Women in Bioinformatics 2025

In celebration of International Women's Day on March 8, 2025, we are delighted to present our Frontiers in Bioinformatics 'Women in Bioinformatics 2025' article collection. This collection builds on the success of our inaugural 2023 collection celebrating the contributions of women in the field.

Despite progress in gender equality, women are still largely under-represented across science-related fields, and STEM research in particular. Whilst percentages vary depending upon the source of information, recent estimates suggest that only 18% of senior bioinformaticians are women, while current total numbers of women within the field of bioinformatics is estimated around 43%. While there are some promising signs that this gender gap may be decreasing at the junior level, for instance, amongst graduate students, more needs to be done to recognise and promote the work of women scientists across the field of Bioinformatics.

With this perspective in mind, the articles in the Women in Bioinformatics 2025 collection will showcase the rich diversity of research conducted by women scientists across the field. These contributions will demonstrate how women bioinformaticians are working to further our understanding and application of bioinformatics.

We invite submissions that fall under the following subthemes:
• Original research articles led by women researchers in bioinformatics, highlighting novel methodologies, tools, or applications.
• Articles discussing the experiences, challenges, and successes of women in bioinformatics careers, from early-career researchers to established leaders.
• Reviews or perspectives on cutting-edge areas in bioinformatics where women are making significant contributions.
• Studies showcasing cross-disciplinary work between bioinformatics and other fields, led by women scientists.
• Articles focusing on initiatives, programs, or strategies to support and encourage women in bioinformatics education and career development.
• Research or perspective pieces addressing gender bias, representation, and equality in the field.
• Submissions in immunoinformatics are especially welcome, including work on modeling adaptive immune receptors (e.g., TCRs and BCRs), neoantigen prediction, vaccine design, and novel computational approaches to enable immunotherapies, such as immune cell engineering.

We strongly encourage submissions where the lead and/or corresponding author is a woman. Early career researchers are also encouraged to collaborate with senior female colleagues. However, we welcome submissions from researchers of all genders that align with the collection's focus on celebrating women in bioinformatics.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Women, Bioinformatics, Gender Equality, STEM, Representation, Research, Career Development, Immunoinformatics, Diversity, Leadership

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.