Editorial Policy

Author contributions
Plant and Environment requires that the contributions of each author be clearly specified. Authors should be duly credited in accordance with the ICMJE recommendations. It is assumed that authors are accountable for the parts of the work they have contributed to. Furthermore, it is also assumed that the authors have confidence in the integrity of the entire work presented in the manuscript.

Competing interests
Plant and Environment requires that authors, editors, and reviewers disclose any competing interests that might affect their judgment regarding the approval or rejection of a manuscript.

Compliance with community guidelines and mandates
It is important to respect the community standards and relevant guidelines of the communities where the research is conducted. Plant and Environment supports and requires adherence to the best practices in research within that community.

Confidentiality and embargos
We strongly believe that all communication among authors, peer-reviewers, and editors should be considered confidential as standard practice. We ensure that all of our employees and editors are aware of the need for confidentiality during the manuscript assessment process and beyond. Plant and Environment may provide a media service through which select papers are confidentially provided to the media, under embargo, before publication.

Consent of human participants
The consent of human participants in research is of utmost importance before collecting biometric, biomedical, and clinical data. Participants should be clearly and explicitly informed about the research details, and no form of coercion or manipulation should be involved to gain consent.

Correction and Retractions
At Plant and Environment, we ensure that the published literature meets the highest standards of integrity, and we act promptly to address any concerns regarding the work we publish.

Corresponding authors
At Plant and Environment, we believe that the corresponding author should be empowered to act on behalf of all co-authors during the manuscript assessment and publication process.

Diversity Commitment
At Plant and Environment, we believe that research is strengthened by diversity. We strive to promote equity, inclusion, and diversity in our internal practices and the content we publish. We integrate these principles into all our editorial activities and support and foster these values in the research community.

Editorial Independence
At Plant and Environment, we maintain that financial and commercial concerns should not influence the editorial decision-making process.

Fraud and malpractice
We believe that Plant and Environment has a responsibility to investigate any instances of fraud or malpractice that it detects.

Funder Affiliations
At Plant and Environment, we believe that authors should duly credit their funding sources. Readers should also be made aware of these funding sources, and the funding sources should have access to the published work they sponsor.

Institutional Affiliations
At Plant and Environment, we believe that it should be straightforward for authors to link their institutions to their publications. Readers should also understand these affiliations, and the institutions should have access to the published work by both past and present employees.

Peer Review
At Plant and Environment, we believe that robust and well-conducted peer review supports the advancement of research and discovery by ensuring that research results are reliable and trustworthy.

Personal data
At Plant and Environment, we believe that personal data should be disclosed only with the full permission of the individual to whom the data pertains.

Plagiarism
We believe that Plant and Environment has a responsibility to investigate any instances of plagiarism that it detects.

Preprints
At Plant and Environment, we believe that sharing preprints can accelerate research and help advance discovery.

Research data
We believe that Plant and Environment should support community best practices in the sharing and archiving of research data.

Submitting your manuscript
At Plant and Environment, we believe that researchers should find it easy to submit their manuscript and linked supplementary information and data to the journal.

Third-Party Submissions
At Plant and Environment, we believe in legal publishing and reuse, and therefore, it is vital to secure the correct rights to third-party content.

Article Withdrawal
Articles are only withdrawn if they have been accidentally submitted more than once or represent early versions that contain errors. Occasionally, articles may bear infringements of professional ethical practices such as multiple submissions, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data, or similar issues. Articles in Press (articles that have been accepted for publication but have not been formally published and do not yet have complete volume/issue/page information) that contain errors or are later found to be copies of already published articles, or are determined to have breached publication ethics as termed by the editors, may be “Withdrawn” from ScienceDirect. Withdrawn means that the article content (HTML and PDF) is removed and replaced with an HTML page and PDF stating that the article has been withdrawn according to the Journal Policy on Article in Press Withdrawal with a link to the current policy document.

Image Integrity
Adding, removing, enhancing, obscuring, or introducing features into images is not allowed. Adjusting colour, contrast, and brightness is acceptable only if it does not obscure the content depicted in the original image. Image manipulation is acceptable to improve clarity. However, manipulation for other purposes could be considered scientific and ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly.