Editorial Remarks

We are pleased to announce the publication of the 101st issue of Wheat Information Service.

Wheat Information Service (WIS) was founded in 1954 as an international newsletter for wheat geneticists and breeders.  As mentioned in the “Important Announcement on WIS – Discontinuance of Publication” by Dr. Kozo Nishikawa, the Editor-in-Chief, the prime aim of WIS was to promote “exchanging information about wheat genetics and breeding among wheat researchers in the world” (No. 98, 2004).  In December 2005, WIS published the No. 100 commemorative issue and put a period to its five-decade long activity. 

In appreciation of the significance of WIS as an accessible media for wheat researchers worldwide, the Japanese wheat geneticist community decided to launch “Wheat Information Service – electronic newsletter for wheat researchers” (namely, eWIS) as a new World-Wide-Web-based newsletter for informal research information circulation.  Five scientists voluntarily participated in the new Editorial Office and worked together to set up the brand-new newsletter. 

To launch eWIS, we reviewed thoroughly the editorial guidelines of the original WIS and made a number of important revisions.  Details of the new editorial guidelines are provided in the Instructions to Authors.  Of all those revisions, we would like to call special attention to the followings.  Firstly, eWIS is published online only and distributed through the eWIS web page (http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/ewis).  No hard-copy edition will be supplied.  Secondly, electronic submission is mandatory.  Hard-copy manuscripts will not be considered for publication.  Thirdly, manuscripts will no longer be peer-reviewed for publication, while the Editorial Office reserves the right to make final decision for acceptance.  Submitted manuscripts will be checked for the contents and style prior to publication.  However, the authors should note well that the Editorial Office is not organized to deal with articles that constitute formal publications.  Fourthly, it is now a policy that citations to the eWIS articles should be accompanied by permission from the authors.  The data and ideas published in eWIS are made available by their authors with the understanding that they will not be used in publications without their specific consent. 

Despite all those changes, eWIS continues to stand with the aim of the original WIS.  eWIS is designed to serve the wheat community as an informal, rapid communicator.  Considering marked progress in plant sciences, there is a great need to share test results, technical tips, protocols, mutant and germplasm descriptions, and genetic map information that may be useful in the lab and field.  We hope that eWIS will provide a use-friendly media to circulate private knowledge that might otherwise go unrecorded.

eWIS welcomed seven wheat researchers as Advisory Board members to whom we are grateful for their valuable advices and encouraging comments.  The eWIS web site and electronic submission system were set up by two system specialists, Kazuhiro Oogushi and Takehiro Yamakawa in the Dr. Yukiko Yamazaki’s lab (National Institute of Genetics, Japan).  We acknowledge their great assistance.  The Editorial Office was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for the National Bioresource Project of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan.

February 2006

Editorial Office

Shigeo Takumi

Yoshihiro Matsuoka

Goro Ishikawa

Shuhei Nasuda

Tsuneo Sasanuma