Journal of Plant Research - JPR Awards Selection Procedure
June 5, 2006
Revised on April 11, 2011
1. Introduction:
The purpose of these awards is to recognize excellent papers published in the Journal of Plant
Research (JPR). The Editorial Committee of the Botanical Society of Japan shall select annually
papers that are judged to be the best in terms of scientific importance and citation frequency. The
authors of these papers shall be declared recipients of the JPR Best Paper Award and the JPR
Most-Cited Paper Award, respectively.
2. Eligibility:
(Best Paper Award)
Regular papers, short communications, and technical notes published in the Journal of Plant
Research during the preceding year shall be eligible for the Best Paper Award. Papers from the
Editor-in-Chief's laboratory are not eligible.
(Most-Cited Paper Award)
All papers including review articles and invited papers published in the Journal of Plant Research
during the third preceding year shall be eligible for the Most-Cited Paper Award. The recipient of
the Best Paper Award is not eligible.
3. Selection procedure:
The selection of the two JPR Awards will be conducted annually by the Editorial Committee during
May. If no paper qualifies, the JPR Awards may not be presented for that year.
(Best Paper Award)
The Best Paper Award for a particular year will be selected from all publications published in JPR
during the preceding year, except for review papers in the categories of Invited Articles and Current
Topics in Plant Research. Candidates for the Best Paper Award will be nominated by three rounds
of voting, as follows. A first vote will be conducted by Editorial Board members to draw up an
initial list of nominations of potential candidates. Each elector will nominate two candidates by
e-mail to the Editorial Office of the JPR. The list of first nominations will then be submitted to a
second vote by Editorial Board members to choose fewer than 10 semifinal candidates. A third vote
will be conducted by Editorial Committee members, including the Editor-in-Chief, with each
elector choosing two candidates from among the semifinalists. Based on the results of the third
round of voting, one or two recipients of the Best Paper Award will be named by the Editorial
Committee.
(Most-Cited Paper Award)
The candidate for the Most-Cited Paper Award shall be decided by the Editorial Committee by
reference to the ISI database.
4. Announcement:
The names of candidates for the JPR awards shall be reported to the President of the Botanical
Society of Japan, who shall formally authorize the awards to the recipients. This shall be followed
by an announcement of the Award recipients at the annual meeting for the Botanical Society of
Japan, at the website of the Society, and in the Journal of Plant Research.
5. Certificate and Gift:
The awards shall consist of a certificate and a small gift, which shall be presented to each of the
recipients by the President of the Botanical Society of Japan.