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About Frontiers in Network Physiology

Field chief editor

Mission & scope

For a detailed description of the fundamental questions, aims, challenges, analytic and modeling approaches, theoretic framework, impacts, current and future directions of research in Network Physiology see “The New Field of Network Physiology: Building the Human Physiolome”

The multidisciplinary field of Network Physiology focuses on whole-body research to understand the mechanisms through which diverse physiological systems and subsystems across spatiotemporal scales — from the metabolic, genomic and cellular scale, to organs and the organism level — interact to synchronize their dynamics and coordinate their functions. Investigations in Network Physiology aim to uncover the laws of cross-communication among systems, and establish basic principles underlying the integration of systems and organs as a network to generate distinct physiological states and behaviors in health and disease.

In addition to defining health and disease through biochemical, structural, dynamical and regulatory changes in individual physiological systems, the conceptual framework of Network Physiology emphasizes the signaling pathways, coordination and network interactions among systems and subsystems as a hallmark of physiological state and function. Integrating data-driven empirical and theoretical knowledge across disciplines ranging from applied mathematics, data science, physics and biomedical engineering to biology, genomics and proteomics, neuroscience, physiology, psychology and clinical medicine, Network Physiology develops the methodical instrumentarium — including integrated platforms of biomedical devices and sensor networks for multisystem and multimodality data recording and imaging, large databases development and curation, computational and analytical methods — and the theoretical framework necessary to address the fundamental question of how physiological states and functions at the organism level emerge out of complex dynamic interactions across systems from biochemical pathways to cellular, tissue, and organ interactions to whole-body behaviors and conditions.

Launched in 2021, Frontiers in Network Physiology is the first and only peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to advancing this emerging discipline. The journal is committed to furthering our understanding of how physiological systems and subsystems interact to synchronize functions and integrate as networks to generate physiological states and conditions in health and disease. As a multidisciplinary, open-access forum, it communicates impactful discoveries to both academics and clinicians, and provides a platform for cutting-edge empirical and theoretical research spanning every level of physiological organization, from metabolic, subcellular, and cellular processes to integrated organ systems and the whole organism, while also addressing challenges, current frontiers, and future developments in the field.

Led by Prof. Plamen Ch. Ivanov (Boston University, USA), Frontiers in Network Physiology welcomes research contributions from scientists with backgrounds in adaptive networks of dynamical systems, applied mathematics and nonlinear dynamics, information theory, physics, neuroscience, physiology and psycho-physiology, clinical medicine, biomedical engineering, computational and data science, AI, intelligent devices, and robotics. The journal embraces both basic research and clinical studies aiming to promote discoveries of the laws and control mechanisms that underlie physiologic network interactions in health and disease.

Frontiers in Network Physiology encourages research focused on the development of novel biomedical device platforms and multimodal data acquisition systems — including imaging modalities, sensor networks, and wearables — for synchronized, high-frequency, multichannel recordings of physiological processes across scales, from biochemical to the organism level. It also promotes the advancement of computational, analytic, and modeling approaches to identify forms of interaction, causality, and principles of systems integration across spatiotemporal scales. Together, these efforts support the creation of the Human Physiolome: a comprehensive dynamic BigData and atlas of thousands (possibly millions) of dynamic maps representing physiologic network interactions derived from large-scale signals across multiple levels and physiological systems.

The journal aims to bridge the gap between basic physiology, clinical medicine, and other related disciplines by exploring the interactions and network integration among systems and sub-systems across levels as a hallmark of physiologic state and function. Topics of interest include:

  • Functional forms of physiologic coupling, their time variation, and effects of pairwise interactions on the dynamics and control of individual systems
  • Network studies on structural and dynamical aspects of physiological subsystems and systems that transcend space and time scales
  • Information flow and network topology in relation to cellular and neuronal assemblies and autonomic control of organ systems
  • Networks comprised of diverse physiological systems and associations between physiologic network structure and function
  • Basic principles of hierarchical network organization of systems and the entire body
  • Evolution of pairwise coupling and network topology with transitions across physiological states
  • Role of time-dependent network interactions for emergent transitions in network topology and function
  • Networks of physiological networks transcending interactions of subsystems to interactions among organs
  • Self-organization of physiological networks, synergetic principles and applications
  • Causality and higher order interactions in physiological networks
  • Mind-Body networks of structural, functional, and metabolic processes in central-autonomic regulation in health and disease; mind-body interventions and effects on physiological networks; impacts on psychological networks and quality of life
  • Networks of pain signaling from ion channels to brain and organs
  • Manipulation, control, and global dynamics of networks in response to clinical treatment
  • Cascades of failure across systems as encountered in critical care
  • Physiological networks in exercise, training, fatigue, rehabilitation, and sports medicine
  • Network mechanisms underlying clinical conditions such as sleep disorders, coma and traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative disorders
  • Processes and networks in the endocrine system, their role for hormones release and control, growth and reproduction
  • Effects of aging and frailty on physiological network and relationship with age-related functional decline
  • Network Physiology of Cancer
  • Artificial Intelligence algorithms for Network Physiology
  • Developing integrated platforms of biomedical devices and sensor networks for multisystem and multimodality data recording
  • Whole-body multimodality synchronous imaging from cellular to organism level
  • The development and curation of large databases; building atlas of dynamic maps of physiological interactions within and across levels, the Human Physiolome
  • Development of physiologically inspired AI algorithms, electronic and robotic systems based on the laws and principles of physiologic network interactions
  • Network Physiology education in basic sciences and in medicine

