Announcements

This serves to announce to our valued authors based in Japan that value-added tax, or consumption tax will now be imposed on article processing fees and other service fees for all papers submitted, or resubmitted (assigned new paper IDs), effective from 15 August 2021. The change is in accordance with the Japanese "Act for Partial Revision of the Income Tax Act and Other Acts" (Act No. 9 of 2015), which includes a revision of consumption taxation on cross-border supplies of services such as digital content distribution.

For additional information from the National Tax Agency please see here ("Cross-border supplies of electronic services").

Contact: Setsuko Nishihara, MDPI Tokyo

We are delighted to inform you that the first Impact Factor of Horticulturae is 2.331, based on the Journal Citation Reports®. Horticulturae now ranks 8/37 (Q1) in “Horticulture” according to the newest JCR report. We greatly appreciate our author’s, reader’s, reviewer’s, and Board Member’s contributions to the journal’s development and continuous support for Horticulturae!

Horticulturae is a relatively young but well-established journal that is publishing its 7th volume this year. The journal is focusing on all areas of temperate to tropical horticulture and related disciplines. To expand our offerings to the horticulture community, Horticulturae is recruiting researchers to join the Editorial Board consisting of 15 Sections. If you are interested in this position, please contact the Horticulturae Editorial Office (horticulturae@mdpi.com).

We are pleased to announce the new Section “Insect Pest Management” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae/sections/insect_pest_management) in the journal Horticulturae. Dr. Umberto Bernardo is serving as the Section Editor-in-Chief.

The Insect Pest Management (IPM) Section publishes original manuscripts on the biology, ethology, characterization, and control of insects that damage horticultural crops, including vegetables, fruit trees, vines, berries, ornamental shrubs and trees, flowers, and aromatic and medicinal plants. The IPM Section welcomes submissions describing fundamental and applied research on all insect types and in all domains of insect pest management (e.g., morphological and molecular characterization, biology, ecology, plant–insect interactions, host resistance, damage, spread, and insect management).

In particular, IPM welcomes contributions by early-career researchers and proposals for review topics. In addition, we invite senior scientists to initiate and serve as Guest Editors of new Special Issues on timely topics.

The 2020 citation metrics have been officially released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR)!

We are pleased to announce that 85 MDPI journals are included, of which:

• 10 journals received their first impact factor
• 96% of journals increased their impact factor from 2019
• 32 journals (38%) ranked among the top 25% of journals, in at least one category

* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2021

Source: 2020 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ® (Clarivate, 2021)

We are pleased to announce that the 2020 CiteScore of Horticulturae is 3.4. It now ranks Q1 in the Horticulture category. The metric reflects citation activity in 2020 in Scopus for papers published in the period 2017‒2020.

For full details of the current CiteScore release, please see the journal's Source profile. The first Impact Factor will be released by the end of June. We also acknowledge the many valuable publications from our authors and the important contribution of our dedicated reviewers.

We are pleased to announce the new Section “Processed Horticultural Products” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae/sections/processed_horticultural_products) in the journal Horticulturae. Dr. Rosario Paolo Mauro is serving as the Section Editor-in-Chief.

The “Processed Horticultural Products” Section publishes original manuscripts of diverse types related to comparisons of 1) existing methodologies for production of new products from fruits and vegetables; 2) existing versus new methodologies for production of existing products; 3) different sources of crops (e.g., new cultivars) for production of existing products, and how new and/or existing processing methods affect the retention of important biochemical or phytochemical components, general quality traits, long-term storability, food safety, etc., in marketable products.

In particular, we welcome contributions by early career researchers. We also invite senior scientists to serve as Guest Editors of new Special Issues on a single and particular theme of significant and/or growing importance.

We are pleased to announce the new Section “Plant Pathology and Disease Management (PPDM)” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae/sections/PPDM) in journal Horticulturae. Prof. Dr. Harald Scherm is serving as the Section Editor-in-Chief.

The Section Plant Pathology and Disease Management (PPDM) publishes original manuscripts on the causes, mechanisms, and control of plant diseases in horticultural crops, including vegetables, fruit trees, vines, berries, ornamental shrubs and trees, flowers, and aromatic and medicinal plants. The Section PPDM welcomes submissions describing fundamental and applied research on all plant pathogen types and in all domains of plant pathology (e.g., disease etiology, diagnosis, ecology and epidemiology, plant–pathogen interactions, host resistance, and disease management).

In particular, PPDM welcomes contributions by early-career researchers and proposals for review topics. In addition, we invite senior scientists to initiate and serve as Guest Editors of new Special Issues on timely topics.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Horticulturae 2021 Best Paper Award.

