About Parasites & Vectors

What is Parasites & Vectors?

Parasites & Vectors is 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 scope of Parasites & Vectors expands on two former BioMed Central publications – Filaria Journal and Kinetoplastid Biology and Disease, and authors working in these areas are encouraged to submit their work to this new journal. Links to the Archives of Filaria Journal and Kinetoplastid Biology and Disease may be found on the Parasites & Vectors Home Page.

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.

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.
• 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.
• Book reviews: presenting short summaries of the strengths and weaknesses of a book. They should evaluate its overall usefulness to the intended audience. Commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief.
• Meeting reports: Commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief.

Peer review policy

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.

Publishing in Parasites & Vectors

All articles are listed in PubMed immediately upon acceptance (after peer review), and are covered by PubMed Central, Thomson Reuters (ISI), CAS, CABI and Embase.

Articles in Parasites & Vectors should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. However, because articles in this journal are not printed, they do not have page numbers. Instead, they have a unique article number.

The following citation:

Parasites Vectors 2004, 2:1

refers to article 1 from volume 2 of the journal.

As an online journal, Parasites & Vectors does not have issue numbers. Each volume corresponds to a calendar year.

To keep up to date with the latest articles from Parasites & Vectors, why not register to receive alerts? Registration also enables you to customise your subject areas of interest, store your searches, and submit your manuscripts.

Submission of manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to Parasites & Vectors using the online submission system. Full details of how to submit a manuscript are given in the instructions for authors.

General journal policies

Parasites & Vectors is published by BioMed Central, an independent publisher committed to ensuring peer-reviewed biomedical research is open access. That means it is freely and universally accessible online, it is archived in at least one internationally recognised free access repository, and its authors retain copyright, allowing anyone to reproduce or disseminate articles, according to the BioMed Central copyright and licence agreement. Parasites & Vectors however, has taken this further by making all its content open access.

Parasites & Vectors's articles are archived in PubMed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's full-text repository of life science literature, and also at INIST in France and in e-Depot, the National Library of the Netherlands' digital archive of all electronic publications. The journal is also participating in the British Library's e-journals pilot project, and plans to deposit copies of all articles with the British Library.

BioMed Central is working closely with Thomson Reuters (ISI) to ensure that citation analysis of articles published in Parasites & Vectors will be available.

Parasites & Vectors is able to deliver summaries of frequently updated content via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. These are accessible via the orange "XML" button at the top of the list of recent articles or the list of most accessed articles. For more information about RSS feeds see our publisher's website.

For further information about general policies please see the instructions for authors.