Submissions

Author Guidelines

User Registration in the journal 

To submit a manuscript, register as an author: click Register at the top right of the journal website, complete the form, and choose a username in lowercase letters. After registering, log in and select Make a New Submission.

Templates

Please prepare your submission using the journal templates: Manuscript Template (.docx) and Title Page Template (.docx). Manuscripts that do not follow the templates will be returned to the authors without review.

Files

1. Title page (template): Title, author names in order, affiliations with full address and country, corresponding author details with ORCID iD, Author Contributions (CRediT), Funding and Acknowledgements (if any). This file is not sent to reviewers.
2. Manuscript (template, anonymised for double-blind review): Title, Abstract, Keywords, 1. Introduction, 2. Materials and Methods, 3. Results, 4. Discussion, 5. Conclusions, Declaration of Generative AI Use, Conflict of Interest, Data Availability Statement, Ethics Statement (if applicable), References, Appendix (if any). Results and Discussion are acceptable in one section.
3. Author Declaration: The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor) – Please download, complete and sign the Author Declaration Form and upload it with your submission.
4. Suggested Reviewers: A separate word file should be added which includes five suggested reviewers, their emails and affiliations.

1. Manuscript Preparation

Cover Letter

A precise cover letter is mandatory with the submission of a new manuscript. A cover letter has to give details as to why the submitted manuscript is appropriate for publication in the Plantae Protecta and to explain the significance of the work done. The submission consists of a cover letter, a separate title page (Title Page Template) and the anonymised main manuscript (Manuscript Template). The main manuscript is compiled in the following order: title; abstract; keywords; main text; Declaration of Generative AI Use; Conflict of Interest; Data Availability Statement; Ethics Statement (if applicable); references; appendices (if any). Tables and figures are placed in the text after the paragraph in which they are first cited.

1.1 Article Types and Length

2. Manuscript style

The manuscript must be typed in Times New Roman, 12 pt, with 1.5 line spacing and all margins ≥ 2.5 cm. Consecutive line numbering needs to be given throughout the manuscript.

2.1     Introductory material

The separate title page (see the Title Page Template) must contain the following items in the order given below. Only the article type, title and keywords are repeated in the anonymised main manuscript:

• Type of the article (research, review, short communication or case study)
• Title of the paper that clearly defines the area of research;
• Names of all authors in full (given name followed by surname), their affiliations with complete postal addresses, the email address of every author, and the ORCID iD of the corresponding author;
• 4–6 keywords (in alphabetical order), which reflect the key area of research (do not repeat words in the title);
• if the paper is based on a presentation on a meeting or similar, a footnote must be given with the date (name of the month spelled out), place, and title of the meeting;
• a footnote must also be given if the contribution is based on another publication.

2.2     Abstract

For Research Articles, the third page of the manuscript should start with the abstract not exceeding 250-300 words, and clearly explain the research background, aims, methodology, results and conclusion. For Review Articles, abstracts may vary, but should not exceed 300-350 words. For Short Communications and Case Studies, the abstract should be 200–250 words. Moreover, authors are required to also submit a graphical abstract, consisting of a figure or file identified to highlight your article.

2.3     Main Text

Original articles

The body of the article should contain the following sections: introduction; methods; results; discussion; conclusions.

Introduction: This section should state the relevance and background to the study, and its rationale and purpose.

Methods: This section should contain all the information that was available at the time the plan or protocol for the study was being written. You should describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants, identify the methods, apparatus and procedures in sufficient detail to allow others to reproduce the results, and describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable acknowledgeable readers with access to the original data to verify the reported results.

Results: Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and figures. Where a new parameter is reported, the results should include proper heading as appropriate.

Discussion: This should include inferences/consequences of the findings and their limitations/justifications, with reference to all other relevant studies conducted previously or ongoing published results and the possibilities these suggestions for future research.

Conclusions: This must summarize the main paper. Ensure that extrapolations are reasonable and that conclusions are justified by the data presented, and indicate if the study design can be generalized to a broader study population.

Review article

It should be structured as follows: context, objective, methods (including data sources, study selection and data extraction), results and conclusion.