The award has been granted to one review and one research article:

Review:

Recent Advances in Hormonal Regulation and Cross-Talk during Non-Climacteric Fruit Development and Ripening
By Lida Fuentes, Carlos R. Figueroa and Monika Valdenegro
Horticulturae 2019, 5(2), 45; doi: 10.3390/horticulturae5020045 (https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/2/45)

Research Article:

Evaluation of Two Wild Populations of Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.) as a Potential Leafy Vegetable
By Marta Guarise, Gigliola Borgonovo, Angela Bassoli and Antonio Ferrante
Horticulturae 2019, 5(1), 13; doi: 10.3390/horticulturae5010013 (https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/1/13)

Each winner (the corresponding author) will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper in Horticulturae in 2021.

We congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups of the above exceptional papers for their contributions to Horticulturae and thank the award committee for voting and helping organize the award.

MDPI Books recently released Book Builder, a new online tool to conveniently arrange, design and produce an eBook from any content published in MDPI journals. Book Builder offers two functions: on the one hand (1) Selections, available to every registered user of MDPI; on the other hand (2) Special Issue Reprints, which can be used exclusively by Guest Editors of Special Issues.

Selections

In just a matter of a few clicks, all users are now able to assemble books from MDPI articles and receive instantaneous feedback in the form of a fully produced and compiled book (PDF), which can be downloaded or ordered as print copy. Selections can include any paper published with MDPI, picking and combining content from different journals and special issues.

This way, the user may for example choose to compile an ebook focusing around a particular topic, or assemble articles from a group of others.

We invite you to make yourself familiar with the new tool! The Book Builder can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/books/book_builder.

Special Issue Reprints

The Book Builder allows Guest Editors of MDPI journals to create a reprint from a successfully completed Special Issue or Topical Collection in book format. If you are a Guest Editor for an MDPI journal, you can use the new tool  to create an PDF document which includes all articles published in the Special Issue as well as a book cover and table of contents.

For Special Issues containing a minimum of 5 articles, the Guest Editor can request its publication on the MDPI Book platform. Published reprints are assigned an ISBN and DOI.

In addition to the PDF copy of the Reprint Book, as a token of our gratitude, MDPI offers every Guest Editor one (1) complimentary print copy (via print-on-demand). All contributors benefit from a discount on orders of any additional print copies, to share with colleagues or libraries or others.

Why choose MDPI Books?

In line with our organization's values, MDPI Books publishes all content in open access, promoting the exchange of ideas and knowledge in a globalized world. MDPI Books encompasses all the benefits of open access—high availability and visibility, as well as wide and rapid dissemination. MDPI Books are distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License, meaning as an author you retain the copyright for your work. In addition, with MDPI Books you can complement the digital version of your work with a high-quality printed counterpart.

If you are interested in editing a book volume or series, or have a monograph manuscript to be considered for publication, please submit your proposal online and look at our Information for Authors.

Contact: Laura Wagner, MDPI Books Manager (email)

The Horticulturae editorial office would like to announce the following Editors’ Choice Papers published in 2019. The evaluation is based on the times of citations, downloads, views, and academic editors’ recommendations. You are welcome to download and read these papers.

Review Papers:

• Recent Advances in Hormonal Regulation and Cross-Talk during Non-Climacteric Fruit Development and Ripening
  By Lida Fuentes et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/2/45

• Response of Mediterranean Ornamental Plants to Drought Stress
  By Daniela Romano et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/1/6

• Light and Microbial Lifestyle: The Impact of Light Quality on Plant–Microbe Interactions in Horticultural Production Systems—A Review
  By Beatrix W. Alsanius et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/2/41

• Risk of Human Pathogen Internalization in Leafy Vegetables during Lab-Scale Hydroponic Cultivation
  By Kristen E. Gibson et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/1/25

• Irrigation of Greenhouse Crops
  By Georgios Nikolaou et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/1/7

Article Papers:

• Evaluation of Two Wild Populations of Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.) as a Potential Leafy Vegetable
  By Marta Guarise et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/1/13

• Influence of Preharvest Gibberellic Acid Treatments on Postharvest Quality of Minimally Processed Leaf Lettuce and Rocket
  By Alessandro Miceli et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/3/63

• Assessing Quantitative Criteria for Characterization of Quality Categories for Grafted Watermelon Seedlings
  By Athanasios Koukounaras et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/1/16

• Citrulline and Arginine Content of Taxa of Cucurbitaceae
  By Jordan L. Hartman et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/1/22

• Does Inoculation with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Reduce Trunk Disease in Grapevine Rootstocks?
  By Miranda Hart et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/3/61

• A Comparison of Plant Growth Rates between an NFT Hydroponic System and an NFT Aquaponic System
  By Wilson Lennard et al.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/5/2/27