Call for papers: Harnessing the benefits of specimen digitisation - deadline extended to 6 May 2024!

Last updated: 23 Apr, 2024

The New Phytologist Foundation is calling for submission of abstracts for a joint special issue of New Phytologist and Plants, People, Planet on the theme of 'Harnessing the benefits of specimen digitisation'.

Skip to:

Summary
Context
Purpose and scope
Format and submission
Selection criteria
Indicative timeline
Acknowledgements
New Phytologist author guidelines
Plants, People, Planet author guidelines

Summary

The world’s c. 3000 herbaria and fungaria house the most complete, expertly curated and important source of information for plant and fungal life on Earth. While their specimens have long been locked in cupboards only accessible to physical visitors, massive efforts are now underway to unlock the wealth of information they contain: from high-resolution images to -omics analyses and rich multimodal meta-data. But how can this emerging digital and inter-connected data resource, capturing a rapidly increasing proportion of the world’s 400 million plant and fungal specimens, help us address pressing scientific, environmental and societal challenges? We are particularly keen to receive proposals for studies from authors based in Africa and Asia.

This inter-disciplinary special collection aims to address this overarching question by soliciting contributions from researchers from around the world. A selection of the peer-reviewed papers that are accepted will feed into the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew’s State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2026 report – a globally acclaimed publication aimed at the general public and policymakers. The last report resulted in over 1,000 pieces of press and media coverage globally and the papers in the special collection have been downloaded more than 48,000 times. We expect this collection to attract a similar level of attention. The timing of publication will follow completion of RBG Kew’s own digitisation programme for its herbarium and fungarium – which rank among the world’s largest, and together house c. 8.5 million specimens. Through varied approaches, from optimising digital methodologies and data capture, to the use of artificial intelligence, DNA sequencing and georeferencing at scale; and by exploring various data resources, from the images themselves to their integration with citizen science observations or socio-, economic- or climatic data, we encourage submissions that break new ground in data-related topics and, combined, take us closer to a Digital Revolution.

A researcher digitising specimens

Context

This is the digital era: never before has so much information been available in the public domain. As of early 2024, there are an estimated 750 billion images findable on the internet, retrievable from more than 1.5 billion homepages. In biology, the growth in data is no less impressive, with over 2.5 billion sequences now available from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (GenBank) and 2.6 billion species occurrence records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, over one billion of which since 2020. Combine this with the global landscape of open data in complementary areas of study, making new possibilities for correlations, predictions and discoveries boundless. So how can we harness this wealth of biological information, and in particular the data unlocked most recently through digitisation of several of the world’s plant and fungal collections?

Purpose and scope

This collection aims to encourage the global scientific community to explore and showcase the uses and benefits of harnessing and synthesising digital information derived from plants and fungi.

The primary focus is on data captured through digitisation of specimens deposited in natural history collections (such as herbaria, fungaria, economic botany collections, seed banks, fungal cultures and other forms of plant and fungal collections, including biobanks). By ‘digitisation’, we mean the process of extracting scientifically valuable information from specimens. The information can vary greatly across digitisation efforts, minimally comprising basic information such as the specimen’s taxonomic name, location and date of collection, all the way to high-resolution images, the information contained in the specimen labels and molecular and chemical characterisation. Whenever suitable, authors could aim to present methodologies or integration of specimen data with other forms of information, such as citizen science observations, climate and other forms of environmental, geo-physical or socio-economic data – all depending on the specific questions and objectives of each study.

Building on the success of previous special collections linked to RBG Kew's State of the World’s Plants and Fungi reports (see the latest Special Collection on Global plant diversity and distribution), we will virtually combine publications in the two journals of the New Phytologist Foundation: New Phytologist and Plants, People, Planet.

