Horticulture Research is a Nanjing-based agricultural publication focusing on the best and most interesting horticulture research on major horticultural crops around the world. In the past decade the publication has made giant strides, with its impact ensuring a No.1 ranking in its class worldwide, on five occasions! 

Now, let’s meet the people behind the publication’s meteoric success.

Starting out from a focus on horticulture, moving on to the integration of agriculture and engineering, and then the future of life sciences with bio-synthesis and design, all the while supported by Nanjing Agricultural University and led by Professor Zongming Cheng, the editorial office has been innovating and optimizing for 10 years, establishing three high-quality English journals.
 
This first of these was Horticulture Research, established in 2014. The second journal is called Plant Phenomics, which ranked No.1 in the JCR Agronomy category this year. The third journal, BioDesign Research, focuses on novel research in  the interdisciplinary field of biosystems design, and was established in 2020.
 
Talking about the development of English journals, Huan Yin, the manager of the editorial office, said: "Although it has only been 10 years, our team has grown from 'journal novices' to a professional and well-organized team."
 
Min Kong, Lili Jia, Anqi Fan, Wenzhu Chen, and Ping Wang, are the backbone of the editorial office. From journal solicitation, manuscript processing, editorial board services, and data analysis, to all marketing and promotion work related to the journal, each member of the team has taken on important responsibilities and contributed significantly to the development of the three journals.
 
Professor Zongming Cheng, the Editor-in-Chief, said, "Establishing a world-class journal is a systematic project. Our team has been using a scientific research approach to publish journals over the past decade, establishing academic communities, and creating conference platforms. We have comprehensively brought Nanjing Agricultural University's English journals from being unknown to the forefront of internationally recognized peer publications."
 
The team’s growth, the Excellence Action Plan of China’s STM Journal, a leading journal project, high starting pointjournal project, and young talent project have provided important support. "These projects have not only created a long-term, stable, and fair development environment for our journals, but also allowed our team to be seen by peers in the journal industry. We are very grateful to be involved in such a wonderful era and to have the opportunity to shine and make a difference," said Huan Yin.