PLOS Genetics to launch Microbial Section

NOTE: PLOS issued the following press release on Thursday, April 20 at 2pm Eastern

SAN FRANCISCO — PLOS today announced that PLOS Genetics is expanding the scope of its journal with a renamed section called Microbial Genetics. This section will replace the former Prokaryotic Genetics section to emphasize research on microbes more broadly with the aim to publish studies that use genetic approaches to provide insights into how bacteria as well as archaea and their phages/viruses, fungi (including yeasts and filamentous fungi), and protists function and interact with the biotic and abiotic world.

PLOS Genetics has an established presence in the fungal genetics community, but this research has not easily found a home within its existing journal sections. Currently, the majority of these submissions, primarily studies in yeast, are handled within the General section of the journal. The new microbial section will rectify that issue.

“We believe the new Microbial Genetics section will provide a logical new home for these submissions and reaffirm our continued support for this type of research,” said Gregory Copenhaver, Co Editor-in-Chief, PLOS Genetics.

“We are excited that the relaunch of this section will include a Curated Collection for malaria-related research, which will also include other protozoan parasites,” said Gregory Barsh, Co Editor-in-Chief, PLOS Genetics.

The new section on Microbial Genetics will be headed by Geraldine Butler, Eva Stukenbrock, Lotte Søgaard-Andersen and Sean Crosson. These four section editors are supported by associate editors with broad expertise in microbial genetics.

To learn more about this section relaunch, you can read the editorial here.

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About the Public Library of Science

PLOS is a nonprofit, open access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. Since our founding in 2001, PLOS journals have helped break boundaries in research communication to provide more opportunities, choice, and context for researchers and readers. For more information, visit http://www.staging.plos.org.

About PLOS Genetics

PLOS Genetics publishes human studies, as well as research on model organisms—from mice and flies, to plants and bacteria. Our emphasis is on studies of broad interest that provide significant insight into a biological process or processes. Topics include (but are not limited to) gene discovery and function, population genetics, genome projects, comparative and functional genomics, medical genetics, disease biology, evolution, gene expression, complex traits, chromosome biology, and epigenetics.