Prof. Chun-Ming Liu

Prof. Chun-Ming Liu, Peking University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been appointed as the new Field Chief Editor of the most-cited plant science journal (Journal Citation Reports, 2021), Frontiers in Plant Science with over 122 million articles views and downloads.

As Professor of Seed Biology at both Peking University and the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Liu's passion for plants started while growing up in a mountainous area of northeast China with extremely diverse crops. He followed on from this early exposure and interest to his thriving career in seed biology now spanning over 30 years.

Renewed journal mission : sustainable food solutions

In Prof Liu’s opinion, understanding how different cell fates and organ patterns are established during development, a process tightly linked to every day’s environmental changes is one of the most pressing and dynamic areas of research in plant science.

Prof Liu is confident that Frontiers in Plant Science will bring scientists, the public, and policymakers to one table to discuss sustainable solutions for global food production.

Career highlights: from critical gene discovery to rice variety innovation

His research was the first to reveal that auxin polar transport is the primary regulator for organ patterning and organogenesis during embryogenesis (Liu et al., 1993) which has now become common knowledge in plant science.

He has furthermore actively pioneered the discovery of critical genes underlying zygotic activation, stem cell homeostasis,  phloem differentiation, xylem differentiation, and sugar loading during seed formation. His research group has developed new rice varieties with enhanced nutrition of vitamins, dietary fibers, and micronutrients based on the thick aleurone mutants identified in rice.

Check out the latest Plant Science article collections open for submission

The journal’s former Field Chief Editor, Prof. Yunde Zhao, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, and Director of Plant Biology of Food & Fuel for the 21st Century, University of California San Diego has significantly contributed to the journal progress and to the field. Under his strong leadership , the journal attained remarkable success, becoming one of the most-cited plant science journals worldwide. In the words of the Frontiers in Plant Science Journal manager, Dr. Liudmila Efremova, “ We would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof Zhao and we are also happy to know that he will remain on our board further supporting the journal as an Associate Editor.”

Frontiers is the 3rd most cited publisher, with many of our journals ranked as the most influential in their academic fields. Explore our 2021 Progress Report.