Fifty-year anniversary of plant protection science

Abstract

In 2014, the journal Plant Protection Science (PPS) completes 50 years of publication (1965-2014). However, its roots extend back to the year 1921. Today, it is an international scientific journal focused on all aspects of plant protection sciences, fully published in English. This occasion offers a fitting opportunity to describe some of the most important historical stages of the journal's development. In our brief historical overview, we summarise the changes in journal title, chief-editors, and editorial policy during the last fifty years, and with an examination of its importance, scope and readership. We present analyses of the journal's development, some for the entire period of 1965-2013, while others are limited to more recent decades. The journal's present place among the world's scientific journals is documented by analyses in the international citation databases, BIOSIS CI, SCOPUS, and WOS. An analysis of three particular citation databases were made in October 2013, while the overall period 1998-2013 was conducted from All Databases/ Thomson Reuters in March 2014. PPS is also included in other, important technical-literature databases, including Czech Agricultural and Food Bibliography, AGRIS/FAO database, AGRICOLA, CAB Abstracts, Current Contents, and Zoological Abstracts. Information about all of them is available in Ulrich's WEB database. In the final part of this paper, we summarise some recent achievements of the journal, and discuss some key topics related to its future development.