2024 Update: unfortunately, Professor Ute Roessner had to take her leave of the Open Advances project. We are absolutely delighted and privileged to announce that Professor Ana Isabel Faria Ribeiro-Barros has agreed to be Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal. Ana’s PhD in Plant Molecular Biology is from Wageningen University. She is currently the Director of the Tropical College, University of Lisbon and a Senior Researcher with Habilitation/Head of Lab, as Professor of Microbiology and Plant Biotechnology in the School of Agriculture, ULisboa. She is a National Expert for High Level Policy Dialogue EU/Africa – Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture. She has authored over 200 articles and book chapters, and works globally with a focus on Africa.
Ana is working closely with Luis E. Eguiarte to develop PeerJ Open Advances in Plant Science as Co-Editors-in-Chief.
Luis E. Eguiarte is a Professor of Evolutionary Ecology in the Institute of Ecology of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM), and is one of Mexico’s most prolific and creative researchers of plant evolution. After his Post Doc at the University of California, Riverside, where he worked with Professor Michael T. Clegg, Luis returned to his alma mater, UNAM and helped start the field of conservation genetics in Mexico, a country that is among the world’s most biodiverse. 
Mexico is one of the centers of early human plant domestication, which has led to Luis employing genetic approaches to analyze the domestication and origins of important Mexican plants such as maize and squashes. He and his colleagues have unraveled the recent adaptive radiation of agave driven by the aridification of North America, thereby providing deep insights into how climate change can drive ecosystem evolution. A recipient of the Faustino Miranda Medal in recognition of his academic contribution and an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 2022 Luis received, together with Valeria Souza, the Howard Scott Gentry Research and Conservation Award. He has published over 230 peer-reviewed articles and 75 book chapters, and written or edited 14 books. He has been cited over 17,000 times.
“I have been an Academic Editor for PeerJ since 2014, and I am extremely excited to participate in this new series of journals. I deeply believe in the importance of open science and transparent peer review processes, avoiding cliques and mafias of power. I am particularly delighted to launch an open journal that will never charge for publishing; this can be a game-changer for scientists in poor countries of the Global South and elsewhere. I am enthusiastic to work with Ute, as I believe that our approaches complement each other in a wonderful way, while sharing a view of what is important in science for a changing world.” – Luis E. Eguiarte
The Open Advances series at PeerJ will take on a crucial responsibility: combining the prioritization of research that tackles global challenges head-on, with an equitable approach that ensures every researcher has an equal opportunity to contribute to answering critical questions in their field. The journal’s focus on the most important global challenges in plant science means that its scope will evolve as questions are answered, new avenues of investigation are discovered and new challenges facing plant science research are identified. Luis and Ute will work closely with the Editorial Board to identify the challenges that the journal will tackle, and oversee the creation of an evidence base which will address those challenges. Stephen Johnson, Publishing Editor for the Open Advances series, said “Ute and Luis are a great leadership team for PeerJ Open Advances in Plant Science and I am excited to work with them to build an editorial team and define the journal’s scope. In common with other titles in the series, we look forward to publishing important work with no financial barriers to publication or access, while continuing to meet the highest standards of ethics and data availability.” At PeerJ, we believe in empowering scholars to address the most pressing issues of our time, and that starts with removing barriers to equitable access to scientific communication, and allowing the expert community to determine and drive the scope and focus of the work they publish. With Ute and Luis at the helm, we are excited to see what challenges the journal takes on, and the progress it makes in addressing them. As for all journals in the Open Advances Series, PeerJ Open Advances in Plant Science has a commitment to always be fee-free for both authors and readers. We want to ensure that research addressing the most important issues of the day is freely accessible to all to read, and that its authors face no financial barriers to their publication. If you’re interested in being considered for the Editorial Board of Open Advances, you can send us your details here. If you’d like to keep up to date with the latest from the journal or the Series, you can sign up here.