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Journal of Plant Registrations Author Instructions

Scope

The Journal of Plant Registrations (JPR) is an official publication of the Crop Science Society of America and the premier international venue for plant breeders, geneticists, and genome biologists to publish research describing new and novel plant cultivars, germplasm, parental lines, genetic stocks, and genomic mapping populations. In addition to the main audience of agricultural scientists, registration articles can serve as supplementary resources for policy makers, humanitarian organizations, and biomedical and nutritional scientists. The scope of articles includes cultivar, germplasm, parental line, genetic stock, and mapping population registration articles; descriptions of plant genetic materials that have made a major impact on agricultural security (review & analysis); and short manuscripts characterizing accessions held in national and international plant germplasm collections (descriptions of plant genetic materials).

Manuscript Types

Journal of Plant Registrations publishes contributions under the headings of Registration (cultivar, germplasm, parental line, genetic stock, and mapping population), Review & Analysis, Description of Plant Genetic Materials, and Letter to the Editor.

Registration articles. Registrations published in the JPR must be new reports of plant cultivars, germplasm, parental lines, genetic stocks, or mapping populations. The journal will accept registrations of plant material with documented novel and unique characteristics compared with available accession sources of a particular species. Plant material must be officially released by the originating organization (public or private) prior to manuscript submission. Registration of plant genetic resources requires deposit of a seed voucher in the USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation (NLGRP) prior to publication. The voucher will be assigned a PI number and stored at NLGRP for the duration of the restriction. Upon expiration of the restriction, material will be transferred to the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) and made available under the prevailing NPGS distribution policy. The term of restriction for JPR Certificates is 5 years; however, if the accession has a Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Certificate and/or Utility Patent (UP), material will be held by NLGRP for the term of the PVP/UP restriction (20 years).
- Cultivars that are officially released by public or private agencies are eligible for registration provided they demonstrate uniqueness and utility. Registered cultivars must be statistically different from common check cultivars for the trait(s) that is (are) the basis of release. A minimum of two years and two locations within each year using appropriate replicated designs is required to support these claims and for publication. When available, molecular marker data for QTL or genes the cultivars carry should be included to confirm presence. Cultivar descriptions not meeting these standards will not be accepted for publication because they do not offer any new utility above already available germplasm sources or have insufficient supporting data.
- Germplasm lines for release must possess a new or unique trait, trait combination, and/or exotic genetic background that is not currently available in existing, regionally adapted cultivars or germplasm. Germplasm must be approved for release by the originating institution. Germplasm does not need to be commercially viable in its current form. Scientific justification for release includes multi-environment field/greenhouse studies for agronomic traits, biotic or abiotic stress tolerance/resistance, biochemical and/or genetic characterization, or ¬others. A minimum of one year, two locations of an appropriately designed replicated trial is needed to compare the germplasm to a check cultivar for basic plant characteristics relevant to the crop type is required. Germplasm that will be commercialized must meet the more stringent standards of cultivar registrations. “Source-identified” materials will not be accepted for registration in the absence of additional defining characteristics. Some crops, such as grass, shrub, or forb species, designated “prebreeding” or “prevariety” populations; these will be registered as germplasm if they have identifiably useful traits or composition to warrant their registration. Under AOSCA guidelines, prevariety germplasms are only to be released when current seed supplies of a given species are not sufficient and rapid commercialization is necessary. Therefore, these germplasms will not be accepted for official registration without strong evidence that these requirements are met.
- Parental lines of demonstrated value for hybrid development may be registered. For fertile parental lines with male-sterile counterparts, all available restoration information for different cytoplasm should be included and the specific source of the cytoplasm must be indicated for the male-sterile counterpart. For restorer lines, all available restoration information for different cytoplasm should be included. Hybrid cultivars will not be registered.
- Genetic stocks comprise unique morphological, physiological and chemical mutants, aneuploid lines, isolines, cytoplasmic male-sterile lines. Genetic stocks are differentiated from germplasm for their use primarily in basic genetic research. Although genetic stocks must be deposited with the NLGRP, the donor is expected to maintain and distribute material.
- Mapping populations with high intrinsic value (those used to establish representative or landmark molecular maps and/or used to map significantly important traits) may be registered. The following information is required in addition to that for all registration manuscripts: (a) full description of the parents, including PI numbers if applicable; (b) the full procedure used to develop the mapping population lines (e.g., doubled haploids, recombinant inbred lines); (c) a description of the mapping population in terms of marker data generated, marker type(s) used, parental polymorphism frequencies for markers; (d) means and ranges of trait data; and (e) relevant literature citations to published map information, including the types and number of markers mapped, average map distance between markers, range of map interval size, and quantitative or qualitative traits mapped. Genotype and trait data for each parent and line in the population must be publicly available via a plant genome database. Citations of key papers produced in making and using the map, as well as the name and address of the individual or organization responsible for maintaining and distributing the mapping populations and parents, related information, and relevant data, must be included. Although a sample of the mapping population must be deposited with the NLGRP, the donor is expected to maintain and distribute material.
Descriptions of plant genetic materials. These are short articles that characterize groups of accessions held in a plant germplasm collection such as the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System.
Review & Analysis. A Review & Analysis paper describes plant genetic materials that have made a major impact on agricultural security.
Invited Review. By invitation only, articles that describe plant genetic materials that have made a major impact on agricultural security.
Letter to the Editor. Papers that provide a forum to discuss specific topics. Normally 300 words or less. Published subject to review and approval by the Editor. When letters concern previous articles, the authors will be invited to reply, and the letter and reply are published together.
Book Review. By invitation only. Book review should not be a paper type in JPR; if it’s needed for standardization, please use: By invitation only.

