Physiologia Plantarum is an international journal committed to publishing the best full-length original research papers that advance our understanding of primary mechanisms of plant development, growth and productivity as well as plant interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment. All organisational levels of experimental plant biology – from molecular and cell biology, biochemistry and biophysics to ecophysiology and global change biology – fall within the scope of the journal. The content is distributed between 5 main subject areas supervised by Subject Editors specialised in the respective domain: (1) biochemistry and metabolism, (2) ecophysiology, stress and adaptation, (3) uptake, transport and assimilation, (4) development, growth and differentiation, (5) photobiology and photosynthesis.
The journal also welcomes submission of short communications, minireviews and manuscripts with a technical focus.


Regular manuscripts
Regular manuscripts should present original hypothesis-driven research in one of the five subject areas covered by the journal (biochemistry and metabolism; ecophysiology, stress and adaptation; uptake, transport and assimilation; development, growth and differentiation; photobiology and photosynthesis). The experiments described should address questions pertinent to the research topic and the outcomes should advance our understanding of the processes being studied, not merely repeat known results in a different species.


Minireviews
Physiologia Plantarum has a long history of publishing short, timely, topical reviews of the most recent developments in plant sciences. Minireviews are subjected to peer review and should focus only on the recent advances in the field, not the history of the subject, emphasising aspects that are important for the development of the field or highlighting the implications of certain recently published data. Authors are encouraged to be creative in their thinking and to address interesting and novel possibilities related to the topic.
Minireviews must be written concisely, with no more than 50 references and a maximum of 9 printed pages (one printed page of full text is equivalent to around 5600 characters, including spaces). The manuscript should include a maximum of 4 data displays, with an emphasis on integrative models rather than primary data. Authors are encouraged to submit these data displays in colour and, if found suitable, colour displays will be published free of charge in print.  It is recommended that the Editor-in-Chief is contacted in advance to confirm the suitability of the chosen topic.


Short communications
Short communications should contain novel, exciting but solidly underpinned research with a clear but succinct message. They should be no longer than 2000 words (excluding citations and references, figure legends and materials and methods), maximum 4 data displays (figures or tables) and not more than 30 references.  The cover letter must contain a justification of a shorter publication.


Technical focus
Physiologia Plantarum publishes manuscripts with a technical focus. These manuscripts follow the same procedure as a regular manuscript.


Special issues
We also publish special issues that contain a collection of papers jointly providing an in-depth review of recent developments in a selected research field. Special issues are usually organised by our Subject Editors or by the Editor-in-Chief together with guest editors who will invite authors to write about their research. However, we highly encourage every researcher to put his/her ideas forward to the Editor-in-Chief and help organise a special issue. Special issue articles may be either timely, focused review papers or original research papers and they are subjected to peer-review.

Being published in a special issue offers multiple benefits. First, it increases the visibility of the article as it is strengthened by all the other articles published simultaneously on the same topic (special issues have a higher citation rate). Second, it also increases accessibility, as all articles are open access for 6 months. Last, the publication is free of charge.

Special issue articles must be written concisely, with no more than 50 references and a maximum of 9 printed pages, including all references and data displays (one printed page of full text is equivalent to around 5600 characters, including spaces).