Author Guidelines

REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLICATION

The criteria for a publishable manuscript include novelty, education, suitability, and presentation. To be considered for publication by Phytopathologia Mediterranea, a manuscript must:

• Demonstrate scientific and scholarly rigor, supported by up-to-date citations to relevant literature and guided by a rationale for how the work fits into existing knowledge
• Exhibit novelty through original scholarship or a creative or innovative practice. (For exmple papers on disease control products, methods, strategies and on selection of biocontrol agents will be included in the peer review process only if they describe new approaches or new procedures having significant impact in field trials)
• Present well-developed ideas in a comprehensive, organized discussion written in clear, concise English and making effective use of display elements (figures, schemes, tables, etc.)
• Adhere to the requirements and Phytopathologia Mediterranea protocols outlined in this document for the different types of manuscript and be submitted according to Firenze University Press publishing policies

Criteria for acceptance

• The international relevance of the data to be published and the significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge are major requirements.
• Papers reporting surveys on local presence of particular diseases or pathogens known from other regions may not be accepted, but publication acceptance will be assessed by the Editorial Committee. Similarly, epidemiological descriptions and evaluation of local host varieties can be accepted only if they present new facts or control measures, new methodology, or control strategies clearly valid outside of the area from which the data originate.
• Papers on disease control products, methods, strategies and on selection of biocontrol agents will be included in the peer review process only if they describe new approaches or new procedures having significant impact in field trials.
• All experiments should be repeated, or the experimental design should be robust. In the case of the use of plant extracts, the concentration of the active ingredient should be indicated or, if the active ingredient is not yet identified, a clear method of preparation should be reported. In this case the trials should be carried out with two independent batches.
• Be submitted electronically to our Editorial System https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/pm/login

Short notes

Short notes must follow the requirements for quality and relevance applying to reviews and research papers, while having limited scope. Short notes must not exceed six print pages (around 2500 words and containing no more than six figures and/or tables). 

Reports of new or unusual diseases.

These should be reserved only for new reports of significant diseases or major outbreaks of new diseases. A new disease is one that was previously unknown anywhere, or a major disease previously unknown within an economic or political region. Reports of common, plurivorous, unspecialized pathogens newly reported from a region are not acceptable. For example, a report of a new host for Botrytis cinerea would not be acceptable. Likewise, a minor outbreak of a minor pathogen in a new region or country would also not be accepted. Details of the methods used for identification must be given. If this is based on a DNA method, a brief description should be included. If necessary, a small phylogenetic tree can be included besides photographs of diagnostic features. Representative cultures must be deposited in an internationally recognised, publicly accessible culture collection. DNA sequences must be deposited in GenBank with indication of the accession number. In the case of a new pathogen, pathogenicity should be proved by normal methods. Although desirable, pathogenicity tests are not essential for known pathogens.

FIRST STEPS

Before the submission of your manuscript to the Editorial Support for peer review, you are kindly requested to:

• read the “Focus and Scope”;
• read the “Licence and copyright agreement for Phytopathologia Mediterranea”;
• read the "Author Guidelines for Phytopathologia Mediterranea";
• agree and comply with the “General obligations for authors”;

We recommend that any data set used in your manuscript is submitted to a reliable data repository and linked from your manuscript through a DOI.

GENERAL OBLIGATIONS FOR AUTHORS

• An author's primary obligation is to present a concise, accurate account of the research performed, as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
• A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to public sources of information to permit the author's peers to replicate the work.
• A paper should be as concise as possible but not at the expense of scientific accuracy and completeness. To promote scientific conciseness and completeness at the same time, the inclusion of a comprehensive abstract is encouraged.
• Papers have to be written in English and authors should pay attention to correct spelling and grammar.
• An author should cite those publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work and that will quickly guide the reader to the initial work essential for understanding the present investigation. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, should not be used or reported in the author's work without explicit permission from the investigator with whom the information originated. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, should be treated similarly.
• Fragmentation of research papers should be avoided. A scientist who has done extensive work on a system or group of related systems should organize publication so that each paper gives a complete account of a particular aspect of the general study.
• It is inappropriate for an author to submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research to more than one journal of primary publication.
• A criticism of a published paper may sometimes be justified; however, in no case is personal criticism considered to be appropriate.
• To protect the integrity of authorship, only persons who have significantly contributed to the research and paper preparation should be listed as authors. The corresponding author attests to the fact that any others named as authors have seen the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. Deceased persons who meet the criterion for co-authorship should be included, with a footnote reporting date of death. No fictitious names should be listed as authors or co-authors. The author who submits a manuscript for publication accepts the responsibility of having included as co-authors all persons that are appropriate and none that are inappropriate.
• An author should declare any potential conflicts of interest in a special section prior to the acknowledgements.