Manuscript Submission

Templates

Download the JPR Manuscript Submission Template and Pre-Submission Manuscript Formatting Checklist.

Submission

Submit manuscripts at the JPR Manuscript Submission Site. Submissions to JPR may not be previously published in their entirety or simultaneously submitted to any other scientific or technical journal. American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) journals follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style) for references. Consult our Publications Handbook and Style Manual for specific questions about style.

Voucher Deposit Instructions and Form

All registration articles require deposit of a seed voucher. See the NLGRP Voucher Deposit Instructions and Form for instructions. International depositors must follow all instructions carefully. Material may be destroyed or returned if import conditions and regulations are not met.

Delay in submission of a seed sample is the most significant cause of delay in acceptance or publication of registration manuscripts. It is strongly recommended that submission to the NLGRP occurs at the time of manuscript submission for review.

Creating the Manuscript File

Microsoft Word or LaTeX files may be submitted for review. For your convenience, we encourage you to use our Word template. The manuscript should be double-spaced, using page and continuous line numbers. See our LaTex File Submission Guidelines for instructions on submitting LaTeX files.

Peer Review and Revisions

All manuscripts submitted undergo single blind peer review. Papers are assigned to an associate editor, who will solicit at least two reviews. After evaluating the completed reviews, the associate editor will recommend a decision to the editor. Authors will be prompted to provide a list of potential reviewers. These reviewers must not have a conflict of interest involving the authors or paper, and the editorial board has the right to not use any reviewers suggested by authors. See the ASA, CSSA, SSSA Editorial Policies information page for additional information on review policy, including the policy for appeal of manuscript review. All revisions to the manuscript during the review process will be made by the author only, and revisions will be given the same manuscript number, with an R number on the end (e.g., JPR-2018-04-0017-CRC.R1). Each revision has the opportunity for another round of review—the manuscript status “awaiting reviewer selection” is automatic and does not indicate a resubmission. Authors have 30 to 60 days to review and return their manuscript following reviewer and associate editor comments. Manuscripts may be released if revisions are not received, and the paper will have to be submitted as a new manuscript. Soon after submission, the editorial board will decide whether to send the paper through review. For papers that are reviewed, the average time from submission to final decision (including revisions) is about 80 days. Accepted papers go through an average of one revision.

ORCID iD

Corresponding authors are required to use an ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript. More information on ORCID can be found on their website. We encourage all authors to list their ORCID iD in the manuscript.

Plagiarism Screening

Papers submitted to ASA, CSSA, SSSA journals are screened for plagiarism before being sent for review. If there appears to be major repetition from other sources, the editor will evaluate the duplication and take appropriate action as warranted.

Registration Certificates

The form for ordering registration certificates for registrations accepted in JPR can be accessed here. Issuance of registration certificates is not automatic. This form must be submitted to request a registration certificate but is not required for publication.

Article Requirements

Manuscripts should include the following sections:

Title page (including author byline and affiliations)
Abstract
Plain language summary (optional)
Abbreviations
Introduction (including literature review)
Methods
Characteristics (this section is unique to JPR and is in lieu of a Results section)
Discussion (optional)
Conclusions (optional)
Availability (this section is unique to JPR)
Data Availability statement (optional)
Acknowledgments (optional)
Author Contributions
Conflict of Interest statement
References
Figure* (in addition, figures may be submitted separately as high-resolution image files in the following acceptable formats: EPS, TIF, PDF, or JPEG)
Tables*

*Tables and figures (review quality) with captions should be placed into the text document at first mention. If the manuscript is accepted, tables should be placed at the end of the manuscript and figures must be submitted separately for production as high-resolution image files in the following acceptable formats: EPS, TIF, PDF, or JPEG.

