Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that Plants will be granting the Travel Award to three junior scientists. The applications will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee consisting of senior scholars from the Plants Editorial Board.

This award provides financial support for the winners to attend an international conference in the field of plant science to be held in 2025, in order to give a presentation, present a poster, or both.

Candidate Requirements:
– Postdoctoral fellows or PhD students.
– Plans to attend an international conference in 2025 (oral presentation or poster).

Required Application Documents:
– Information of the conference the applicant is planning to attend and the abstract that will be submitted.
– Curriculum Vitae and list of publications.
– Justification letter describing the focus of the research (max. 800 words).
– Letter of recommendation from the supervisor, research director, or department head, which also confirms the applicant’s status as a postdoctoral fellow/PhD student.

The winners (three awardees) will each be awarded CHF 800 and a certificate.

Please submit your applications for the Plants 2025 Travel Award online by 30 September 2024. Prizes will be awarded at the end of December 2024 and announced on the Plants website.

Kind regards,
Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando, we wish to acknowledge our reviewers who so generously offer their time to review the papers submitted to Plants by presenting an award to the reviewers who have demonstrated their dedication, professionalism, and timeliness in reviewing manuscripts for Plants.

What are the pre-requisites to be eligible for this award?
– All of the reviewers for Plants in 2024 will be automatically included.

Selection Criteria:
– Number of review reports;
– The quality and timeliness of review reports.

What will the winners receive?
There will be five winners this year, and each will receive the following:
– CHF 500;
– An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Plants in 2025 after peer review;
– A certificate.

When will the winners be announced?
– The winners will be announced in March 2025 on the journal website.

How can I make myself eligible?
– If you have not yet reviewed papers for Plants, but would like to do so, you can register as a reviewer at the following link: https://susy.mdpi.com/volunteer/profile/edit.

Kind regards,
Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the “Plants 2024 Best Paper Award” for research and review articles published in Plants from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022. One review and three research articles will receive the award, which will be selected after a thorough evaluation by the journal Award Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando.

Eligibility for the Award:
– Papers published in Plants from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022;
– Open to all career levels;
– Both regular and Special Issue submissions will be considered.

Candidates’ Requirements:
The papers will be selected by the journal Award Committee according to the following criteria:
– Scientific merit and broad impact;
– Originality of the research and/or the ideas presented;
– Creativity of the study design or the approaches and concepts;
– Clarity of presentation;
– Citations and downloads.

Prizes:
– One review award: CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Plants in 2024 after peer review;
– Three research article awards: CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Plants in 2024 after peer review.
– Each winner will also receive a certificate.

The winners will be announced on the journal website in March 2024.

Kind regards,
Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Plants, I am pleased to announce the winners of the Plants 2024 Travel Award. The award has been granted to Mr. Edwin Hlangwani, who is a PhD student at the University of Johannesburg; Ms. Martina Ghidoli, a PhD student at the Università degli Studi di Milano; and Dr. Mercedes Rocafort Ferrer, a post-doctoral researcher at the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG).

As the awardees, they will each receive an honorarium of CHF 800 and an electronic certificate.

With so many high-quality applicants, the evaluation process and final decision were challenging. We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their diverse and fascinating range of research topics. On behalf of the assessment committee, I congratulate the winners on their accomplishments.

Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando, on behalf of the Plants 2024 Travel Award Evaluation Committee

Dear Colleagues,

The journal Plants is inviting applications for the 2023 Best PhD Thesis Award. This prize will be awarded to three PhD students or recently qualified PhDs who have produced highly anticipated theses with great academic potential. The applications will be assessed by an evaluation committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando.

Eligibility and Requirements:
– The candidate must be a PhD student or recently qualified PhD who has produced a highly anticipated thesis with great academic potential;
– The PhD thesis must be their original work;
– The PhD thesis must be defended in 2023.

Required Application Documents:
– An executive summary of the PhD thesis in English of around 3000 words;
– A letter from the PhD supervisor recommending the candidate for consideration for this award;
– The candidate’s CV, including a list of publications connected with the thesis;
– An electronic copy of the PhD thesis;
– A scanned copy of the PhD diploma (or certificate of studying at a school or research institute as a PhD student going to graduate or participate in graduation thesis defenses).

