During the latter part of the 19th century, the experimental sciences were dominated by Germany. In 1946, Professor Hans Burström at the Botanical Laboratory in Lund sent letters to plant physiologists in the Nordic countries to explore interest in forming a Scandinavian society for plant physiology (SPPS). The aim of the Society would be to promote research in plant physiology in the Nordic countries. The response was positive and in October 1947 a meeting was held in Copenhagen to constitute the Society. The meeting was attended by almost fifty people from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The purpose and heart of the Society was to found a journal. After considering different suggestions for the name for the new journal, among them “Vita Plantarum”, the journal was given the name Physiologia Plantarum. The first issue of Physiologia Plantarum (PPL) was published in 1948. Professor Hans Burström acted as Editor-in-Chief for 22 years (1948-1971) and all the articles were written by plant scientists in Scandinavia. Both Burström and later Anders Kylin were not only editors but played also a role in giving advice to young scientists and helping them to present their data in acceptable manuscripts supporting therefore young plant scientists in their publication efforts.
Not only was the handling of the manuscripts with this careful editing a time-consuming activity, but Burström also had full responsibility for the administrative and economic affairs of the journal. Burström established the relationship with Munksgaard publishing house. This relationship is still maintained, although Munksgaard later became a division of Blackwell, which later became Wiley-Blackwell, at present (2013) Wiley.
It was not until 1967 that a technical editor was recruited marking the beginning of a professionally run scientific journal. An international “advisory editorial board” held its first meeting in 1980. The new editorial board helped to increase the interest in PPL and to establish it internationally. The number of submitted manuscripts increased, and in the early 1980’s for the first time exceeded 400 in one year. An evaluation using the Science Citation Index around 1980 showed that PPL was among the five most cited journals in plant science. In this period, the staff composition was increased with an editorial secretary and soon thereafter with a managing editor. This number of editorial staff is retained today.
Today, in spite of increasing competition, PPL maintains its standing with an impact factor around 3.5 and was ranked 42 out of 406 plant science journals in 2016 (SJR, http://www.scimagojr.com). Submitted manuscripts come from all over the world and those from Scandinavian scientists are in the minority. PPL has survived and prospered in spite of what were once considered threats in the scientific publishing sector (photocopying, internet, global economy, open access). For many years, the journal has been economically stable and has generated a good income for the Society. This has enabled SPPS to organize congresses and PhD student conferences, to give support to other plant physiology meetings in Scandinavia and travel grants especially to young scientists to enable their participation in scientific meetings.
The future will bring new challenges, but also new opportunities and PPL will continue to support and promote plant science publications.