The Publications Handbook and Style Manual describes the content and format of all sections with additions specific to the JPR described below.

Paper Structure

Title. A short (preferably 12 words or fewer) title that accurately identifies and describes the manuscript content is required.

The author byline should be set directly below the title. Use an asterisk to identify the corresponding author.

Author affiliations Include an address for each author directly below the author byline. These are intended to indicate the institution(s) where the research was done and usually consist of department or division, institution, city, state or country. Street addresses, post office boxes, etc., may be included; zip and postal codes should be included. Also include in this section the corresponding author’s email address.

Abstract.The abstract is a condensed version of the entire manuscript. The abstract should include a rationale for the development of the plant materials, a statement of objectives, a description of breeding methods, description of primary characteristics of the plant materials, and a conclusion describing the impact of the release of the plant materials. The abstract will also include the following information: (i) the name or identification of the plant materials assigned at the time of release; (ii) scientific name (genus-species binomial name, including the authority); (iii) the following in parentheses (Reg. no. ______, PI______); (iv) experimental number or designation used during development; and (v) names of institutions involved in official release and development. The abstract should be no longer than 250 words or about 1500 characters (including word spaces). Do not cite references here.

Plain Language Summary. You may include a plain language summary (limit 1000 characters). The summary should be clear, concise, and free from jargon. See guidelines for writing plain language summaries here.

Abbreviations. Prepare a list in alphabetical order of abbreviations used in your article. Do not include SI units, chemical abbreviations, or abbreviations listed in the style manual as not needing definition.

Introduction. The introduction provides the background and rationale for the presented work and should include appropriate supporting references from the scientific literature. Cite the justification for development of the new materials, which can include current production, disease, insect, and quality concerns for the crop or species. Scientific objectives and/or hypotheses should be clearly stated. At first mention in the text, include the name or identification assigned to the plant material at the time of release, the scientific name (species binomial name, including the authority), and the following in parentheses (Reg. no. ______, PI ______). An explanation of the name and other pertinent information may also be included.

Methods. Describe the breeding method (e.g., single-seed descent, modified bulk, selected bulk, early-generation testing, mass selection, pedigree selection, etc.). Include the pedigree (the format for the pedigree will vary according to species, e.g., Purdy et al., Crop Sci. 8:405–406; Bernard, et al., 1988. USDA Tech. Bull. 1746). Cite previously published registration articles and NPGS PI numbers for parents in pedigrees. Trace pedigrees back from immediate parents through all intermediates to officially released cultivars or plant introductions. Both sets of information can be searched through the USDA–ARS Genetic Resources Information Network (GRIN). Describe or cite selection methods and criteria applied at each generation including, for example, methods of evaluating morphological, agronomic, pest resistance, end-use quality, and biochemical traits. Depending on the context, methods should include scientific names of all organisms, rating scales, size of field plots, number of locations, number of replications evaluated, methods of determining marker genotype data, methods for determining trait values, and other relevant information. Include the name of the laboratory conducting the evaluation if it is not the author’s institution. Reporting data collected from author-operated trials as well as regional nurseries is encouraged and considered to be part of the author’s original contribution to the research.

Characteristics. Characteristics of the plant material being registered will vary according to the type of plant material (cultivar, parental line, germplasm, genetic stocks, mapping populations); the species; and the generation being registered. The characteristics used to justify the registration must be novel and unique compared to available plant materials. Manuscripts in JPR adhere to the same standard for reporting data as other CSSA journals. Claims made regarding the plant material must be supported by appropriate statistical analysis, including the use of accepted probability levels (e.g., P < 0.05) for describing differences among entries for metric traits and comparisons with relevant checks. Claims based on data from single environments are not encouraged. Claims based on morphological, ornamental, or genetic traits must be shown to be stable and uniform. Documentation of mode of inheritance of novel traits in the form of segregation data is encouraged.

Availability. This section should include the generations of seed increase and the area of seed production or the method and limitations on asexual propagation (as applicable) for cultivars, the agency, organization, or institution that will maintain basic stocks of these plant materials, any limitation on availability of the plant materials (i.e., restricted use crop material), and the method by which to obtain this material (and, if applicable, the status of restricted use material) should be explained. For restricted-use material, state specifically the form of restriction, the way to access the material, and the termination date for the restriction, which, with the following exception, may not exceed 20 years. In keeping with the CSSA’s international mission, plant materials covered by the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) from the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will be eligible for registration provided all other requirements for registration are met, including deposition of seed in the NLGRP. The owner is responsible for maintenance and distribution during the term of the restricted use unless different arrangements are made with NPGS. For genetic stocks, the owner is expected to distribute seed samples.This section should include a sentence regarding deposition of seed in the NLGRP, including the date seed will be available from NLGRP, e.g., upon publication, 5 years, or 20 years after publication, per the information entered on the Storage Information Form.

