Scope

Fractal Physiology is dedicated to publishing and disseminating new and significant findings in this rapidly expanding field. The last 20 years has witnessed exponential growth in both the methods and theoretical constructs available to study human physiology leading to original insights into health and disease. Over this period the research in fractal physiology has been published in the scientific diaspora, without a recognized home. Fractal Physiology is devoted to the many aspects of experimental design, model building, data analysis and theoretical interpretation of complex physiologic networks and would provide such a home. Fractals in anatomical structure, in the dynamics of control networks and in the statistics of physiological time series have proven to be of fundamental importance for understanding the complexity of physiologic networks. This fresh perspective provides an understanding of physiological mechanisms and how these mechanisms might be altered in disease states. The specialty section places particular emphasis on indentifying and interpreting fractality by means of scaling of complex physiologic phenomena as manifest in structure, time series and dynamics. We encourage submissions that address key questions addressing the structure, functions and activities of organs, tissue and cells, which reveal the coupling across space/time scales, as well as the communication within and between functional and regulatory networks. We encourage molecular, cellular and psychophysical studies: investigations of tissue, organ and network functions, and analyses of complex response and clinical problems resulting from physiological dysfunction. Mathematical models at all levels of sophistication are welcome, from the psychophysical, motivated by direct simulation or emulation of phenomena, to the rigorous application of the mathematics of complex networks.

Please consider the content and article type specifications as stated below 

Articles that address purely pathological processes or treatment/management of disease do not fall within the areas covered by Frontiers in Physiology. Articles of this type must be submitted to a more appropriate clinical journal. As an example, all cancer related articles should be submitted to an appropriate section of Frontiers in Oncology. Articles that focus exclusively on disease processes will be returned to authors without review, and/or with a suggestion to submit to a more appropriate Frontiers journal. Similarly, all articles with a research focus on genes and genomes should be submitted to an appropriate section of Frontiers in Genetics; these submissions will not be considered for review in Frontiers in Physiology.

Please note that not all Article Types are available in all Sections. Some article types, such as those that mention medicine, are section specific. Authors are encouraged to refer to the section specific 'About' pages for available article types. Special circumstances related to sections cross-listed between two or more journals also apply, read more below. Only article types that appear in the drop-down menu during the submission process are available for submission to the selected section.

Frontiers in Physiology no longer accepts Clinical Trials and Case Reports, including pilot studies.

The WHO defines a clinical trial as "any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes". 

In most cases, these submissions should be directed to one of the Frontiers medically related journals. Articles of this nature submitted to Frontiers in Physiology will be returned to authors without review, and/or with a suggestion to submit to a more appropriate Frontiers journal.

Due to the nature of our publishing program, sections cross-listed between two or more journals (for e.g. Autonomic Neuroscience, Biophysics, Exercise Physiology, Medical Physics and Imaging, Reproduction) may continue to welcome these article types, and others, by submission through the other relevant field journal. However, authors should not proceed with submission of a clinical trial, case report or pilot study through Frontiers in Physiology. As stated, articles of this nature submitted to Frontiers in Physiology will be returned to authors without review, and/or with a suggestion to submit to a more appropriate Frontiers journal.

In the case of General Commentaries, the journal will only consider those which comment on a paper already published with Frontiers. Special exception may be given if a commentary addresses a body of knowledge, pending approval from section Chief Editors.

Submission

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