins are dynamic,fluctuating between multiple conformational states.Protein dynamics,spanning orders of magnitude in time and space,allow proteins to perform specific functions.Moreover,under certain conditions,proteins can morph into a different set of conformations.Thus,a complete understanding of protein structural dynamics can provide mechanistic insights into protein function.Here,we review the latest developments in methods used to determine protein ensemble structures and to characterize protein dynamics.Techniques including X-ray crystallography,cryogenic electron microscopy,and small angle scattering can provide structural information on specific conformational states or on the averaged shape of the protein,whereas techniques including nuclear magnetic resonance,fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET),and chemical cross-linking coupled with mass spectrometry provide information on the fluctuation of the distances between protein domains,residues,and atoms for the multiple conformational states of the protein.In particular,FRET measurements at the single-molecule level allow rapid resolution of protein conformational states,where information is otherwise obscured in bulk measurements.Taken together,the different techniques complement each other and their integrated use can offer a clear picture of protein structure and dynamics.

Ecometrics:The traits that bind the past and present together

We outline here an approach for understanding the biology of climate change,one that integrates data at multiple spatial and temporal scales.Taxon-free trait analysis,or“ecometrics,”is based on the idea that the distribution in a community of ecomorphological traits such as tooth structure,limb proportions,body mass,leaf shape,incubation temperature,claw shape,any aspect of anatomy or physiology can be measured across some subset of the organisms in a community.Regardless of temporal or spatial scale,traits are the means by which organisms interact with their environment,biotic and abiotic.Ecometrics measures these interactions by focusing on traits which are easily measurable,whose structure is closely related to their function,and whose function interacts directly with local environment.Ecometric trait distributions are thus a comparatively universal metric for exploring systems dynamics at all scales.The main challenge now is to move beyond investigating how future climate change will affect the distribution of organisms and how it will impact ecosystem services and to shift the perspective to ask how biotic systems interact with changing climate in general,and how climate change affects the interactions within and between the components of the whole biotic-physical system.We believe that it is possible to provide believable,quantitative answers to these questions.Because of this we have initiated an IUBS program iCCB(integrative Climate Change Biology).