Scope

Integrative Physiology is devoted to encompassing the broader aspects of physiology that involve the integration of mechanisms and regulatory functions at all biological levels ranging from the molecular, cellular, tissue and organs to clinical studies. The genomic revolution has opened up exciting new areas of discovery, but the challenge for physiologists has been to incorporate this new information into an expanding, thus more complicated, view of physiological systems. The narrowing of focus required to extract the nuances of biological function – today, and more so in the future – and will require avenues to bring together and "integrate" this information into known physiological processes and regulatory systems. Therefore, Integrative Physiology encourages submissions that bring new insights into physiological processes and regulatory systems as well as their perturbation during pathological processes. Papers that encompass multidisciplinary approaches and techniques that focus on mechanisms and regulatory functions are encouraged. How regulatory and homeostatic systems are altered in transgenic animals is of particular priority. Topics of interest include neurohumoral control of the circulation, hemodynamics, heart function and heart failure; circadian rhythms, clocks and cycles; regulation during sleep, awake and stressful states; temperature control; thirst and fluid volume homoeostasis; appetite, energy balance and obesity.

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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