About Parasites & Vectors

This page includes information about the aims and scope of Parasites & Vectors, editorial policies, open access and article-processing charges, the peer review process and other information. For details of how to prepare and submit a manuscript through the online submission system, please see the instructions for authors.

Aims & scope

Manuscripts on all aspects of the basic and applied biology of parasites, intermediate hosts, vectors and vector-borne pathogens will be considered. In addition to the traditional and well-established areas of science in these fields, we also aim to provide a vehicle for publication of the rapidly developing resources and technology in parasite, intermediate host and vector genomics and their impacts on biological research. We are able to publish movies and also large datasets and extensive results, frequently associated with genomic and post-genomic technologies, which are not readily accommodated in traditional journals. Manuscripts addressing broader issues, for example economics, social sciences and global climate change in relation to parasites, vectors and disease control, are also welcomed.

The average time from submission to a first decision is 21 days.

Parasites & Vectorsis an open access, peer-reviewed online journal dealing with the biology of parasites, parasitic diseases, intermediate hosts, vectors and vector-borne pathogens. Manuscripts published in this journal will be available to all worldwide, with no barriers to access, immediately following acceptance. However, authors retain the copyright of their material and may use it, or distribute it, as they wish.

Manuscripts on all aspects of the basic and applied biology of parasites, intermediate hosts, vectors and vector-borne pathogens will be considered. In addition to the traditional and well-established areas of science in these fields, we also aim to provide a vehicle for publication of the rapidly developing resources and technology in parasite, intermediate host and vector genomics and their impacts on biological research. We are able to publish large datasets and extensive results, frequently associated with genomic and post-genomic technologies, which are not readily accommodated in traditional journals. Manuscripts addressing broader issues, for example economics, social sciences and global climate change in relation to parasites, vectors and disease control, are also welcomed.

The electronic format of the journal offers interesting opportunities for authors. For example, in addition to the publication of large datasets, derived from field and laboratory studies, there is no limit to the number of color illustrations that can be included. Animations, slide shows and movie clips are acceptable, as also are links to relevant material on other websites. No additional charge will be made for these.

Parasites & Vectors expands upon the scope of two former BioMed Central publications, Kinetoplastid Biology and Disease and Filaria Journal , both of which ceased publication in December 2007.

Authors working in the areas covered by these journals are encouraged to submit their work to Parasites & Vectors.

The full archives of these two journals remain available from the Kinetoplastid Biology and Disease and Filaria Journal websites and PubMed Central.

Open access

All articles published by Parasites & Vectors are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers. Further information about open access can be found here.

Authors of articles published in Parasites & Vectors are the copyright holders of their articles and have granted to any third party, in advance and in perpetuity, the right to use, reproduce or disseminate the article, according to the BioMed Central copyright and license agreement.

Article-processing charges

Open access publishing is not without costs. Parasites & Vectors therefore levies an article-processing charge of £1150/$1765/€1355 for each article accepted for publication. We routinely waive charges for authors from low-income countries. Generally, if the submitting author's institution is a Member the cost of the article-processing charge is covered by the membership, and no further charge is payable. In the case of authors whose institutions are Supporter Members, however, a discounted article-processing charge is payable by the author. For further details, see our article-processing charge page. A limited number of waivers for article-processing charges are also available at the editors' discretion, and authors wishing to apply for these waivers should contact the editors.

Indexing services

All articles published in Parasites & Vectors are included in PubMed, the most widely used biomedical bibliographic database service, which is run by the US National Library of Medicine. Other bibliographic databases that index articles published in Parasites & Vectors include:

• Agricola
• CABI
• CAS
• Embase
• Global Health
• MEDLINE

• PubMed
• PubMed Central
• Science Citation Index Expanded
• SCImago
• Scopus

The full text of all research articles is deposited in PubMed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's full-text repository of life science literature, and other digital archives including e-Depot (The Netherlands).

Parasites & Vectors is tracked by Thomson Reuters (ISI)and has an Impact Factor of 2.94.

Publication and peer review process

Content overview

Parasites & Vectors considers the following types of articles:

• Research: reports of data from original research. These peer-reviewed articles will form the major content of the journal and may be full papers or short communications
• Reviews: of any topic within the scope of the journal. They may be either invited by the editor or unsolicited. Plenary lectures from Conferences and specialized meetings are welcomed. These may include the slides and videos that were used in the original presentation. Authors and conference organizers are encouraged to discuss proposals with the Editor at an early stage. All reviews will be peer-reviewed.
• Book reviews: presenting short summaries of the strengths and weaknesses of a book. They should evaluate its overall usefulness to the intended audience. Book reviews are commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief.
• Meeting reports: Commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief.
• Letter to the Editor: These can take several forms. For example, a substantial critique or re-analysis of a previously published article, a substantial response to such a re-analysis from the authors of the original publication, or an article that may not cover 'standard research' but that may be relevant to readers. Please consult the Editor prior to submission if in doubt.
• Discussion of papers published in the journal is encouraged, and these contributions will be included in Readers' Comments, accessed from the web page on which the article is displayed. These comments are subject to editing and remain in the Archives associated with the specific article to which they refer.

