Prof. Dr. Koji Mikami Appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of Section “Algal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology” in Phycology
Phycology (ISSN 2673-9410) announces the appointment of Prof. Dr. Koji Mikami (Miyagi University, Japan) as Section Editor-in-Chief (SEiC) of the “Algal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology” Section.
Prof. Dr. Koji Mikami is a professor at Miyagi University. His area of expertise focuses on the physiology and molecular biology of development and environmental stress response in seaweeds, and the biotechnology of seaweeds (gene transfer and genetic transformation, application of seaweed genes for land green plants).
In his role as SEiC, Prof. Dr. Koji Mikami will work with the Editorial Office and academic editors to support high-quality submissions and to further strengthen the “Algal Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology” Section as an open forum for phycological research.
The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Koji Mikami, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area and open access publishing:
1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?
Biological understanding of algae is fundamentally important for sustainable mariculture and application of functional algal materials to food, medicine, and cosmetics. However, research focusing on basic biological aspects, for instance, regulatory mechanisms of development, growth, and environmental stress response at physiological and molecular biological levels, are highly behind those in plant and animal research fields. Since I have experience studying morphogenesis and stress responses in algae and plants, I hope to contribute to strengthening the basic biology field, which has not been fully developed in other algal journals.
2. What is your vision for the journal?
Phycology could develop well based on a high submission rate and strict reviewing to cover every research area relating to algal studies. However, a consensus should be established for manuscripts that are only based on bioinformatic analysis or contain AI-based writing.
3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
Progress in this field of research highly depends on technical breakthrough for establishing gene-modification systems, especially genome editing, in macroalgae. Thus, research enabling technical development in the molecular biology field is an important area. In addition, another important aspect is education about basic biology performed in plants, animals, and microorganisms to master thinking skills about living organisms at the molecular level. Thus, expanding the algal research field must be accompanied by encouraging researchers from other research fields to join.
4. What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?
Open access is a very important approach to share research world-wide. However, costs can be a challenge for academics. Reducing costs is an important next step in developing journals and collecting high-quality manuscripts.
We wish Prof. Dr. Koji Mikami every success in his new position, and we look forward to his contributions to the journal.