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The Plant Cell

journal

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ3988745
Source-derived summary

The Plant Cell is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of plant sciences, especially the areas of cell and molecular biology, genetics, development, and evolution. It is published by the American Society of Plant Biologists. The editor-in-chief appointed for a term of 2025 to 2029 is Pablo Manavella (Institute of Subtropical and Mediterranean Horticulture "La Mayora"). The journal was established in 1989, with Robert (Bob) Goldberg (University of California, Los Angeles) as the founding editor-in-chief.

According to Clarivate, the journal has a 2024 impact factor of 11.6.

History

The Plant Cell was established by the American Society of Plant Biologists in 1989 as a peer-reviewed journal focused on plant cellular and molecular biology. Planning for the journal began in the mid-1980s, and it was formally approved by the society in 1987. According to founding editor Robert B. Goldberg, the journal was created to provide a dedicated venue for mechanistic studies in plant biology during a period of rapid growth in molecular and genetic approaches. The first issue was published in January 1989. In October 2009, the journal introduced Teaching Tools in Plant Biology, an online educational resource to support instruction in plant biology courses.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Plant Cell” is journal. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Plant, Cell and journal, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2025, 2029, 1989, 2024—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1989-01-01. For this dossier, Plant, Cell and journal is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “journal” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3988745. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025, 2029, 1989 and 2024.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Plant Cell”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Plant Cell primary sources, The Plant Cell archive and Plant research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Plant Cell”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from The Plant Cell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.