Plant Ecology and Diversity is an international journal for communicating results and novel ideas in plant science, in print and online, six times a year. All areas of plant biology relating to ecology, evolution and diversity are of interest, including those which explicitly deal with today's highly topical themes, such as biodiversity, conservation and global change. We consider submissions that address fundamental questions which are pertinent to contemporary plant science. Articles concerning extreme environments world-wide are particularly welcome.

Plant Ecology and Diversity considers for publication original research articles, short communications, reviews, and scientific correspondence that explore thought-provoking ideas.

    Original Article: Original scientific research (~7000 words)
    Rapid Communication Article: As above but shorter format (~2500 words)
    Review Article: In depth review of a specific area (~12,000) N.B. Grubb reviews are invited reviews
    Perspectives Article: Editorial/opinion piece: short articles that foster academic debate

To aid redressing ‘publication bias’ the journal is unique in reporting, in the form of short communications, ‘negative results’ and ‘repeat experiments’ that test ecological theories experimentally, in theoretically flawless and methodologically sound papers. Research reviews and method papers, are also encouraged.

Plant Ecology & Diversity publishes high-quality and topical research that demonstrates solid scholarship. As such, the journal does not publish purely descriptive papers. Submissions are required to focus on research topics that are broad in their scope and thus provide new insights and contribute to theory. The original research should address clear hypotheses that test theory or questions and offer new insights on topics of interest to an international readership.

A structured cover letter at submission is required that outlines:

(1) Why the submitted work is important and timely (what lacunae in knowledge it addresses),

(2) What hypotheses or questions the reported work addresses (hypotheses must test theory and not be ‘paper tiger’ questions),

(3) How the work fills the identified gaps in knowledge and how the work overall advances our understanding (not only in the context of the reported paper but in the broad context of plant biological sciences


Peer review is double-anonymized, unique in ecological journals. All manuscripts are allocated by the Editor-in-Chief to a suitable Associate Editor, who decides whether the paper may proceed to the peer-review stage. (Only papers that are prepared in conformity to the Instructions for Authors and are written in a high standard of English will undergo peer review.) Assignment to an Associate Editor is completed within one week of submission. Papers that are deemed to undergo peer review are assessed by three independent reviewers at the discretion of the handling Associate Editor. These should not generally have been co-authors or collaborators within the past 3 years, nor should they have any other conflict of interest. The selection of reviewers is at the discretion of the Associate Editors.