STYLE FOR LITERATURE CITED in Phytopathologia Mediterranea papers

Download the Style and Nomenclature Guidelines (PDF) or read below.

For literature citations in the main text of a paper:

- within the text, references should be cited by author and date, and where multiple references are listed these should be in chronological order.

- where cited papers are by more than two authors they should be cited by the name of the first author followed by “et al., [date]”. (“et al.” in italic font).

For publications listed in the LITERATURE CITED section at the end of a paper:

References should be listed under the heading “LITERATURE CITED”.

• References are in alphabetical order, according to first author’s surname,
• References are in chronological order, if more than one paper by the same author(s) is cited.
• Papers published in the same year by the same author(s) should be distinguished by letters (in alphabetical order) after the year (e.g., 1993a; 1993b; 1993c).
• For citations of publications by the same senior author:
  • list all the single-author citations in chronological order;
  • list all the two-author citations alphabetically first and then chronologically;
  • group all the citations with three or more authors in chronological order only.
• Journal titles are not abbreviated
• When a book is cited, the title should be in italics and capitalized.
• When a book is cited, the town and state where it was published needs to be reported after
• Adding the doi number for publications is recommended.
• List all authors of each cited publication if the author total is six or less. For more than six authors, list the first five authors and the last one.

The styles for different publication types in the LITERATURE CITED section are outlined below. These should be meticulously applied, taking note of font styles and punctuation.

 Journals (please add the DOI number when available)

Aiello D., Gusella G., Fiorenza A., Guarnaccia V., Polizzi G., 2020. Identification of Neofusicoccum parvum causing canker and twig blight on Ficus carica in Italy. Phytopathologia Mediterranea 59(1): 213–218. https://doi.org/10.14601/Phyto-10798

Alves A., Crous P.W., Correia A., Phillips A.J.L., 2008. Morphological and molecular data reveal cryptic speciation in Lasiodiplodia theobromae. Fungal Diversity 28: 1–13.

Heitefuss R., Stahmann M.A., Walker J.C., 1960. Oxidative enzymes in cabbage infected by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. conglutinans. Phytopathology 50: 370–375.

Serizawa S., Ichikawa T., 1993. Epidemiology of bacterial canker of kiwifruit. 1. Infection and bacterial movement in tissue of new canes. Annals of the Phytopathological Society of Japan 59: 452–459 (in Japanese).

Publications with more than six authors

Almeida R.P.P., Nascimento F.E., Chau J., Prado S.S., Tsai C.W., … Lopes J.R., 2008. Genetic structure and biology of Xylella fastidiosa strains causing disease in citrus and coffee in Brazil. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 74: 3690–3701.

Books and other monographs

Farr D.F., Rossman A.Y., 2022. Fungal Databases, U.S. National Fungus Collections, ARS, USDA. Accessed September 7, 2022, from https://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases/

Kirk P.M., Cannon P.F., Minter D.W., Stalpers J.A., 2013. Ainsworth & Bisby's Dictionary of the Fungi. 10th ed. CAB International, Wallingford, United Kingdom, 771 pp.

Griffing G.J., Baker R., 1991. Population dynamics of plant pathogens and associated organisms in relation to infectious inoculum. In: Soil Solarization (J. Katan, J.E. De Vay, ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, United States of America, 3–21.

Larignon P., 1991. Contribution à l’Identification et au Mode d’Action des Champignons Associés au Syndrome de l’Esca de la Vigne. PhD Thesis, University of Bordeaux II, Bordeaux, France, 238 pp.