Selection Criteria:
– Quality of resume and publications;
– Relevance of the candidate and research description;
– Novelty of the candidate’s PhD thesis;
– Strength of the recommendation letter;
– Anticipated academic potential;
– Originality and impact of the research.

Prizes:
– Bonus (CHF 500);
– An electronic certificate;
– Offer to publish one paper free of charge in Plants after peer review before the end of 2024.

The application deadline is 31 January 2024. The winners will be announced on the Plants website by the end of April 2024.

Kind regards,
Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Plants 2023 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Plants Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers to checking the manuscripts submitted to Plants. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

Dr. Irina Neta Gostin
Faculty of Biology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iași, Romania
Research Interests: plant anatomy; electron microscopy; plant histology; cytology; air pollutants effects on plant structure

Dr. Ricardo Gil-Ortiz
Independent Researcher, Valencia, Spain
Research Interests: plant physiology; plant molecular biology; plant biotechnology; agriculture; plant production; fertilizer; pesticide; pest control; food security; plant abiotic stress; sustainability

Dr. Brigitta Tóth
Institute of Food Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Research Interests: abiotic stress; antioxidative enzymes; biofertilizers/biostimulants; biotic stress; free radicals; plant nutrients

Dr. Martina Varga
Department of Biology, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Research Interests: plant ecophysiology; oxidative stress; environmental risk assessment

The Prize for Each Winner:
– CHF 500;
– An opportunity to publish a paper in Plants with a 50% discount in 2024 after peer review;
– A certificate.

Kind regards,
Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Plants 2023 Best Paper Award. All papers published from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 in Plants were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, citations and downloads, four winners were selected:

One Review:
Natural Blues: Structure Meets Function in Anthocyanins
By Alan Houghton, Ingo Appelhagen and Cathie Martin
Plants 2021, 10(4), 726; doi:10.3390/plants10040726

Three Articles:
Screening for Higher Grain Yield and Biomass among Sixty Bread Wheat Genotypes Grown under Elevated CO₂ and High-Temperature Conditions
By Emilio L. Marcos-Barbero, Pilar Pérez, Rafael Martínez-Carrasco, Juan B. Arellano and Rosa Morcuende
Plants 2021, 10(8), 1596; doi:10.3390/plants10081596

Foliar Application of Different Vegetal-Derived Protein Hydrolysates Distinctively Modulates Tomato Root Development and Metabolism
By Angela Valentina Ceccarelli, Begoña Miras-Moreno, Valentina Buffagni, Biancamaria Senizza, Youry Pii, Mariateresa Cardarelli, Youssef Rouphael, Giuseppe Colla and Luigi Lucini
Plants 2021, 10(2), 326; doi:10.3390/plants10020326

Identification and Mapping of Tomato Genome Loci Controlling Tolerance and Resistance to Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus
By Avner Zinger, Moshe Lapidot, Arye Harel, Adi Doron-Faigenboim, Dana Gelbart and Ilan Levin
Plants 2021, 10(1), 179; doi:10.3390/plants10010179

Each winner will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Plants in 2023 after peer review.

Please join us in congratulating the winners of the Plants 2023 Best Paper Award. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Plants.

Kind regards,
Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Plants 2022 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Plants Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Plants. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

Dr. Andrea Mastinu
Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Division of Pharmacology, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Research Interests: secondary metabolites; ethnopharmacology; abiotic stress; abiotic stress tolerance; Cannabis sativa; Cannabaceae; medical marijuana; phytocannabinoids; CB1 receptor; cannabidiol; tetrahydrocannabinol; CB2 receptor; cannabinoids; cannabinoid receptor agonists; cannabinoid receptor antagonists; cannabinoid receptor modulators

Dr. Edyta Paczos-Grzeda
Institute of Plant Genetics, Breeding and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agrobioengineering, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
Research Interests: cereals; genetic diversity; phytopathology; plant disease; biotic stress