Conclusions. A section describing the impact of the release of the plant materials is encouraged.

Supplemental Material. Supplemental material may be included in the online version of articles at the discretion of the editors. The material must be submitted along with the original manuscript and will undergo peer review. Authors are encouraged to submit materials that contribute to the content and quality of the article or to use supplemental material as a means to shorten the text of manuscripts. Ancillary information such as some experimental data, including schematics of apparatus and maps of study sites, or material of interest mainly to specialists, are examples of potential supplemental material. When using supplemental material to shorten the text of a manuscript, keep in mind that the Methods section should provide enough detail to allow the reader to determine whether the interpretations are supported by the data.

Supplemental tables and figures should be cited in order in the main manuscript, as Supplemental Table S1, etc. Supplemental material should be formatted with a cover sheet listing authors and manuscript title, and the number of pages, figures, and tables. Tables and figures should be numbered Supplemental Table or Supplemental Figure S1, S2, etc. The journal program manager may limit the quantity of supplemental material posted. Ideally, the supplement should consist of a single PDF or MS Word file (rather than a series of files with individual images or structures). Other file types, such as Quick Time or Excel, may be allowed. Contact the program manager with questions about file types. If submitting videos please use the format .FLV (Flash Video) with 640 x 480 or 720 x 480 (widescreen) as the resolution. If you do not have this format available to you please contact the program manager. The following are not allowed: executables (.exe) of any kind, java script, TeX, or PowerPoint.

In place of supplemental material, our journals encourage the use of data repositories that assign DOIs or other persistent unique identifier (PID) to the data.

Data Availability Statement. Authors are encouraged to include a data availability statement.

Conflict of Interest Statement. Authors should include a statement just before the References section that explains any conflicts of interest. If there are none, authors should explicitly state there are no conflicts of interest.

Author Contributions. The contributions of each author must now be indicated at submission. The submitting author is required to assign specific author contribution roles for each coauthor, using the CRediT taxonomy to indicate their respective roles. The 14 roles are Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, and Writing – review & editing. Author Contributions will be published with the accepted article and cannot be edited after article acceptance. Therefore, you must ensure the Author Contribution information you provide is accurate prior to final acceptance.

A final acknowledgments paragraph may be included.

References. ASA, CSSA, SSSA journals follow the APA style for citations and references. The author-year system for citations is required; do not use numbered references. Refer to chapter 1 of the Publications Handbook and Style Manual for examples of our reference and citation style, in addition to following these guidelines:

Arrange the list alphabetically by the surnames of the first authors and then by the second and third authors.
Single-authored articles should precede multiple-authored articles for which the individual is first author.
Two or more articles by the same author are listed chronologically; two or more in the same year are indicated by a, b, c, etc.
Only literature that is available through libraries or other readily accessible public media can be cited. Material that does not meet this standard should be cited as personal communication or unpublished data.

Tables. Each entry should appear in a new table cell. Do not use tabs, spaces, or graphics. Cite each table in the text in numerical order; do not use table parts (1a, 1b). Each table must be cited in the text. Table heads should be brief but complete and self-contained. Define all variables and spell out all abbreviations. Table notes can include “Notes” for general notes that apply to the entire table, superscript lowercase letters for specific notes, and asterisks and other symbols as needed for significance notes.

Figures. At submission, review-quality figures with captions should be placed into the main text document at first mention. Authors may also submit figures as separate files. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, color figures must adhere to our color-figure policy. Figures must also be submitted separately as high-resolution image files (300 dpi preferred) in the following acceptable formats: PDF, EPS, TIFF, or JPEG. PPT files are acceptable if the figure was created in PowerPoint. Width of figures should approximate desired print size, i.e., 80 mm for a one-column figure, 180 mm for a two-column figure. All figure parts should be labeled. Multi-panel figures should be submitted as one image. Biplots should have equally scaled axes with tick marks.

Spell out abbreviations on first mention in figure captions, even if they have already been defined in the main text. Define symbols used either in the caption or in a legend within the figure. For more information on figures, see Chapter 5 of the style manual.

Math. Use keyboard formatting where possible (i.e., bold, super-/subscripts, simple variables, Greek font, etc.); if needed, use MathType (preferred) or Word Equation Editor (only if MathType is not available) .

