Journal Guide

PLOS Climate will rapidly disseminate rigorous research, with a commitment to open research principles that empower academic researchers, policy-makers, governments, international organizations and industry to understand dynamic, changing climates and take positive, evidence-based action in the face of climate change. We will catalyze practical solutions and amplify perspectives from under-represented voices and regions about issues across the breadth of climate research.

PLOS Digital Health drives transformation in the delivery of equitable and unbiased healthcare through ethically conducted, impactful, immediately accessible research from our diverse community of engineers, clinicians and researchers, as well as social scientists and industry leaders, from around the world.

PLOS Sustainability and Transformation will empower key decision makers to take immediate action for a more sustainable future that is based on catalytic research from a diversity of researchers and policy experts across disciplines, sectors, and geographies. We will work alongside researchers to shape Open Science practices to facilitate trust, transparency, and discoverability of research that has a lasting impact on the sustainability of our environment, our economy, and the societies around the world who depend on it.

PLOS Water connects communities across water sanitation and water resources research and amplifies diverse voices from all regions, disciplines, and community perspectives that influence this globally important topic. Our journal drives Open Science water research forward to foster a deeper understanding of these interconnected issues and empower researchers, local and indigenous communities, water professionals, and organizations from across the globe to take positive, evidence-based action in order to address some of the most pressing issues our planet faces.

PLoS Biology features works of exceptional significance, originality, and relevance in all areas of biological science, from molecules to ecosystems, including works at the interface of other disciplines, such as chemistry, medicine, and mathematics. Our audience is the international scientific community as well as educators, policy makers, patient advocacy groups, and interested members of the public around the world.

PLoS Computational Biology features works of exceptional significance that further our understanding of living systems at all scales—from molecules and cells, to patient populations and ecosystems—through the application of computational methods. Readers include life and computational scientists, who can take the important findings presented here to the next level of discovery.Research articles that primarily describe new methods and offer only limited biological insight will be considered only in those exceptional instances in which the method is expected to significantly impact the field of computational biology, typically making substantial breakthroughs in areas of demonstrated importance. Research articles modeling aspects of biological systems should demonstrate both scientific novelty and profound new biological insights. Research articles describing improved or routine methods, models, software, and databases will not be considered by PLoS Computational Biology, and may be more appropriate for PLoS ONE.Generally, reliability and significance of biological discovery are validated and enriched by experimental studies. Experimental validation is not required for publication, however, nor does experimental validation of a modest biological discovery render a manuscript suitable for PLoS Computational Biology.For all submissions, authors must clearly provide detail, data, and software to ensure readers' ability to reproduce the models, methods, and results.Authors unsure of whether their work is within the scope of the journal should submit a presubmission inquiry.

Genetics and genomics research has grown at a bewildering pace in the past 15 years. The techniques of these fields are being applied to a wealth of biological questions and experimental systems. PLoS Genetics reflects the full breadth and interdisciplinary nature of this research by publishing outstanding original contributions in all areas of biology.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 mechanistic 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.Please refer to our Author Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions when you are preparing manuscripts for submission. If you are unsure whether your work is suitable for PLoS Genetics, you can send a Presubmission Inquiry.

An influential venue for research and commentary on the major challenges to human health worldwide, PLOS Medicine publishes articles of general interest on biomedical, environmental, social and political determinants of health. The journal emphasizes work that advances clinical practice, health policy or pathophysiological understanding to benefit health in a variety of settings.

PLOS Medicine is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in medical publishing, including the management and disclosure of conflicts of interest in reporting, review, and publication; transparency in the review and publication process; data sharing and reuse of work; authors' retention of copyright; Open Access publication with no restrictions on availability and dissemination; and avoiding the conflicts of interest presented by advertising for drugs and medical devices and exclusive sale of reprints.

PLOS Mental Health, is a new open-access journal for research that leads to healthier lives by improving discussion, interdisciplinary collaboration and understanding of all aspects of mental health in individual, societal, and community contexts.

PLOS Mental Health is an inclusive, peer-reviewed, journal that aims to address challenges and gaps in the field of mental health research, treatment, and care in ways that put the lived experience of individuals and communities first. By uniting all stakeholders through rigorous, open research, and increased visibility of the experiences of individuals and societies we aim to serve, we can further understanding, discussion, and action for mental health on a broader scale.

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases is devoted to the pathology, epidemiology, treatment, control, and prevention of the NTDs, as well as public policy relevant to this group of diseases.The NTDs are defined as a group of poverty-promoting chronic infectious diseases, which primarily occur in rural areas and poor urban areas of low-income and middle-income countries. They are poverty-promoting because of their impact on child health and development, pregnancy, and worker productivity, as well as their stigmatizing features.To see which diseases are included in the journal, please read the detailed scope.

PLOS ONE welcomes original research submissions from the natural sciences, medical research, engineering, as well as the related social sciences and humanities, including:

• Primary research that contributes to the base of scientific knowledge, including interdisciplinary, replication studies, and negative or null results.

• Systematic reviews whose methods ensure the comprehensive and unbiased sampling of existing literature.

• Submissions describing methods, software, databases, or other tools that meet the journal’s criteria for utility, validation and availability.

• Qualitative research that adheres to appropriate study design and reporting guidelines.

• Protocols, including Lab Protocols that describe verified methodologies and Study Protocols that describe detailed plans for research projects.

Bacteria, fungi, parasites, prions and viruses cause a plethora of diseases that have important medical, agricultural, and economic consequences. Moreover, the study of microbes continues to provide novel insights into such fundamental processes as the molecular basis of cellular and organismal function. PLoS Pathogens reflects the full breadth of research in these areas by publishing outstanding original articles that significantly advance the understanding of pathogens and how they interact with their host organisms. Topics include (but are not limited to) adaptive and innate immune defenses as well as pathogen countermeasures, emerging pathogens, evolution, genomics and gene regulation, model host organisms, pathogen-cell biology, pathogenesis, prions, proteomics and signal transduction, rational vaccine design, structural biology, and virulence factors.PLoS Pathogens will consider studies that provide fundamental new understanding of the pathogen or pathogenic mechanisms. The journal will not consider purely descriptive studies, such as those that solely identify a new genomic sequence of a related pathogen or a series of related pathogens, the isolation of pathogen variants, or a new strain or type based only on sequence analysis. Such studies, as well as correlative studies of host and pathogen genotypes, would be considered if they use further experiments to test an idea or validate a mechanistic model, or to provide a clear set of novel conclusions that derive from the data.