The Guest Editors for this collection are Alexandre Antonelli, Rhian Smith, Isabel Larridon (RBG Kew); Charles Davis (Harvard University); Damon P. Little (New York Botanical Garden); Stephen Smith (University of Michigan); and Vincent Smith (Natural History Museum in London). The Guest Editor team will be fully supported by the Editorial Boards of New Phytologist and Plants, People, Planet.

Format and submission

For this collection, we welcome all article types, such as full papers, methods papers, priority reports, research reviews, letters, viewpoints pieces, or community resources for New Phytologist; or research articles, methods and techniques, brief reports, reviews or opinion articles for Plants, People, Planet. There are no guarantees of acceptance: submissions will undergo regular peer-review and only those meeting the publishing standards can be eventually accepted. Please refer to each journal’s website for further details and Author Guidelines. Brief Author Guidelines can be found below.

Submissions that are accepted will feed into RBG Kew’s State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2026 report.

Submissions should fall under one or more of the following general themes:

Documentation of biodiversity / new scientific discoveries
(Digitisation methodologies, georeferencing, accelerating species identification or morphological descriptions, data validation using ORCID referencing etc.)
Evolution and distribution
(Molecular and morphological evolution, patterns and drivers of diversity etc.)
Threats and opportunities
(Extinction risk, conservation prioritisation etc.)
Adaptation and resilience
(Response to past and ongoing change, resilience to future stressors etc.)
Science and society
(Citizen science, women in taxonomy, diversity in science, community conservation, history of science, ethnobiology, use of DOI datasets for wider research, ethics of AI etc)
Other themes/topics that could fit in, upon discussion with the editors

Examples of questions that could be addressed by submissions:

How can digitised images help us accelerate species discoveries?
What datasets should we collect from specimens to explore crucial research questions?
What does specimen metadata tell us about morphological diversity and evolution?
How does the digitised information alter our understanding of species distributions?
What phenological responses have species had to climate change?
Could digitised specimens help identify or validate citizen science observations?
What insights can specimens reveal about the history of scientific exploration, and about the plant and fungal collectors?
What are the unexplored ethical, legal, or financial implications of biodiversity data sharing and integration, including their uses through AI technologies?

Examples of approaches could include artificial intelligence methods, such as image recognition and segmentation tools, neural networks, transformers; text analyses, optical character recognition; geo-spatial mapping; and genomics and phylogenetic comparative methods.

On submission of abstracts in response to this call (see submission procedure below), authors should select their preferred journal and indicate whether they would also consent to consideration by the other journal, if judged appropriate by the editors.

Selection criteria

Selection of abstracts to proceed to full submission will be based on:

Use of digital data from plant and fungal collections [Essential]
Clear hypothesis-driven research
Wide geographical scope [However, we are open to well-justified exceptions]
Societal impact [Essential for Plants, People, Planet submissions]
Appropriateness of the study in line with the preferred journal’s aims and scope

Each submission will be scored by the editors as follows:

Novelty (in terms of expected novel scientific insights) (20% of total score)
Impact (in terms of likely scientific, environmental or societal influence) (20% of total score)
Quality (in terms of overall data used, methods & analyses) (60% of total score)

We will aim to balance the contributions in terms of overall diversity of geographic areas, taxa and authors. To promote scientific inclusion, diversity and equity, we particularly welcome submissions from under-represented groups, ethnic minorities, low-income countries, and authors at a diversity of career stages.

Accepted articles will be published online as soon as they are ready, with no embargo associated with the special collection.