Dr. Alicia Ayerdi Gotor
Institut Polytechnique UniLaSalle, AGHYLE, UP 2018.C101, 60026 Beauvais, France
Research Interests: oils; essential oils; precision agriculture; plants

Dr. Narayan Bhusal
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Bioresources, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Research Interests: plant physiology; forest ecophysiology; photosynthesis; stomatal conductance; transpiration; sap flow; leaf water potential; carbon isotope; nitrogen allocation

Dr. Mohsen Hesami
Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Research Interests: cannabis; plant tissue culture; agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation; genome editing; plant biotechnology; machine learning algorithms

The Prizes for Each Winner:
• CHF 500;
• A 50% discount on the APC for one paper to be published in Plants in 2023;
• A certificate.

Kind regards,
Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

As the Editor-in-Chief of Plants, it is my great pleasure to announce the winners of the Plants 2022 Best PhD Thesis Award. This award is for three PhD students or recently qualified PhDs who have produced a highly anticipated thesis with great academic potential.

The award has been granted to:
“Selenium Enrichment of Tomato Plants: Effects on Fruit Quality, Ripening Physiology and Postharvest Behaviour”
By Anton Shiriaev, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy

“Agronomic Biofortification of Grain Crops with Zinc in Association with Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria”
By Arshad Jalal, Sao Paulo State University, Brazil

“Mitigating Glyphosate Effects on Crop Plants and Soil Functions – Strategies to Minimise Its Potential Non-target Toxicity”
By Cristiano Soares, University of Porto, Portugal

Each winner will receive CHF 500, a certificate and a chance to publish a paper free of charge after peer review in Plants before 31 December 2023.

On behalf of the evaluation committee, I congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the applicants for submitting their exceptional theses, and thank the Award Committee for voting and helping with this award.

Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando
Editor-in-Chief, Plants

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Plants 2022 Best Paper Award. All papers published from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, as well as their citations and downloads, the four winning papers, nominated by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando, were selected.

One Review:

Photosynthetic Metabolism under Stressful Growth Conditions as a Bases for Crop Breeding and Yield Improvement
by Fermín Morales, María Ancín, Dorra Fakhet, Jon González-Torralba, Angie L. Gámez, Amaia Seminario, David Soba, Sinda Ben Mariem, Miguel Garriga and Iker Aranjuelo
Plants 2020, 9(1), 88; doi:10.3390/plants9010088

Three Research Articles:

Plant Roots Release Small Extracellular Vesicles with Antifungal Activity
by Monica De Palma, Alfredo Ambrosone, Antonietta Leone, Pasquale Del Gaudio, Michelina Ruocco, Lilla Turiák, Ramesh Bokka, Immacolata Fiume, Marina Tucci and Gabriella Pocsfalvi
Plants 2020, 9(12), 1777; doi:10.3390/plants9121777

Feeding Behavior and Virus-transmission Ability of Insect Vectors Exposed to Systemic Insecticides
by Elisa Garzo, Aránzazu Moreno, María Plaza and Alberto Fereres
Plants 2020, 9(7), 895; doi:10.3390/plants9070895

Transcriptome Analyses and Antioxidant Activity Profiling Reveal the Role of a Lignin-Derived Biostimulant Seed Treatment in Enhancing Heat Stress Tolerance in Soybean
by Cristina Campobenedetto, Giuseppe Mannino, Chiara Agliassa, Alberto Acquadro, Valeria Contartese, Christian Garabello and Cinzia Margherita Bertea
Plants 2020, 9(10), 1308; doi:10.3390/plants9101308

Each winner (corresponding author) will receive CHF 500, a certificate, and the chance to publish a paper free of charge in Plants in 2022.

On behalf of the assessment committee, I would like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We also wish to thank all the nominated research groups of the exceptional papers above for their contributions to Plants, and the Award Committee for voting and for their assistance with this award.

Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando, Plants

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winner of the Plants 2021 Best Paper Award for Young Investigator. All papers published in the "Young Investigators in Plant Sciences" Special Issue from 14 Jul 2021 to 20 Jul 2022 in Plants were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, citations, and downloads, one winner was selected.

Differences in the Abundance of Auxin Homeostasis Proteins Suggest Their Central Roles for In Vitro Tissue Differentiation in Coffea arabica
By Ana O. Quintana-Escobar, Hugo A. Méndez-Hernández, Rosa M. Galaz-Ávalos, José M. Elizalde-Contreras, Francisco A. Reyes-Soria, Victor Aguilar-Hernández, Eliel Ruíz-May and Víctor M. Loyola-Vargas
Plants 2021, 10(12), 2607; doi:10.3390/plants10122607

The winner will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Plants in 2023 after peer review.

Please join us in congratulating the winner of Plants 2021 Best Paper Award for Young Investigator. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Plants.

Kind regards,
Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winner of the Plants 2021 Best Paper Award for the 10th Anniversary Special Issue. Papers published in the 10th Anniversary Special Issue from 14 June 2021 to 29 December 2022 in Plants were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, citations, and downloads, one winner was selected.

γ-Aminobutyrate (GABA) Regulated Plant Defense: Mechanisms and Opportunities
By Barry J. Shelp, Morteza Soleimani Aghdam and Edward J. Flaherty
Plants 2021, 10(9), 1939; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10091939

The winner will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Plants in 2023 after peer review.

Please join us in congratulating the winner of the Plants 2021 Best Paper Award for the 10th Anniversary Special Issue. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Plants.

Kind regards,
Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Plants 2021 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Plants Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Plants. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

Dr. Enrico Vito Perrino
CIHEAM, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, 70010 Valenzano, Italy
Research Interests: plant taxonomy; biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology

Dr. Edyta Paczos-Grzeda
Institute of Plant Genetics, Breeding and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agrobioengineering, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
Research Interests: cereals; genetic diversity; phytopathology; plant disease; biotic stress

Dr. Vishnu Rajput
Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
Research Interests: nanotoxicity; plants; heavy metals; soil pollution; stress

Dr. Lakkakula Satish
Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
Research Interests: plant biotechnology; abiotic stress; millets; Agrobacterium; hairy root cultures; secondary metabolites; plant–microbe interactions; medicinal plants

Dr. Robert Philipp Wagensommer
Department of Biology, Università di Bari Aldo Moro, I-70125 Bari, Italy
Research Interests: conservation; plants; red listing; threatened species; vascular flora; vegetation

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winners of the Plants 2021 Young Investigator Award are Dr. Stefania Sut and Dr. Mohamed Ahmed El-Esawi.

Dr. Stefania Sut is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Pharmacology at University of Padova (Italy). Her research interests include natural product chemistry, analysis of natural product, plant secondary metabolites and bioactive compounds from natural sources and food-based products using Mass Spectrometry, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), liquid and gas chromatography and hyphenated techniques such as LC-MS/MS. Dr. Stefania Sut received her PhD in 2021 and has an outstanding publication record, comprising 93 publications in peerreviewed international journals. Her Scopus Scientific Citations number is 1187 and her Hirsch index is 20. She is clearly a rising star in the field of natural products. This is an outstanding achievement in today’s competitive environment. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Stefania Sut for her outstanding achievements.

Dr. Mohamed Ahmed El-Esawi is an Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics at the Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt. Dr. El-Esawi’s research interests are in molecular biology, biotechnology, genetics, genomics, molecular plant–microbe interactions, molecular plant physiology, developmental biology, and their bioinformatics applications. Dr. El-Esawi received his PhD degree in 2012 from Dublin Institute of Technology, Technological University Dublin in Ireland. He has an outstanding publication record, comprising 110 publications in peer-reviewed international journals and 4 international patents. His Scopus Scientific Citations number is 1993 and his Hirsch index is 30. He is clearly a rising star in the field of plant sciences and molecular biology. Dr. El-Esawi has received several awards and grants to date and ranked among the world’s top 2% scientists in his field. This is an outstanding achievement in today’s competitive environment. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Mohamed Ahmed El-Esawi for his outstanding achievements.

