PhytoKeys launched!

Fast, Linked, and Open Access – the New Plant Taxonomy Journal PhytoKeys is Launched!

We are pleased to announce launch of the journal PhytoKeys (www.phytokeys.com) and publication of its inaugural issue.

PhytoKeys builds upon the tremendous success of its sister journal ZooKeys (www.zookeys.org) and offers numerous innovative ways to publish and disseminate information on the taxonomy and ecology of plants (you may see the forum paper and journal’s poster for more details). The journal will provide mandatory inclusion in the publication of IPNI records for new taxonomic names and other nomenclatural activities. All new species will be supplied to the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) simultaneously with publication of the article. The content of the article itself will be marked-up at the level of taxonomic descriptions, taxon names, citations and references, identification keys, geo-referenced localities, and other taxon information. All papers are open access and free to read, download, print, and distribute.

PhytoKeys is more than a journal. It is a linked environment built upon its own content management software. Linking is provided at the internal level (within an article, within the journal, or within the publishing platform of Pensoft ) and to external resources (GBIF, EOL, BHL, NCBI, Morphbank, IPNI, PLANTS, Tropicos, The Gymnosperm Database, Index Herbariorum, Wikipedia, Wikispecies, etc.) through a dynamic web profile of each taxon mentioned within a paper (sample)Geo-referenced localities can be mapped within taxon treatments or for the entire paper. The journal can be followed on Twitter, Facebook, Mendeley, and several other social networks.

PhytoKeys is published in four different formats: (1) high-resolution, full-color print version (2) PDF identical to the printed version; (3) HTML to provide links to external resources and semantic enhancements to published texts for interactive reading (sample); (4) XML version compatible to PubMedCentral archiving (based on TaxPub schema), thus providing a machine-readable copy to facilitate future data mining. Neither restriction nor charges are imposed on the use of color illustrations.

PhytoKeys will cover taxonomic treatments of angiosperms, gymnosperms, monilophytes, bryophytes, and algae. Papers on fungal and lichenological studies will be welcome to be submitted to the future MycoKeys (to be launched within a few months).

PhytoKeys will be announced and presented at the forthcoming Byosystematics 2011 Congress in Berlin (21-27 February 2010) and the XVIII International Botanical Congress in Melbourne, 23-30 July 2010, as well as at several other international botanical venues. Botanists and bioinformaticians are welcome to discuss innovative publishing projects and cooperation. Candidates who may wish to serve as subject editors are welcome to contact Dr John Kress (Smithsonian), or Dr Sandra Knapp (NHM London).

The journal charges modest article processing fees, available on the website. Charges for manuscripts submitted by the end of 2010 will be waived in order to offer every botanist the chance to test the efficiency and innovative approach to publication and distribution of taxonomic information in PhytoKeys!

We welcome your manuscript submissions.

W. John Kress (Editor in Chief), Sandra Knapp (Deputy Editor), De-Zhu Li (Deputy Editor), Susanne Renner Deputy Editor), and Lyubomir Penev (Managing Editor)

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