Units of measure. The International System of Units (SI) must be used. Other units may be indicated in parentheses after the SI unit if this helps understanding or is needed for replication of the work.

Citing Genetic Material

Authors of CSSA publications must cite plant introductions, as well as registered cultivars, germplasm, parental lines, and genetic stocks when they are mentioned in the text of the introduction, methods, characteristics, or discussion sections of research papers. Such genetic materials must also be cited when they are used to develop unreleased genetic populations that are the focus of the research paper, unless the development of the population can be cited more directly. Authors are encouraged to cite JPR if possible. Other sources for citation information include the Genetic Resource Information Network (GRIN) maintained by the USDA. Registrations published in Crop Science and JPR are indexed on the GRIN website . A general search in GRIN is available here. Cultivars that are not cited in a refereed publication should be cited by a PI number, or if not in the USDA–NPGS, by a PVP number if available.

Nomenclature

Both the accepted common name and the chemical name of pesticides must be given upon first mention in the manuscript. Use chemical symbols for elements, ions, and simple compounds except at the beginning of a sentence or in a title or heading. The Latin binomial or trinomial (and authority for plants) must be included with the common name for all plants, insects, pathogens, and animals at first mention. When referring to soils, give at least the subgroup in accord with the US system of soil taxonomy. Ideally, both the series and complete family name should be given.

Changes to Author Byline

From time to time, authors' names are either added or removed from a given manuscript between the time of submission and publication. In situations such as this, the ethical and responsible manner of handling this type of change is for the lead author to advise the author being added or removed of the change and to notify, in writing, the journal editor and program manager for approval. In addition, all coauthors should notify the program manager that they are aware of and approve of the change.

Consent and Permissions

Before submitting the paper, the corresponding author should send each living coauthor a draft copy of the manuscript and obtain the coauthors’ assent to coauthorship. Authors are responsible for obtaining all permissions for use of figures or other material from other publishers and should supply these permissions when the manuscript is accepted. Authors are also responsible for obtaining permission from individuals whose images are included in photographs. Note that ASA, CSSA, and SSSA reserve the right to publish and republish any images you submit with a manuscript.

Errata

Errata may be used by the authors of a paper to correct errors and omissions that affect the integrity of the version of record that are identified after publication. All additions and corrections are subject to editorial approval and must be approved by all coauthors before submission; corrections of minor errors or omissions will not be published. Send all errata requests to the journal’s program manager.

Statistics

Authors of JPR registrations are asked to provide ANOVA or other appropriate statistical table(s) to support means separation and other statistic-based conclusions. The ANOVA table should include the Sources of Variation, degrees of freedom, and mean squares with standard identification of level of significance indicated by *, **, or *** and properly footnoted.

Publication Fees

The journal does not charge any submission or page fees.

Optional Open Access Opportunity

After manuscript acceptance, authors have the option of paying an open access licensing fee of $1,550 to apply an open access license at the time of publication to make the article freely available without a subscription.

Journal articles are published open access under the CC BY-NC-ND (attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives) license. Learn more

Authors may request that their article be published under the CC BY (attribution) license. Learn more

Institutional Funding and Transformational Agreements

Your institution or funder may be able to help with open access licensing fees through a transformational agreement. For qualified authors, fees may be covered in full or part when publishing in the journal. Visit the institutional funder payments web page to learn if you qualify and for more information.

Authors Funded by cOAlition S

If you or one of your co-authors received funding from a member of cOAlition S, there may be restrictions on where you can publish. Please check your agreement with your funder for specific details. The information and author compliance tool on this web page can help you make an informed decision about where to publish in alignment with funder and journal requirements.

Green Open Access

Authors with an open access requirement mandated by a funding agency should purchase one of the two gold open access options with funds designated for publication charges by the funding agency. For other repository requirements, authors may post a PDF of the accepted version of a paper to funder and institutional repositories and/or employer’s sites after a 12-month embargo. Authors may post accepted papers to their own personal websites. The doi link must appear on the PDF.

Official Sources

Spelling: Merriam-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary
Plant scientific names: USDA–ARS GRIN database
Chemical names: PubChem
Soil series descriptions: USDA–NRCS Official Soil Series Descriptions
Fungal nomenclature: Fungi on Plants and Plant Products in the United States (APS Press)
ASA, CSSA, SSSA journal style: Publications Handbook and Style Manual

For questions about the format of submissions, the process of submitting a manuscript, or about the status of manuscripts that have been submitted and assigned a manuscript number, please contact the JPR program manager.

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