As the awardees, Dr. Stefania Sut and Dr. Mohamed Ahmed El-Esawi will each receive an honorarium of CHF 1000, an offer to publish a paper in Plants with a 50% discount in 2022 after peer review, and a certificate.

We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the many excellent nominations.

Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando
Editor-in-Chief, Plants

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Plants 2021 Best Paper Awards.

The awards have been granted to:

One Review:

Plant Disease Detection and Classification by Deep Learning
by Muhammad Hammad Saleem, Johan Potgieter, and Khalid Mahmood Arif 
Plants 2019, 8(11), 468; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants8110468

Three research articles:

Involvement of Phenolic Acids in Short-Term Adaptation to Salinity Stress is Species-Specific among Brassicaceae
by Ida Linić, Dunja Šamec, Jiří Grúz, Valerija Vujčić Bok, Miroslav Strnad, and Branka Salopek-Sondi
Plants 2019, 8(6), 155; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants8060155

Isoform-Specific NO Synthesis by Arabidopsis thaliana Nitrate Reductase
by Marie Agatha Mohn, Besarta Thaqi, and Katrin Fischer-Schrader
Plants 2019, 8(3), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants8030067

GWAS for Starch-Related Parameters in Japonica Rice (Oryza sativa L.)
by Chiara Biselli, Andrea Volante, Francesca Desiderio, Alessandro Tondelli, Alberto Gianinetti, Franca Finocchiaro, Federica Taddei, Laura Gazza, Daniela Sgrulletta, Luigi Cattivelli, and Giampiero Valè
Plants 2019, 8(8), 292; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants8080292

Each winner (corresponding author) will receive 500 CHF and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Plants in 2021.

On behalf of the assessment committee, we congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups for their contributions to Plants and the Award Committee for voting and helping with these awards.

Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Plants 2020 Outstanding Reviewer Awards. The Plants Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy that our reviewers dedicate to checking the manuscripts submitted to Plants. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

Prof. Dr. Marián Brestič
Department of Plant Physiology, Slovak University of Agriculture, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia
Research Interests: plant breeding; drought; drought tolerance; the impact of climate extremes; photosynthesis; phenotyping; wheat

Prof. Dr. Thomas J. Orton
Department of Plant Biology, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, 08901 New Jersey, USA
Research Interests: molecular biology; plant breeding; cytogenetics; plant genetics; plant cell and tissue culture

Prof. Dr. Giampiero Cai
Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy 
Research Interests: plant biology; the responses and adaptations of plants to changing environmental conditions

Dr. Stefan Simm
Molecular Cell Biology of Plants, Goethe-Universitat Frankfurt am Main, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Research Interests: plant heat stress

Prof. Dr. María Pérez-Fernández
Professor of Ecology, Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, University Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Seville, Spain
Research Interests: plant-soil-microorganism interactions; microbial biomass; land restoration; seed ecology

Plants Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Plants 2020 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Laura Medina-Puche.

Dr. Laura Medina-Puche is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the group of Rosa Lozano-Duran, Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology (PSC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China. Dr. Medina-Puche’s research interests are in molecular plant–virus interactions. Dr. Medina-Puche received her PhD in 2015 and has an outstanding publication record, comprising 18 publications in peer-reviewed international journals, such as Cell, The Plant Cell and Journal of Experimental Botany. Dr. Laura Medina-Puche’s Scopus scientific citations number is 451 and her Hirsch index is 10. She is clearly a rising star in the field of plant sciences. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Medina-Puche for her outstanding achievements.

As the awardee, Dr. Laura Medina-Puche will receive an honorarium of 2000 CHF and an offer to publish a paper free of charge in 2021 in Plants after peer review.

We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the abundant excellent nominations.

Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando, on behalf of the Plants 2020 Young Investigator Evaluation Committee

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to announce, on behalf of the Evaluation Committee, the winner of the Plants Travel Award for 2020.