The journal aims to contribute to the understanding of how physiological systems dynamically interact and integrate their functions, ultimately leading to scientific breakthroughs in the field of Network Physiology.

Frontiers in Network Physiology is committed to advancing developments in the field by providing unrestricted access to articles and communicating scientific knowledge to researchers and the public. Advances in Network Physiology will revolutionize our understanding of health and disease. We invite the community to join this new multidisciplinary science, and take part in an exciting journey of new discoveries and applications to build the Human Physiolome

The journal also welcomes submissions which support and advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDG 3: good health and well-being.

Manuscripts submitted to Frontiers in Network Physiology should include an explanation of how the article is relevant to Network Physiology in the introduction or the discussion of reported new results, and have "Network Physiology" as a keyword.

Frontiers in Network Physiology is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

Facts

  • Short name

    Front. Netw. Physiol.

  • Abbreviation

    fnetp

  • Electronic ISSN

    2674-0109

  • Indexed in

    Google Scholar, DOAJ, CrossRef, CLOCKSS, OpenAIRE, Scopus, Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) , PubMed Central (PMC), PubMed Central (PMC)

  • PMCID

    All published articles receive a PMCID

  • Impact

    3 Impact Factor

    4.4 CiteScore

Journal sections

Frontiers in Network Physiology is composed of the following Specialty sections:

The specialty sections of Frontiers in Network Physiology welcome submission of the following article types: Brief Research Report, Case Report, Clinical Trial, Correction, Data Report, Editorial, FAIR² Data, General Commentary, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Systematic Review, Technology and Code.

When submitting a manuscript to Frontiers in Network Physiology, authors must submit the material directly to one of the specialty sections. Manuscripts are peer-reviewed by the Associate Editors and Community Reviewers of the respective specialty section.

Open access statement

Open access logo

Frontiers' philosophy is that all research is for the benefit of humankind. Research is the product of an investment by society and therefore its fruits should be returned to all people without borders or discrimination, serving society universally and in a transparent fashion.

That is why Frontiers provides online free and open access to all of its research publications. For more information on open access click here.

Open access funder and institutional mandates

Frontiers is fully compliant with open access mandates, by publishing its articles under the Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC-BY). Funder mandates such as those by the Wellcome Trust (UK), National Institutes of Health (USA) and the Australian Research Council (Australia) are fully compatible with publishing in Frontiers. Authors retain copyright of their work and can deposit their publication in any repository. The work can be freely shared and adapted provided that appropriate credit is given and any changes specified.

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Quality

Each article we publish is of the highest quality, thanks to collaboration between authors, editors and reviewers, who include many of the world's best scientists and scholars. We understand the potential impact of published research both on future research and on society and do not support superficial review, light review or no-review publishing models. Research must be certified by peers before entering a stream of knowledge that may eventually reach the public and shape society.

We use the single anonymized peer review model:

  • The reviewers' identities are not made visible to the author

  • The authors' identities are visible to the reviewer

  • Reviewer and the author identities are visible to the decision-making editor.

Reviewers interact with the handling editor and the authors. Editor and reviewer names and affiliations are published on all Frontiers' articles.

Frontiers applies the most rigorous and unbiased reviews, established in the high standards of our review system. Only the top certified research, evaluated objectively through quantitative online article level metrics, is disseminated to increasingly wider communities as it gradually climbs the tiers of our tiering system from specialized expert readership towards public understanding.

We have a number of procedures in place to support and ensure the quality of the research articles that are published:

    • Editorial board quality

      • Only leading experts and established members of the research community are appointed to Frontiers' editorial boards. Chief editors, associate editors and community reviewers are listed with their names and affiliations on the journal pages and are encouraged to publicly list their publication credentials.

    • Associate editor assignment quality

      • Associate editors oversee the peer review and take the final acceptance decision on manuscripts. Editorial decision power is distributed in Frontiers, because we believe that many experts within a community should be able to shape the direction of science for the benefit of society.

