On behalf of the Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists (JSPP), I would like to announce that Plant and Cell Physiology (PCP) will go fully online thanks to the technical help of Nakanishi Printing, Oxford University Press (OUP), and Stanford University's HighWire Press.

　As the members of JSPP and readers of PCP are well aware, the advancement of the Internet technology is now beginning to radically change the way academic information is disseminated. Leading international scientific journals are already available online, and can be accessed and searched before their print versions are distributed. We now spend more time accessing the World Wide Web than going to libraries for the newest information. JSPP have discussed making PCP available online in great detail over recent years. We are now pleased to be able to go online with the best possible exponents of online journals, Oxford and Stanford.

　From the first issue of 2000, the PDF version of PCP can be found on the JSPP homepage (http://www.nacos.com/jspp). Subsequently, its full SGML-HTML version is now available on both OUP and HighWire sites from July this year, in addition to the society site. The latter version is produced in the HighWire format which is basically the same as such first-rate journals as Science, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., J. Biol. Chem. and The EMBO Journal. Plant Physiology and Plant Cell, the official journals of the American Society of Plant Physiologists (ASPP), are also published through HighWire and we are planning to have mutual links with them.

　PCP continues to report original research pertaining to physiology, biochemistry, biophysics, chemistry, molecular biology, gene-engineering and cell biology of plants and microorganisms, and handles regular papers, rapid reports, mini reviews and short communications. Our editorial team will be urged to select longer and well-documented studies that open new horizons, principles and ideas. Accompanying with online service of the full texts of the journals, we are eager to improve the editorial procedure for rapid publication of the manuscripts that move the field forward. The authors should receive reviewers' comments within 2 weeks for rapid reports after submission or 1 month for regular papers, mini reviews and short communications. Accepted papers have been published within 40 days for rapid reports or 70 days for other papers on average. After PCP is available online, articles will be able to be accessed and searched before their print versions are distributed.

　By going online, we would like to better serve the community of plant scientists in the world and also enhance PCP's visibility amongst them. Potential contributors to PCP are encouraged to send their best papers to our journal as it is now published in cooperation with the renowned university press and at the highly acclaimed electronic journal site.