The Plants Travel Award has been granted to Dr. Edeline Gagnon, a postdoctoral researcher in Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh/University of Edinburgh. Dr. Edeline Gagnon will attend Evolution 2020 from 19 June to 23 June, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and aims to present the following paper: “Frost, Drought and Fire: Testing the Evolutionary and Ecological Lability of Geophytes and Annuals in Solanum and Begonia”.

We received numerous high-quality applications for the Travel Award, and the evaluation process and final decision have certainly been challenging. We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting such a diverse range of fascinating research topics. On behalf of the assessment committee, I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments.

Associate Editor
Prof. Dr. Milan S. Stankovic

Dear Colleagues,

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of the 2019 Plants Best Paper Award. The winners were selected by a selection committee, which was composed of Plants Editorial Board Members, and finally approved by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando. The top-voted research article and the top-voted review won the 2019 Plants Best Paper Award:

Article:

Phytotoxicity of Essential Oils on Selected Weeds: Potential Hazard on Food Crops
María Dolores Ibáñez and María Amparo Blázquez
Plants 2018, 7(4), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants7040079

Review:

Hitting the Wall—Sensing and Signaling Pathways Involved in Plant Cell Wall Remodeling in Response to Abiotic Stress
Lazar Novaković, Tingting Guo, Antony Bacic, Arun Sampathkumar and Kim L. Johnson
Plants 2018, 7(4), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants7040089

We congratulate and thank the authors for having chosen Plants to publish their work.

In recognition of their accomplishment, the authors will each receive a cash award of 500 CHF and the privilege of publishing an additional research article or review paper free of charge in open access format in Plants after the usual peer-review procedure.

The Plants Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy given by reviewers in checking manuscripts submitted to Plants. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

It is our pleasure to announce that the following referees have been selected to receive the “Plants 2019 Outstanding Reviewer Award” for the quantity, timeliness, and quality of their reviews in 2019 (in alphabetical order by surname):

Csengele Barta 
Missouri Western State University, USA

Hélia Cardoso 
Universidade de Évora, Portugal

Rupesh Deshmukh 
University Laval, Canada

Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando
Editor-in-Chief of Plants 
University of Manitoba, Canada

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Evaluation Committee, we are pleased to announce the winners of the Plants Travel Awards for 2018.

Travel Awards were granted to Dr. Syed Shane Ali Zaidi, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Liège, and to Justin Mathias, a Ph.D. student at West Virginia University. Dr. Syed Shan e Ali Zaidi will attend the 14th International Plant Virus Epidemiology Symposium (IPVE 2019) from May 13 to May 17, 2019 in Seoul, Korea. and aims to present the following paper: “Combining BAC and Nanopore Ultra-Long Read Sequencing to Resolve Cassava Mosaic Disease Resistance Locus CMD2”. Mr. Justin Mathias will attend the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, Austria, from 7–12 April 2019. His talk is in the session BG2.41 Interdisciplinary Tree-Ring Research under the title “Using a Multiproxy Tree Ring Approach to Examine the Effects of Environmental Change on Eastern U.S. Forests”.

Each awardee will receive 400 CHF (Swiss Francs) and the chance to publish one paper free of charge in Plants in 2019.

Congratulations to the winners of this very competitive travel award.

Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando
Editor-in-Chief

We are inviting applications for a Travel Award for postdoc fellow and PhD students in the area of plant science to attend a conference of their choice in 2018. The nominations and applications will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee consisting of senior scholars in this field.

Editor-in-Chief,

Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando

Candidates’ Requirements:

–Postdoc fellow and PhD students whose research involves plant science

–Attend an international conference in 2018 to present research (either via an oral presentation or poster) in the area of plant science

–Applicants are required to submit the following documents:

–An abstract for the conference

–Curriculum Vitae

–Letter of support from their mentors

The award will consist of 800 Swiss Francs

Please send your applications to plants@mdpi.com by 31 November 2017. The winner will be announced by 30 December 2017

Plants Editorial Office

St. Alban-Anlage 66

CH-4052, Basel, Switzerland

plants@mdpi.com

www.mdpi.com/journal/plants