History of The Journal of Japanese Botany

Abstract

A history of The Journal of Japanese Botany (the Japanese title: 植物研究雑誌, reading ‘Shokubutsu Kenkyu Zasshi’ in Romanized Japanese, or Anglicized Romaji) is reviewed on the occasion of its centenary. The Journal has published various items in systematic botany and pharmacognosy including morphology, chemotaxonomy, research history, natural history, and miscellaneous notes on related fields. Traditionally, the Journal has been opened equally to papers written by research specialists or amateurs. Although its history is continuous with gradual developments since its inception, it may be divided into five periods in accordance with those of the Editor-in-Chief. The Makino era (1916–1933) saw the beginning and creation of its style and concept as his private journal. The Journal had been supported by Jusha Tsumura, who was the owner of Tsumura Juntendo Co. since vol. 3 in 1926 (Jusha Tsumura the second and then the present Tsumura & Co. have given it continued financial support). The Asahina era (1933–1975) started with changes in the previous concept of the Journal to modify its issues for the publication of taxonomy and medicinal sciences in vol. 9, 1933. The Journal reached its maximum growth from 1934 to 1942, but it faced difficulty in publication from the effects of the Pacific War (World War II) between 1944 and 1950. Then, the Journal stabilized with vol. 26 in 1951. Successively, the Hara era (1975–1987) kept this stable condition and consistently published 12 issues per volume from vol. 62 to 81. In the Shibata era (1987–2007), the Journal changed its issues from monthly to bimonthly and its book size from A5 to B5 from vol. 66 in 1991. In the Ohashi era (2007–) the Editorial Board of the Journal was formally organized in 2008 and changed its copyright policy to have ownership to the Editorial Board of the Journal together with individual author when the article published in the Journal in and after 2008. The Journal launched digital archives for all papers published in the Journal [http://www.jjbotany.com/] in 2016.