The New Phytologist Tansley Medal

Selection is a multi-stage process based on the scientific achievements of the candidate and a short review article intended for publication.

The subject areas considered must conform to the aims and scope of New Phytologist, which falls into five broad sections: Physiology & Development, Environment, Interaction, Evolution, and Transformative Plant Biotechnology. Articles cover topics that range from intracellular processes to global environmental change. Please ensure that you have thoroughly read the Tansley Medal rules and selection procedure before applying.

First round: scientific achievements

Applicants should submit:

• The completed 2026 New Phytologist Tansley Medal pro forma which should include:
  1) A 300-word personal statement describing their scientific achievements to date.
  2) 3 selected papers that best represent their research discoveries.
  3) A brief outline, maximum 100 words, of what their Tansley insight would cover, if shortlisted.

• Their curriculum vitae, which should include their full list of publications as an appendix.

• A letter of recommendation / reference (maximum 300 words) from a scientist who has agreed to support the application, usually the applicant's group leader. This letter can be submitted as part of the application or can be sent by email directly from the referee to Senior Commissioning Editor, Holly Slater. This must be received by 1 November 2025. Applicants must provide the contact details of their referee during the online application process.

These documents should be saved as a single PDF document, in the following order:

1. The completed New Phytologist Tansley Medal 2026 pro forma.

2. The applicant's curriculum vitae.

3. A letter of recommendation, unless this will be sent directly from the referee.

Second round: author a Tansley insight short review

If you are selected to go forward to the second round, you will be notified within 6 weeks of the the submission deadline and invited to write a single-authored Tansley insight, which should typically focus on the subject area to which your publications have contributed; care should be taken to ensure a balanced view is presented. These short reviews will be c. 2000 words, and contain up to four display elements and 40 references. Full Author guidelines will be provided to the shortlisted candidates. Manuscripts will be handled by a relevant New Phytologist subject Editor and sent for external peer review.

Final round

All competition articles that pass successfully through peer review will be published in New Phytologist and the Tansley Medal winner selected by the judges from these final articles.

1. This is a global competition open to all plant scientists in the early stages of their career, who have three to five years' experience since gaining / defending their PhD. The number of years' experience excludes career breaks and should be calculated back from 31 December of the year preceding the current Tansley Medal competition. (i.e. for the 2026 competition, candidates should have no more than five years' experience by the 31 December 2025. If you did not take any career breaks during this time, you would be eligible if you defended your PhD between 31 December 2020 and 1 January 2023.)
   
   Eligibility is determined from the date that your PhD was passed / confirmed / gained, which may be the date of a successful thesis defence, or the date that final corrections are accepted by your institution. This is not the date when your PhD may have been officially presented / awarded / conferred in a graduation ceremony, as in many cases this could be significantly after the PhD was completed.

   We define career breaks as official periods of time off from employment, either for family reasons or for personal or professional development, where you were not actively engaged in scientific research. We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for many; if you feel that your research was impacted more than others in a major way (e.g., your department was closed for six months and you were not able to collect data or you were between jobs and not able to take up your new position) then this sort of career break can be considered.

2. For the first round of the competition all applicants should submit:

• A completed 2026 New Phytologist Tansley Medal pro forma, which should include:
  1) A 300-word personal statement describing their scientific achievements to date.
  2) 3 selected papers that best represent their research discoveries.
  3) A brief outline (100 words maximum) of what their Tansley insight would cover, if shortlisted.

• Their curriculum vitae, which should include their full list of publications as an appendix.

• A letter of recommendation / reference (up to 300 words) from a scientist who has agreed to support the application, usually the applicant's group leader. This letter can be submitted as part of the application or can be sent by email directly from the referee to Senior Commissioning Editor, Holly Slater. This must be received by 1 November 2025. Applicants must provide the contact details of their referee during the online application process.
  
  These documents should be saved as a single PDF document, in the following order:
  1) The completed 2026 New Phytologist Tansley Medal pro forma.
  2) The applicant's curriculum vitae.
  3) A letter of recommendation or, if this will be sent directly from the referee, the referee's contact details.

3. The judging panel is comprised of New Phytologist Editors Amy Austin, Ian Dickie, Liam Dolan, Elena Kramer, and Shuhua Yang. The judges will select the finalists for the second round of the competition, who will be invited to author a Tansley insight review. The judges will select the winner from those finalists whose articles are accepted for publication; advice from Editors and reviewers will be sought to ensure equal treatment across a broad range of subjects.

4. Tansley insights invited for the second round must be single-authored by the applicant, will be handled by a relevant New Phytologist subject Editor, and sent for external peer review as for any regular submission to the journal. Reviewers will be informed that the paper has been submitted as part of the Tansley Medal competition.

5. Tansley insights are short (c. 2000 words, with up to 40 references and four figures) and timely reviews that highlight recent developments or discoveries within the plant sciences. They are published as part of the prestigious Tansley review series, which is free to access. Finalists should typically focus their Tansley insight on the subject area to which their publications have contributed, taking care to ensure a balanced view is presented. Finalists will be provided with further details and Author guidelines. Articles must conform to all other requirements of the standard Author guidelines for New Phytologist; attention to these details is essential.

6. Shortlisted candidates will be confirmed within six weeks of the closing date for each competition. All candidates will be notified of the status of the application at this stage. Shortlisted candidates will be given 12 weeks to write and submit their Tansley insight. Time in peer review varies, but we aim to provide authors with a first decision within 35 days. Minor revisions should be completed within two–four weeks and major revisions within four–eight weeks as advised by the handling Editor. Those authors whose manuscripts are rejected with encouragement to resubmit must do so within 12 weeks to remain within the competition. Final judging will take place once all manuscripts have completed peer review or the 12-week deadline for expected resubmissions has passed.