Mallams K.M., Petrick J.A., 2004. Fungicide Trials for Control of Cypress Canker on Port-Orford-Cedar. Southwest Oregon Forest Insect and Disease Service Center, SWOFIDSC-04-02, 5 pp.

FAO, 2013. Food security indicators, January 24, 2013 revision. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations (FAO). Available at: http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-fs/ess-fadata/en/. Accessed March 15, 2013.

GIFruits, 2018. Export Agrumes 2018(T). Available at: http://gifruits.com/?p=2262&lang=fr

Gottwald T.R., Graham J.H., Schubert T.S., 2002. Citrus canker: the pathogen and its impact. Plant Health Progress, DOI: 10.1094/PHP-2002-0812-01-RV. http://www.plantmanagementwork.

De Cal A., Salto T., Martínez-Beringola M.L., Martínez-Treceño A., Bardón E., … Melgarejo P., 2002. The importance of disease-free plants produced in strawberry nurseries in Spain. In: Proceedings International Conference on Alternatives to Methyl Bromide, 5–8 March, 2002, Sevilla, Spain, 57–60 (abstract).

ORGANISM NOMENCLATURE CONVENTIONS in Phytopathologia Mediterranea

Names of viruses

The complete rules for naming virus taxa are outlined in the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Code (http://ictv.global/code). (see also https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-0709-x). In brief, a virus species name is written in italics, with the first word beginning with a capital letter (e.g., Tobacco mosaic virus). Other words only begin with a capital if they are proper nouns (including host genus names but not virus genus names) or alphabetical identifiers. A species name should not be abbreviated. When a virus name is used informally it should never be italicized, nor have an initial capital letter, even when it includes the name of a host species or genus. In this case the name should be written in lower case (e.g. "the tobacco mosaic virus polymerase").

Names of other micro-organisms

Following the practice adopted by the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi and Plants, and for international uniformity, scientific names of all taxonomic ranks should be italicized. In manuscripts dealing with taxonomy, for every organism, the full genus name and authority of the genus or species should be included at first mention. For manuscripts dealing with subjects other than taxonomy this is desirable but not essential. Thereafter the genus name should be abbreviated to the initial letter if no ambiguity arises, although the full genus name should always be used at the beginning of sentences. For abbreviations of names of authors of species, refer to: Authors of plant names, R.K. Brummitt and C.E. Powell, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. Formae speciales of plant pathogenic fungi do not require authorities. The conventions of modern taxonomy and rules of nomenclature should be strictly adhered to. Relevant strains of microorganisms should be deposited in publicly accessible, internationally recognized culture collections, and appropriate strain numbers cited.

Names of cultivated varieties and cultivars of host plants

Following the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP), cultivar status is to be indicated by enclosing the cultivar epithet within single quotation marks. Double quotation marks, and the abbreviations cv. and var. are not to be used to distinguish a cultivar epithet.Examples:

Example:

V. vinifera ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ is correct – V. vinifera cv. Cabernet Sauvignon (INCORRECT)

Tomato ‘Bonny Best’ is correct – Tomato “Bonny Best” (INCORRECT)

xGraptoveria ‘Autumn Evening’ is correct - xGraptoveria Autumn Evening (INCORRECT)

WEIGHTS, MEASURES and NOTATION

Download the Style and Nomenclature Guidelines (PDF) for the full list of abbreviations and symbols that must be used in manuscripts submitted for publication in this journal.

Examples:

a.i.               active ingredient

C                 centigrade (e.g., 37°C. No word spaces)

ct min^-1        counts per minute

diam.           diameter

e.g.              for example (exempli gratia)

et al.            and others (et alii) (use italic font)

f wt             fresh weight

L                 litre (e.g., 10 L; 5 mg L^-1 )

m                metre, also m², m³

mL, µL         millilitre, microlitre

pg L^-1           picograms per litre

ppm            parts per million (e.g. 25 ppm L^-1)

s, min, y       second, minute, year

t                  ton (or tonne) (1000 kg)

3 ´ 4 (multiplication sign with no word spaces)

P < 0.05 (No word spaces)

Interval between two data with the dash (-) and not hyphen: 3 - 4; 1998 - 2000 No word spaces)