A PHILIPPINE-hosted intergovernmental treaty organization has agreed with an international society to publish a journal of plant breeding and genetics research.
Under a memorandum of agreement (MoA), the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) will copublish the Society for the Advancement of Breeding Research in Asia and Oceania's (SABRAO) journal.
Under the MoA, SEARCA as copublisher takes over the administration of the SABRAO journal while SEARCA will also host, manage and improve the SABRAO journal website.
On the other hand, SABRAO will provide articles and content for forthcoming journal issues and review the layout before going to press.
Benedict Juliano, SEARCA Applied Knowledge Resources unit head, noted that SABRAO already has a solid foundation and community of experts and that the journal is well-established.
"SEARCA only has to strengthen the administrative and operational aspects of the journal," Juliano said.
Also under the agreement, while SABRAO will continue to finance all the journal publication-related costs, SEARCA will cover any deficit up to the level of SABRAO's funding support.
According to Dr. Desta Wirnas, SABRAO secretary general, the cooperation between SABRAO and SEARCA is expected to improve not only the journal's quality but also its promotion.
"I wish for more improvement through this merger of SABRAO and SEARCA, especially for the journal," Dr. Naqib Ullah Khan, SABRAO journal editor-in-chief since 2016, said.
"With this memorandum of agreement, I hope that we may boost the journal more and more to serve science, specifically to serve the authors who are interested in publishing their research, including the younger doctoral and post-doctoral students," Khan said.
SEARCA Director Glenn Gregorio expressed thanks to Khan for sharing highlights in the history of SABRAO journal and his positive outlook for the partnership.
Gregorio also expressed his appreciation that both SABRAO and SEARCA are "determined to take the challenge of being the frontliners for education and agriculture."
"We must think out of the box, how to collaborate to make us more efficient like what we are doing in this promising collaboration... to bridge the gap in the food system through timely and relevant publications," he said.
According to SEARCA, its track record in publishing the Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, which is an international peer-reviewed journal, will serve the SABRAO journal well.