Scope

The red blood cell research field has undergone an explosive burst for the past decade. These cells making up more than 65% of all cells in our body, and increasingly complex approaches like in vitro erythropoiesis systems and new technological developments enable us to look deep into their structure and function. We continue to learn about the mechanisms behind hereditary anemias and develop new personalized therapeutic strategies. Attempts are also being made to grow individual blood types in bioreactors and develop advanced red blood cell storage protocols to improve the efficacy of transfusions. This exciting area of basic and translational research is covered in this new section of Frontiers in Physiology, Red Blood Cell Physiology. The following topics will be addressed:

- Red cells production, maturation, senescence and clearance

- Red cell biochemistry and metabolism

- Red cell biophysics and mechanical properties of single cells

- Rheology and hydrodynamic properties of blood

- Molecular signaling, membrane transport and cell-cell interactions

- Transfusion medicine

- Red cell diseases: pathophysiology, diagnostics, drug development and therapy

- Adaptation of red cells to stress, including sport and exercise

- Technological approaches to study red blood cell turnover, structure and function

- Comparative physiology

The Red Blood Cell Physiology section encourages the submission of interdisciplinary studies.

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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