CABI News

Dr Niklaus J. Grünwald

6 August 2019 – Dr Niklaus J. Grünwald has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the forthcoming CABI Agriculture and Bioscience inter-disciplinary, open access journal due to be launched later this year.

Dr Grünwald, a Research Plant Pathologist with the Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Oregon, USA, and a Professor (courtesy) at Oregon State University, brings a wealth of experience to the role, with previous experiences as Editor-in-Chief of Phytopathology and as Chair of the Publications Board overseeing a family of journals published by the American Phytopathological Society (APS).

CABI Agriculture and Bioscience, a joint venture between CABI and BMC – part of the world-renowned publisher Springer Nature – will facilitate the fast, open and rigorous sharing of research findings across all fields relevant to agriculture and the biosciences. It promotes the global advancement of interdisciplinary scientific knowledge to address pressing societal challenges in agriculture and the environment and welcomes all submissions of sound scientific quality to uphold reproducible, inclusive, bias and boundary-free publication. The journal is currently open for submissions.

Dr Grünwald, a recipient of the 2015 APS Ruth Allen Award, recognizing an outstanding, innovative research contribution that has changed the direction of research in any field of plant pathology, said he is delighted to be supporting CABI in launching the journal:

“I am particularly excited about the highly interdisciplinary and translational component of CABI Agriculture and Bioscience. This journal provides a critical new niche that does not currently exist. For example we might integrate research on social and economic aspects under a global climate change scenario with pest management applications using big data. Similarly, we expect that this journal will provide a means of publishing research that is directly relevant to feeding 2 billion more people by 2050. This kind of research just does not fit within the typical disciplinary journals.”

CABI Agriculture and Bioscience aims to be the first step toward a bigger Open Agriculture initiative that encourages best practice in open science and accelerates the benefits and impact of research. The journal will deliver a first-class publishing service with rapid, unbiased, high-quality peer review.

The rapid publication and sharing of interdisciplinary research will speed up agricultural innovation, helping policy makers, governments, businesses, and ultimately farmers and extension experts to make more informed decisions and choices.

Dr Andy Robinson, Managing Director, Publishing at CABI, said, “We are excited to have appointed such a high-calibre editor as Dr Grünwald, who not only offers extensive experience in scientific publishing but also a vast array of knowledge and expertise in applied agricultural research.

“I am looking forward to working with Nik to recruit an outstanding editorial team who will help make CABI Agriculture and Bioscience a leading open access publication that ensures rigorous, scientific research that is widely available to the agricultural community.”

CABI Agriculture and Bioscience is currently recruiting Section Editors, Associate Editors, Editorial Board members and peer reviewers. For more information contact Dr Nik Grunwald grunwaln@science.oregonstate.edu

Notes to editors

Dr Niklaus J. Grünwald short biography

Niklaus J. Grünwald is a Research Plant Pathologist with the Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory, USDA Agricultural Research Service, in Corvallis, Oregon. He is also a courtesy Professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology and the Center for Genome Biology and Biocomputing at Oregon State University.

He received his Ph.D in plant pathology from the University of California at Davis and conducted postdoctoral research at Cornell University. His principal research interests include the ecology, genetics and management of emerging and re-emerging Phytophthora diseases affecting ornamental and nursery crops with a special emphasis on the Sudden Oak Death pathogen Phytophthora ramorum and the Irish famine pathogen P. infestans.

More recently, he has started working on projects involving oomycete forest biodiversity in Douglas fir old growth, whole genome sequencing of the genus Phytophthora, and development of computational and bioinformatics tools for comparative genomics, genotyping-by-sequencing, population genomics and metabarcoding.

Grünwald has served as associate editor, senior editor and editor-in-chief for Phytopathology and editor for Plant Pathology. He has held numerous leadership positions and is currently the chair of the APS Publications Board overseeing all APS journals that recently launched the new Phytobiomes open access journal.

He is a recipient of the 2006 USDA ARS Early Career Scientist of the Year award, the 2007 APS Syngenta award, the 2015 APS Ruth Allen Award recognizing outstanding, innovative research contribution that has changed the direction of research in any field of plant pathology, and became APS fellow in 2016.

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About CABI

CABI is an international not-for-profit organisation that improves people’s lives by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment. Our 49 member countries guide and influence our core areas of work, which include International Development and Publishing. CABI produces key scientific publications, including CAB Abstracts and Global Health. We also publish multimedia compendia, books, eBooks and full text electronic resources aiming to further science and its application to real life. CABI invests its publishing surpluses directly into development projects, helping to improve livelihoods worldwide.

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About BMC

A pioneer of open access publishing, BMC has an evolving portfolio of high quality peer-reviewed journals including broad interest titles such as BMC Biology and BMC Medicine, specialist journals such as Malaria Journal and Microbiome, and the BMC series. At BMC, research is always in progress. We are committed to continual innovation to better support the needs of our communities, ensuring the integrity of the research we publish, and championing the benefits of open research. BMC is part of Springer Nature, giving us greater opportunities to help authors connect and advance discoveries across the world.

 

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