by Ian J. Warrington, Vice-President.
The scientific activities of the International Society for Horticultual Science (ISHS) are the heart of our Society and they continue to grow in both strength and diversity. Recent reports at the Executive Committee meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand from the Chairs of the Sections and Commissions, confirm that the program of symposia for the next four years is very strong. This builds on activities that have grown in scale over the past decade.
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM
In the late 1990s and for the first half of the current decade, the Society hosted 30-32 symposia per annum while for 2008 this had grown to 46 and for 2009 will be 42. This program has resulted in an impressive growth in the number of Acta Horticulturae that have been or are scheduled to be published by ISHS (Fig. 1).

This growth and diversity of scientific conferences has not been associated with any reduction in the content of the resultant Actas (Table 1).

Quality has increased over that same time period in response to increased attention by the editorial committees associated with each symposium. The status of papers presented in Acta remains as a point of contention amongst some of those who present at ISHS symposia because Acta Horticulturae is not included in most citation indexes. However, it must be recognised that Acta Horticulturae is not intended to be a scientific journal – rather it is a series of conference proceedings that is heavily used by the scientific community as a valued and unique source of horticultural information. The interest in Acta Horticulturae can be best assessed by accessing the ISHS website at www.pubhort.org/actahort/citationstatistics.htm. The most consulted article has been accessed 46,595 times, the top 20 articles more than 10,000 times each, and the top 100 articles more than 5,000 times each since the launch of the PubHort website. These impressive numbers need to be provided to those who fail to see the impact of this series! One article was downloaded 85 times and those in the top 100 were downloaded 37 or more times. In the first month of 2009, the Society hosted some 32,295 downloads from the archived Acta holdings. These are outstanding numbers for any publication. However, the ISHS Board does recognise the pressure that authors are under to secure recognition for their publications and will continue to seek ways of having Acta Horticulturae more formally recognised by those managing citation services.
PARTNERS
The Board has continued to form and encourage the development of close partnerships with a number of organisations and societies who have an involvement with research and activities that are similar to those encompassed by the ISHS. Information on the various partnerships involving the ISHS is available at www.ishs.org/partners.
The number and complexity of these relationships have to be closely and consistently monitored and promoted if they are to provide mutual benefits. It is recommended that the incoming Board of the ISHS assign a dedicated “champion” to ensure that these relationships are maintained and nurtured.
International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM).
A number of meetings have been held with senior staff from CIHEAM in recent months and various initiatives have been advanced between CIHEAM and ISHS. Initiatives discussed that have relevance to the Executive Committee have included:
- identifying ISHS members who would be prepared to be examiners for the CIHEAM Masters degree qualification;
- inviting CIHEAM to consider how ISHS might be involved in CIHEAM-supported training initiatives;
- co-involvement in databases that list experts in defined fields who could be contacted for specialist knowledge (in a controlled way);
- involvement of CIHEAM in IHC2010;
- involvement of CIHEAM as cosponsors of ISHS symposia in the Mediterranean region; and
- attendance of a CIHEAM representative as an observer at Executive Committee meetings.
International Society for Mushroom Science (ISMS).
Initiatives with ISMS include the inclusion of ISMS publications on the PubHort site and assistance from ISHS to develop an ISMS publication website.
European Association for Potato Research (EAPR).
This organisation has 300-350 members in 65 countries. The ISHS has contracted to provide Secretarial support to this organisation and will seek to establish an even closer collaboration with the EAPR. It is hoped that this will serve as a model for other regional potato associations.
International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH).
ISHS and AIPH have recently developed a set of banners that can be displayed at AIPH-sanctioned international horticultural exhibitions. These banners give messages about the importance of horticultural science education for supporting the nursery and landscape trades. A stronger presence of the ISHS is planned for at exhibitions such as Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2011 in order to advocate the importance and relevance of horticultural science to the public in general.
International Peat Society (IPS).
This partnership was formed in 2005. Joint symposia were held in Angers in 2005 and in Nottingham in 2007 and a further in the series will be held in North Carolina in 2009. The ISHS will cosponsor the International Symposium on Sustainability of Peatlands that will be held in Canada in 2011.
