Proposed tag: Short Stories – reports, news, and opinions on plant protection
Overall aim: to promote the development of an integrated approach to research on plant protection and to its world-wide education and practical application.
Objective: to provide a resource platform for plant protection researchers to submit information, reviews and opinions that contribute to the development of an integrated approach to research on plant protection for world-wide education and practical application.
Scope: This section will contain information to assist Plant Protection practitioners. Material will be supplied by IAPPS members in the form of reports, videos, and podcasts to illustrate the complexity of contemporary weed, pest and disease problems and the measures taken to manage them. The material submitted should be original and reflect the views of the submitter with the intention of providing information, encourage debate, and advance the cause of plant protection. Short Stories editors will invite submissions (text, video, podcast, etc.) that address issues in integrated plant protection and its promotion, describing successes and failures. Endorsements of commercial products will not be accepted.
Editorial committee: Srinivasan Ramasamy (Chair), Nora Altier, Manuele Tamo, and Trevor Jackson
The editorial committee will set the guidelines for submissions and be responsible for the publication of the resource, the review and selection process. It should define the target audience and what is appropriate/acceptable according to the objective and scope of this resource platform. The guidelines will include the description of the different forms of publications (i.e., text as ppt/pdf files, length, full vs. summarized version, illustrated resources, videos, with option for language translation).
The supplied material should follow the guidelines prepared by the committee.
Each submission should include:
- a brief introduction/overview (maximum 100 words),
- a two-page length summary (maximum 1000 words, pdf/ppt file).
The introduction and the summary should be mandatory for any type of story, be it a ‘longer’ story or a video. The review and editing process will be done by an appropriate Board member (in terms of discipline or experience) or someone outside IAPPS with an appropriate background. The introduction/overview of the approved articles could be updated quarterly and would be a guide for people entering the website.
A large editorial time commitment is to be avoided, as well as “Short Stories” being a dumping ground for unpublished reports. However, an important objective is to encourage the inclusion of stories about “failures” in IPM, which could provide real-life lessons about the relevance of multi-discipline sources of knowledge for students and young plant protection practitioners. Where they are summarized, stories should emphasize the key lessons revealed.
The Editorial committee will discuss how to invite/promote submissions and proceed with the communication and marketing of this initiative. It will also discuss the inclusion of documents or recorded presentations that are already uploaded by CABI and other scientific websites, via authorized links.