Indicative timeline

The specific deadlines are as follows:

6 May 2024 (midnight UK time (UTC +1): Deadline for expressions of interest. Please follow the ‘Submit your abstract’ link below to indicate your interest in making a contribution by providing a provisional title, abstract/synopsis of the work to be undertaken, and an indicative list of authors and institutions. These will be reviewed by the editorial board and successful authors will be invited to proceed to full submission. We anticipate that authors will be notified within three weeks of the closing date.
10 November 2024: Preferred deadline for full submissions to ensure inclusion in RBG Kew's State of the World’s Plants and Fungi report.
10 February 2025: Final deadline for full submissions.
May 2025 (approximately): Decisions communicated to authors.
May–September 2025: Revision and further review period (articles must be accepted for publication by the end of October 2025 to ensure inclusion within the collection*).
October 2025–April 2026: RBG Kew's State of the World’s Plants and Fungi report will be written and produced by professional science writers, editors and designers, with input and approval from the corresponding authors. All co-authors of the papers used for the report will be invited to be co-authors of the report.
May–June 2026: RBG Kew's State of the World’s Plants and Fungi published, followed by a hybrid international symposium to discuss the findings.

Submit your abstract

For enquiries about this special collection, including pre-submission enquiries, please contact Executive Editor Sarah Lennon (s.lennon@lancaster.ac.uk).

Acknowledgments

RBG Kew’s State of the World’s Plants and Fungi is supported by the generous support from the Sfumato Foundation.

Brief Author Guidelines

Brief guidelines are given below, however, please refer to the respective journal's full Author Guidelines for final preparation as these contain detailed information on how to compile the electronic version of your manuscript, style and legal requirements.

New Phytologist

Manuscripts that are to be considered for New Phytologist Special Collections should conform to the full Author Guidelines.

It is important to note that Special Collection submissions are treated in exactly the same way as regular manuscripts submitted to the journal (i.e. they will go through the same peer review system as regular manuscripts and acceptance is not guaranteed). Special Collection manuscripts must therefore focus on timely research that provides new insights into the broad principles of plant science. In addressing such questions, research manuscripts will focus entirely on the presentation of new data (mixed part review / part data papers are not encouraged). The word limit for research manuscripts is 6500 words.

Synthesis and Modelling / Theory papers will generally fall into the research manuscript category and the headings can be adapted accordingly (e.g. in the case of Modelling / Theory papers, include a heading of Description in place of Materials and Methods, to include description of the model or theoretical framework).

New Phytologist also publishes a number of additional formats under the Forum and Review sections. These are generally commissioned ahead of time, but please do get in touch should you have any suggestions.

Plants, People, Planet

All manuscripts submitted for consideration in Plants, People, Planet should conform to the journal’s Author Guidelines. Submitted manuscripts will be subject to peer review and must meet the aims and scope and quality criteria of the journal. In particular, all manuscripts should consider the wider implications / impact of the work for people, society and the planet, including any implications for policy and / or practice. These aspects will be considered by the editor and reviewers when evaluating manuscripts and should be at the forefront of works, including in the 100-word Societal Impact Statement on the title page of the submission. We especially welcome:

Review articles. These tend be in the region of 4000 words, with up to six figures, however, please note that the journal has no strict limits on word length and number of figures / tables.
Research articles, which should report new and interesting insights into the relationships between plants, people and planet. Generally, research articles are in the region of 3500–4000 words, however, as above we have no strict limits.
Methods and Techniques provide a forum for novel inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches for researchers, practitioners and educators at the interface between plants and society. Methods and Techniques are generally in the region of 3500–4000 words.
Brief Reports highlight preliminary findings of research in progress, or a case report of particular interest. Brief Reports are usually in the region of 1500 words, with 20 references and two display items.

Plants, People, Planet also publishes additional formats. Please do get in touch should you have any suggestions.

* To ensure inclusion within the Special collection all manuscripts must be submitted by the submission deadline as outlined above, and any subsequent dates set for the submission of revised manuscripts following peer review. We appreciate that the extent of revisions required for different manuscripts may vary and our publication schedule is set to accommodate this. However, whilst we will do all we can to expedite the process of those manuscripts rejected with resubmission encouraged, out of fairness to all authors and to maintain timeliness, we cannot guarantee inclusion within the Special Collection. We would of course include your article in the next available regular issue once accepted. We therefore advise you to submit your manuscript by the deadline if possible.