history
The set up in 1919 of Babeş-Bolyai University (Universitatea Daciei Superioare) determined the reorganization of the higher educational system and of its different educational fields.
Alexandru Borza, university professor of Botany at Babeş-Bolyai University at the time of its set up, began the organization of the Botanical Garden in Cluj-Napoca, which, he says, “…we have tried to put it in the service of science, education and general culture….”. He reached these objectives through the early publication of scientific papers written by the staff of the Botanical Garden: Contribuţiuni Botanice (Botanical Contributions) and Buletinul Grădinii Botanice şi al Muzeului Botanic de la Universitatea din Cluj (The Cluj Bulletin of the Botanical Garden and Museum), both affiliated to the Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca.
Contribuţii Botanice journalhas been published since 1921 and in former times included Botany-related papers of botanists from Cluj-Napoca, reprinted from the Scientific Society Bulletin in Cluj-Napoca or from other local or foreign journals.
The Cluj Bulletin of the Botanical Garden and Museum has also been published constantly since 1920, and it is known as the first Romanian journal of Botany. It’s important to mention that in 1929, at the Universal Exposition in Barcelona, the journals mentioned above have both been rewarded with a golden medal and a diploma.
The two journals continued to be published simultaneously (Botanical Contributions was published till 1945 and The Cluj Bulletin of Botanical Garden and Museum till 1948), even during the second world war, being joined by either scientific (Flora Romaniae Exssiccata) or popularization publications: Notes from the Botanical Garden Cluj, My Garden, The Cluj Botanical Garden’s Library of Popularization.
Since 1958, together with the publication of a new series and with the change of name, Botanical Contributions has become the only scientific journal of the Botanical Garden to be published annually.
The first editorial committee of this journal was set up by the most important representatives of the Romanian Botany: Alexandru Borza - director of the Institute for Systematic Botany, Ioan Grinţescu - director of the Institute of General Botany; Emil Pop, who was director of the Plant Physiology Laboratory, joined the editorial committee only later.
At the present, the editorial committee includes both Romanian and foreign scientists, who are specialists in all the fieldcovered by the journal.
The publication of articles in international languages (starting with the issue number 2/volume 1997/1998) determined a great number of foreign authors to publish in this journal. Since 2008, only articles written in English and approved by two scientific reviewers have been published.
The worth of the published papers has been proved by the awards received along the years: the Second Prize granted by the Ministry of Education in 1967 for “The flora and vegetation of Crişul Repede gullet” (1966), the Romanian Academy award “E. Teodorescu” in 1980 for “The Flora and Vegetation of Zărand Mountains” (1978), the citations and reviews of some papers in prestigious foreign journals, the indexing in international scientific databases, and the quantity and quality of the exchange of publication with foreign institutions of the same type.
Our goal is to continuously increase the overall quality of this journal and to reach the elite of scientific periodicals in the field of Botany. The readers’ support is one of the main conditions to achieve this goal!
