The list of “2012’ The Highest International Impact Academic Journals” and "2012' The Excellent International Impact Academic Journals" was published in Beijing on December 26th, 2012. CAJEPH, Chinese Science Bibliometric Evaluation Research Center and the Tsinghua University library were the initiators of this selection. "Plant Diversity and Resources" (PDR), sponsored by Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (KIB) and the Botanical Society of China, was selected for the “2012’ The Highest International Impact Academic Journals”.

Evaluation criterion of “2012’ The Highest International Impact Academic Journals” and "2012' The Excellent International Impact Academic Journals" was based on the “China Academic Journal International Citation Reports (2012 Edition)” (CAJ-IJCR). According to the 2011 annual total citation frequency and impact factor in SCI and SSCI, three thousand five hundred and thirty-three categories of science and technology journals and 680 categories of humanities and social science journals were ranked. Top 5% and top 5%～10% journals of them were selected to be “2012’ The Highest International Impact Academic Journals” and "2012' The Excellent International Impact Academic Journals" by more than 40 corresponding experts. Totally 175 categories of science and technology journals and 34 categories of humanities and social science journals were selected for the “2012’ The Highest International Impact Academic Journals”.

"Plant Diversity and Resources", the formerly “Acta Botanica Yunnanica” was started in 1979. It is sponsored by KIB. Prof. WU Zhengyi, winner of the China National Supreme Science and Technology Award in 2007, was the founding editor-in-chief and served for the journal until 2006. Prof. LI Dezhu has succeeded as editor-in-chief since 2006. The journal was changed to a new title, “Plant Diversity and Resources” and be jointly sponsored by both KIB and the Botanical Society of China in 2011. In recent years, the sponsors further designate the objectives of the journal, and facilitate authors to submit their high- quality research to the PDR with a series of incentives. The honor of “2012’ The Highest International Impact Academic Journals” is a high praise for the academic quality and internationalization of a journal, and will be bound to impel the journal forward.