Scope & Mission

Frontiers in Physiology is a leading journal in its field, publishing rigorously peer-reviewed research on the physiology of living systems, from the subcellular and molecular domains to the intact organism, and its interaction with the environment. Field Chief Editor George E. Billman at the Ohio State University Columbus is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians and the public worldwide.

The central tenet of physiology, that unites its various sub-disciplines, is the quest to understand how the various components of the organism work together to maintain a healthy state. It is only by understanding normal bodily function that the disruptions that lead to disease can be determined and ultimately corrected to restore the healthy state.

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.

It is the mission of Frontiers in Physiology to provide a single platform to publish the most outstanding research across all the subspecialties embraced by physiology and to create a worldwide community of like-minded individuals, in order to facilitate the exchange of ideas and to promote interactions between investigators across specialties. Frontiers' Research Topics are particularly suited to this mission - more information can be found here.

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

Submission

Frontiers in Physiology is composed of the following Specialty Sections:

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