Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - JPDP: A historical insight into the journal
Historical background of the journal
The Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection (JPDP) is a hybrid journal, owned by the Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft e. V. (DPG) - the German Society of Plant Protection and Plant Health.
JPDP addresses all aspects of plant pathology and protection as well as emerging pests and diseases. The journal has a remarkable record: it is one of the oldest plant science journals in Europe and was founded in Germany in 1891.
There is no doubt that Germany was a fertile place for the development of plant sciences at this time. J. G. Kuhn published the first textbook of plant pathology here in 1858, entitled “The Diseases of Cultivated Crops, their Causes, and their Control” and perhaps it is worth remembering that Darwin‘s celebrated work, “The Origin of Species”, saw the light of day only a year later in Britain.
I am pleased to show the title page of the first edition published in 1891 by Verlag Eugen Ulmer KG, with its beautiful old-fashioned fonts. When I look at the names on this very first editorial board, it is amazing that it was already an “international” board with scientists coming from all over the Americas, Australia, Europe, and even Java, and I can hardly imagine how difficult it must have been then to keep in touch with like-minded people.
The journal has a long history, and its title changed several times over the years until it was finally renamed the »Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection« (JPDP) in 2006 and also became the official publication of the Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft e. V. (DPG).
In 2016, Springer took over this renowned publication documenting 125 years of “plant protection” in Germany. It documents not only the rise of plant protection as a subject but also the increasing complexity of this scientific discipline. Today, the journal is led by Dr. Falko Feldmann and Dr. Gerd Stammler; both supported by Dr. Christian Carstensen in his role as Managing Editor.
Present-days
The journal has a strong identity as the official publication of the DPG. The Editors-in-Chiefs are supported by a large editorial board carefully selected to serve on the board. The journal‘s board meetings are usually heavily attended: 45 editors were present at the last virtual board meeting held in January 2022.
We started publishing the journal with the first issue in 2016 and since then the journal numbers have grown tremendously:
• Submissions have tripled from 2016 to 2021
• Publications have doubled from 2016 to 2021
• The Impact Factor grew from 0.485 in 2016 to 1.847 in 2021
• The journal‘s usage numbers have also increased, with more than 105,000 article downloads in 2021, a 72% increase over the previous year
Next to come
The journal has gone through many changes in recent years. As said before, Ulmer published it until the end of 2015, and then Springer Nature took over the publication. It was added to a new plant pathology portfolio in late 2019.
The dedicated editorial board will help the journal continue to grow and support its active community of scholars, thanks in part to the special issues that the journal has begun to publish, now renamed to “topic volume” because articles published in “special issues” were in some instances not acknowledged as regular scientific papers by some universities.
In 2022, the journal published its first special issue, “Digital Plant Pathology for Precision Agriculture”. Another special issue is currently open for submissions, and it is dedicated to “Botanical active substances for use in plant protection”.