Plant raw materials, derivatives and extracts

Investigations on biological activity of plant raw materials, derivatives or extracts, including essential oils, must be standardized in order to elucidate their qualitative and quantitative phytochemical composition, at least of major compounds. The methodology used must be described in detail, including procedures, apparatus, columns, stationary and mobile phases, detection, etc.

For all plant species used in investigations, from wild populations or cultivated ones, a voucher specimen must be deposited in a biological collection, where the site (GPS coordinates) and date of collection, with the part(s) used in the study are documented, and the voucher number must be cited in the manuscript.

Peer-review policies

Manuscripts will be reviewed by internationally recognized experts in the field, selected in part from the Editorial Board. Reviews will be rapid and the suitability of a manuscript for publication will be assessed solely on criteria of scientific excellence. Final decisions will be made by the Editor-in-Chief and may include accept, reject, accept following minor revision and resubmit after major revision and further review.

Edited by Chris Arme, Parasites & Vectors is supported by an expert Editorial Board.

Authors will be able to check the progress of their manuscript through the submission system at any time by logging into My Parasites & Vectors, a personalized section of the site.

Reprints

High-quality, bound reprints can be purchased for all articles published. Please see our reprints website for further information about ordering reprints.

Supplements

Parasites & Vectors will consider supplements based on proceedings (full articles or meeting abstracts), reviews or research. All articles submitted for publication in supplements are subject to peer review. Published supplements are fully searchable and freely accessible online and can also be produced in print. All full length articles (proceedings, reviews or research articles) are indexed by PubMed. PubMed displays the title of the supplement only in the case of meeting abstract collections. For further information, please contact us.

Editorial policies

All manuscripts submitted to Parasites & Vectors should adhere to BioMed Central's editorial policies.

Citing articles in Parasites & Vectors

Articles in Parasites & Vectors should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. Because articles are not printed, they do not have page numbers; instead, they are given a unique article number.

Article citations follow this format:

Authors: Title. Parasit Vectors [year], [volume number]:[article number].

e.g. Roberts LD, Hassall DG, Winegar DA, Haselden JN, Nicholls AW, Griffin JL: Increased hepatic oxidative metabolism distinguishes the action of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor delta from Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma in the Ob/Ob mouse. Parasit Vectors 2009, 1:115.

refers to article 115 from Volume 1 of the journal.

Why publish your article in Parasites & Vectors?

High visibility

Parasites & Vectors's open access policy allows maximum visibility of articles published in the journal as they are available to a wide, global audience. Articles that have been especially highly accessed are highlighted with a 'Highly accessed' graphic, which appears on the journal's contents pages and search results.

Speed of publication

Parasites & Vectors offers a fast publication schedule whilst maintaining rigorous peer review; all articles must be submitted online, and peer review is managed fully electronically (articles are distributed in PDF form, which is automatically generated from the submitted files). Articles are published with their final citation immediately upon acceptance in a provisional PDF form. The article will subsequently be published in both fully browsable web form, and as a formatted PDF; the article will then be available through Parasites & Vectors, BioMed Central and PubMed Central and will also be included in PubMed.

Flexibility

Online publication in Parasites & Vectors gives authors the opportunity to publish large datasets, large numbers of color illustrations and moving pictures, to display data in a form that can be read directly by other software packages so as to allow readers to manipulate the data for themselves, and to create all relevant links (for example, to PubMed, to sequence and other databases, and to other papers).

Promotion and press coverage

Articles published in Parasites & Vectors are included in article alerts and regular email updates. Some may be included in abstract books mailed to academics and are highlighted on Parasites & Vectors's pages and on the BioMed Central homepage.

In addition, articles published in Parasites & Vectors may be promoted by press releases to the general or scientific press. These activities increase the exposure and number of accesses for articles published in Parasites & Vectors. A list of articles recently press-released by journals published by BioMed Central is available here.

Copyright

Authors of articles published in Parasites & Vectors retain the copyright of their articles and are free to reproduce and disseminate their work (for further details, see the BioMed Central copyright and license agreement).

For further information about the advantages of publishing in a journal from BioMed Central, please click here.