Editorial Spotlight: Mahmoud Yaish

This interview and blog post was prepared by PLOS One Associate Editor Sarah Jose.

Professor Mahmoud Yaish earned his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of León, Spain, where his research focused on mapping disease-resistance genes in legumes. He subsequently undertook postdoctoral research and lectured at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and then pursued further postdoctoral studies at the University of Guelph. He later joined Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, where he established a distinguished research program in plant stress biology. His work centers on elucidating plant responses to abiotic stress using integrative omics, reverse genetics, and epigenetics approaches, alongside advancing research on plant microbiota and biofertilizers for sustainable agriculture. In 2025, Professor Yaish is recognized among the top 2% most-cited scientists worldwide (Stanford University ranking, USA), ranked second globally in Date Palm research, and placed within the top 0.05% of scientists overall according to ScholarGPS (Meta Analytics LLC, Los Angeles, CA, USA).

What constitutes a fair and thorough peer review process? What is your approach to achieving one?

The process begins with an initial editorial evaluation of the manuscript to assess its relevance, contribution, and analytical soundness, followed by the selection of reviewers whose expertise aligns closely with the study’s subject matter and methodological framework. A fair and thorough peer review process, in my opinion, involves a neutral, expertise-based evaluation that prioritizes scientific rigor, transparency, and constructive assessment. It requires examination of study design, statistical methodology, data quality, and the validity of conclusions, including assessment of model assumptions, power, effect size interpretation, and reproducibility. My approach is to evaluate whether the analytical framework is appropriate to the research question, identify potential sources of bias or misspecification, and provide precise, evidence-based recommendations that distinguish major methodological issues from minor ones, thereby strengthening both the credibility and clarity of the work.

Your research explores plant stress responses and growth promotion. How did you become interested in this field, and what excites you about it?

My interest in plant stress physiology developed through direct exposure to extreme environments at different stages of my career. Early work on greenhouse vegetable production near the Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley showed that high-quality crop production could be achieved under severe soil salinity, prompting fundamental questions about plant tolerance mechanisms. Later experiences in Canada, where microbial growth, including fungi, was observed under subzero conditions, led me to investigate cold-active hydrolytic enzymes in plant–microbe systems, which I subsequently demonstrated experimentally. More recently, work in Oman has highlighted the remarkable resilience of plants such as the date palm tree under combined heat, drought, and salinity stress, and the potential role of plant growth–promoting microbes in enhancing this tolerance. These cumulative experiences continue to motivate my research on the mechanisms underlying plant adaptation to extreme conditions and on translating such traits to improve the resilience of less tolerant crop species.

How has Open Science influenced your field of research?

Open Science has had a meaningful impact on plant stress physiology and plant–microbe research by improving transparency, reproducibility, and the pace of discovery. The growing availability of shared datasets, genomic resources, and analytical pipelines has enabled more robust comparative studies across environments and species. At the same time, preprints and open-access publishing have accelerated the dissemination of findings relevant to climate resilience and sustainable agriculture. In my field, open data and methodological transparency are particularly valuable for validating stress-response mechanisms and statistical inferences across diverse agroecological contexts. At the same time, Open Science has encouraged more collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches, allowing researchers to integrate physiological, molecular, and ecological perspectives to address complex challenges in crop adaptation.

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