International Society of Citriculture (ISC).
The joint Section on Citrus (chaired by Dr. Gene Albrigo) is a direct result of this partnership. The Second International Citrus and Biotechnology Conference will be held jointly under the auspices of the ISC and the ISHS in November 2009.
PUBLICATIONS
The PubHort platform managed by ISHS is intended to be the key electronic database for horticultural publications. Information about these joint publication activities is available at www.PubHort.org. In addition to hosting our own publications (Acta Horticulturae, Chronica Horticulturae, Scripta Horticulturae) we currently host a number of horticultural publications as follows:
Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology (JHSB).
This relationship is progressing very well indeed. Prof. Geoff Dixon is the ISHS representative on the JHSB Board of trustees. The on-line services are now being provided by the ISHS Secretariat as part of the PubHort service. In 2008, total downloads for Volumes 74 through 84 was 6,774. Members of the ISHS are invited to put themselves forward to be considered as Associate Editors of this prestigious scientific journal by contacting the ISHS Vice President or the Executive Director.
Fruits.
The ISHS continues to “recognise” Fruits as a key journal for fruit science. Agreement has been reached to host the archives of Fruits on the PubHort website.
Horticulture Reviews and Plant Breeding Reviews.
The association with Wiley-Blackwell continues. The ISHS Secretariat is exploring ways of enabling whole article downloads from the PubHort site rather than the current 8-page grouping.
Journal of the American Pomological Society.
The archives for Volumes 49 through 62 have now been scanned and 493 articles will soon be available for downloading to the PubHort website. Back issues of the journal will now be scanned and added to the existing files.
Proceedings of the International Plant Propagators Society.
An agreement between IPPS and ISHS was signed in early 2008. All back issues of the IPPS Proceedings have now been scanned and it is anticipated that archives will be ready for downloading by mid 2009.
REGIONAL AND WORLD HORTICULTURAL CONGRESSES
The ISHS has “recognised” two recent regional horticultural meetings – the First Symposium on Horticulture in Europe (Austria) from 17-20 February 2008 and the first Asian Horticultural Congress (Korea) from 11-13 December 2008. The first All African Horticultural Congress will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 31 August-3 September 2009. The Board extends an invitation to all ISHS members to attend the 28th International Horticultural Congress in Portugal (Lisbon) from 22-27 August 2010.
RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE
The Society has two important prestigious awards that can be used to recognise those who have made meritorious contributions to either the ISHS or to horticultural science – the Honorary Members and Fellows, respectively. Please give consideration to nominating those who you believe would be worthy recipients of such recognition. Further information is available at www.ishs.org/awards/.
SERVING THE SOCIETY
A number of important positions within the ISHS will become vacant in the lead up to the International Horticultural Congress that will be held in Portugal in August 2010 (IHC2010). Key amongst these, in the context of the scientific programme of the Society, will be the election of all Section and Commission Chairs and Vice Chairs. While some current office holders will be eligible for re-election, all positions will be open for nomination and processing through the formal election process. The new round of nominations will commence in November 2009 and members of each Section and Commission will vote for those standing for office within the Section/Commission. All five positions on the ISHS Board will be renewed at the time of the Council meeting at the Lisbon Congress. Four Board members will have completed two terms and cannot stand for re-election. While the position of President is not constrained by geographical location and one other position will be filled by an ‘at-large’ candidate, according to present Society rules three positions are reserved for representatives of a specific region. These regions are the Americas, Europe, and the rest of the world (Australasia and Africa). It is also important to understand that specific Board responsibilities like vice-president, publications, and finances are allocated after the new Board is in place. The ex-officio position for the 2014 Congress President will be filled by Dr. Rod Drew of Australia. It is a privilege and honour to serve the ISHS in the various ways. I encourage all of you to consider standing for office in one of the positions outlined above. You have something unique to contribute from your perspective, your experience and your energy. In turn, I can assure you that the rewards from collegiality, contribution and experience will be more than sufficient compensation to you for your involvement.
Please make this commitment to the ISHS – the pre-eminent horticultural science society in the world!