Two Iowa State University researchers are serving on the editorial board that is launching a new scientific publication devoted to molecular biology and crop improvement.

Randy Shoemaker is the technical editor for The Plant Genome, a new quarterly publication launched by the Crop Science Society of America. Shoemaker is a research geneticist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service and professor of agronomy.

Also on the editorial team is Kendall Lamkey, interim chair of the Department of Agronomy and director of the Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding at Iowa State. Lamkey currently is editor of Crop Science, the flagship journal of the Crop Science Society of America.

"The Plant Genome will be a companion publication to Crop Science and will fill a void that exists in scientific publishing," said Shoemaker. "The journal will be the first peer-reviewed publication that demonstrates the link between research at the genome level and the transfer of that understanding to the improvement of a crop."

More importantly, Lamkey said, the new journal may stimulate further research that leads to better healthier food crops, more nutritious forage crops and enhanced bioenergy crops.

"Iowa State is a long-time leader in the science of crop improvement and also in molecular biology and biotechnology," Lamkey said. "So it's fitting that we're helping to provide leadership to launch this new effort to bring these areas of scientific study together."

Besides a print edition, articles written for the publication will be posted to the Crop Science Society of America's website as they are accepted. The debut issue will appear later this year.