      • Submitting authors can choose a preferred associate editor to handle their manuscript, because they can judge well who would be an appropriate expert in editing their manuscript. There is no guarantee for this preference of choice, Associate Editors can decline invitations any time, and the handling editor can also be over-ridden by the chief editor before they are invited to edit the article or at any other stage.

      • Associate editors are mandated to only accept to edit a manuscript if they have no conflicts of interest (as stated here and in their review invitation and assignment emails).

      • If it becomes clear that the associate editor has a conflict of interest or is unable to perform the peer review adequately, a new associate editor can be assigned to the manuscript by the chief editor, who has full control to intervene in the peer review process at any time.

      • The associate Eeditor initially checks that the article meets basic quality standards and has no obvious objective errors.

    • Reviewer assignment quality

      • The associate editor can then personally choose and invite the most appropriate reviewers to handle the peer review, including community reviewers or external reviewers.

      • The associate editor is aided in this by our review forum software and interface, which suggests the most relevant community reviewers based on a match between their expertise and the topic of the manuscript. Associate editors can however choose any reviewer they deem adequate.

      • After a certain time frame and if no reviewers have in the meantime been assigned to the manuscript, Frontiers' platform automatically invites the most appropriate community reviewers based on constantly updated and improved algorithms that match reviewer expertise with the submitted manuscript.

      • Community reviewers and external reviewers are mandated to only accept to review a manuscript if they have no conflicts of interest (as stated here and in their review invitation and assignment emails).

      • Frontiers' algorithms are constantly fine-tuned to match community reviewers with manuscripts, and additional checks are being coded into the platform, for example regarding conflicts of interest.

      • If it becomes clear that a particular reviewer has a conflict of interest or is unable to perform the peer review adequately, they will be replaced with an alternative reviewer by the associate editor or chief editor, who will be alerted and has full control to intervene into the peer review at any time.

    • Independent review stage quality

      • In the independent review stage the assigned reviewers perform an in-depth review of the article independently of each other to safeguard complete freedom of opinion.

      • The reviewers are aided by an online standardized review questionnaire – adopted to article types – with the goal to facilitate rigorous evaluation according to objective criteria and our review guidelines.

    • Interactive review stage quality

      • The associate editor assesses the reviews and activates the interactive review – informing the authors of the extent of revisions that are required to address the reviewers’ comments, and starting the interactive discussion forum where authors and also the reviewers get full access to all review reports.

      • Manuscript and review quality at this stage are enhanced by allowing authors and reviewers to discuss directly with each other in real-time until they reach consensus and a final version of the manuscript is endorsed by the reviewers.

      • Reviewer identity is protected at this stage to safeguard complete freedom of opinion.

      • Reviewers can recommend rejection at this stage if their requests to correct objective errors are not being met by the authors or if they deem the article overall of insufficient quality.

      • Should a dispute arise, authors or reviewers can trigger an arbitration and will alert the associate editor, who can assign more reviewers and/or bring the dispute to the attention of the chief editor. The associate editor can also weigh in on the discussion and is asked to mediate the process to ensure a constructive revision stage.

    • Decision stage quality

      • The decision to accept an article needs to be unanimous amongst all reviewers and the handling associate editor.

      • The names of the associate editor and reviewers are disclosed on published articles to encourage in depth and rigorous reviews, acknowledge work well done on the article and to bring transparency and accountability into peer review.

      • Associate editors can recommend the rejection of an article to the chief editor, who needs to check that the authors’ rights have been upheld during the peer-review process, and who can then ultimately reject the article if it is of insufficient quality, has objective errors or if the authors were unreasonably unwilling to address the points raised during the review.

      • Chief editors can at any stage of the peer review step in to comment on the review process, change assigned editors, assign themselves as a reviewer and even as the handling editor for the manuscript, and therefore have full authority and all the mechanisms to act independently in their online editorial office to ensure quality.

    • Safeguards against financial conflicts of interest

      • Only leading researchers acting as associate editors, who are not part of Frontiers' staff, can make acceptance decisions based on reviews performed by external experts acting as community reviewers or reviewers. None have a financial incentive to accept articles, i.e. they are not paid for their role as associate editor or community reviewer, and any award scheme is not linked to acceptances of manuscripts.

      • Chief editors receive an honorarium if their specialty section or field reaches certain submission levels. However, this honorarium is based on the total number of submitted articles during a calendar year, and not the number of accepted articles. Therefore they also have no financial incentive to accept manuscripts.

    • Post-publication stage quality

      • The Frontiers platform enables post-publication commenting and discussions on papers and hence the possibility to critically evaluate articles even after the peer-review process.

      • Frontiers has a community retraction protocol in place to retract papers where serious concerns have been raised and validated by the community that warrant retraction, including ethical concerns, honest errors or scientific misconduct.