A Scoping/Systematic Review can also be submitted as a type of Review and follows a similar structure. Scoping reviews must adhere to the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews checklist, which can be found at PRISMA. This checklist should be submitted as supplementary material during submission. Templates for the flow diagram are available on the PRISMA website and should be included in the main text. Authors are strongly encouraged to register their detailed protocols in a public registry, such as the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/) or Inplasy (https://inplasy.com/), before beginning data extraction. A statement confirming adherence to PRISMA guidelines and providing registration details (if applicable) must be included in the Methods section.

Short communications and Case Studies

Short Communications are concise articles that report groundbreaking preliminary results or significant findings that are part of a broader, multi-year study. They may also introduce innovative methods, experiments, or the development of new technology or materials. The format is similar to a full article.

Case Studies provide detailed analysis of specific incidents, practices, or challenges in the field of plant protection. They should include: Clear Background (Context and rationale for the study), Specific Details (Step-by-step account of the case), Practical Implications (Focus on lessons learned, best practices, and recommendations), and Use Visuals (Incorporate figures, tables, or photographs to enhance understanding).

2.4 Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

2.5 Author Contributions

Author contributions must be stated on the title page using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). CRediT is a high-level taxonomy of 14 roles that represents the roles typically played by contributors to research outputs. More about CRediT can be found at https://credit.niso.org/

Example of author contributions:

Conceptualization, G.E.D., S.E.G. and T.E.C.; methodology, G.E.D.; software, S.E.G.; formal analysis, G.E.D. and S.E.G.; writing—original draft preparation, G.E.D. and S.E.G.; writing—review and editing, T.E.C. and S.E.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

2.6 Funding: All funding sources of the study, with grant numbers, must be stated on the title page (not in the anonymised manuscript).

2.7 Data Availability Statement: Authors should provide details regarding where data supporting reported results can be found, including links to publicly archived datasets analyzed or generated during the study. You might choose to exclude this statement if the study did not report any data.

2.8 Acknowledgments - Acknowledgements must be given on the title page only, so that the main manuscript remains anonymised for double-blind review. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proofreading the article, etc.).

2.9 Appendices - If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

2.10 Footnotes and abbreviations - Footnotes should be avoided. Abbreviations should also be avoided, except from exceptionally usual. If used, footnotes should only contain additional text (comment), and not information about sources used. The abbreviations stated in tables and pictures should be explained.

2.11 References

Reference must be up to date with the proportion >80% is the last 10 years. In the main text, cite references by author surname and year, following APA 7th edition: narrative citations such as John (2018), Ali and Kaleem (2019) and Rosov et al. (2020; 2022); parenthetical citations such as (Cena, 2017; Sara & Tom, 2019; Rosov et al., 2020), listed in chronological order. References must be listed in alphabetical order at the end of the manuscript under the heading “References”, following the APA 7th edition referencing style.

2.12 Supplementary material

Supplementary material as appropriate can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Word, Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online).

3. Additional Requirements

3.1 Preparation for double-blind review

Plantae Protecta uses double-blind peer review. Author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, funding details and any other identifying information must appear only on the separate title page. The main manuscript file must be anonymised, including document properties and self-citations written in the third person.

3.2 ORCID iD

The corresponding author must provide an ORCID iD (https://orcid.org) on the title page and in the submission metadata. All co-authors are strongly encouraged to provide one.

3.3 Declaration of Generative AI Use

Every manuscript must include a section titled “Declaration of Generative AI Use”, placed after the Conclusions and before the References, stating the tool(s) used, the purpose and the extent of use, or confirming that no AI tools were used. See the journal’s Declaration of Generative AI Use policy for the required wording.

3.4 Ethics Statement

Research involving human participants (e.g. farmer surveys or interviews) must state the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the approval reference number, and confirm that informed consent was obtained. Research involving animals must state compliance with applicable institutional and national ethical standards.

3.5 Figures and Tables

Figures must have a resolution of at least 300 dpi and be supplied as separate image files (TIFF or JPEG) in addition to being embedded in the manuscript. Tables must be editable (not images) and placed after the paragraph in which they are first cited.

3.6 English language

Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatically correct English. Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to have their manuscript checked by a fluent English speaker or a professional language-editing service before submission. The journal does not provide a language-editing service.