About PLoS Genetics

PLoS Genetics (eISSN 1553-7404, ISSN 1553-7390) is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal published weekly by the Public Library of Science (PLoS).

PLoS Genetics is run by an international Editorial Board, headed by the Editor-in-Chief, Wayne Frankel (The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States).

Articles published in PLoS Genetics are deposited in PubMed Central and cited in PubMed.

Scope

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 when you are preparing your manuscripts for submission. If you are unsure whether your paper is suitable for PLoS Genetics, you can send a Presubmission Inquiry.

Features

• Weekly Primary Research Articles—high-quality, original contributions from a broad sweep of international researchers
• Reviews—these invited pieces summarize particularly interesting, hot, or forward-looking aspects of genetics or genomics research from the authors' unique perspective
• Interviews, occasionally accompanied by video clips—by Jane Gitschier, Interviews Editor
• Special Reports—these occasional articles include short and engaging conference reports

Open Access

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) applies the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) to all works we publish. Under the CCAL, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles in PLoS journals, so long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.

Publication Charges

To provide open access, PLoS journals use a business model in which our expenses—including those of peer review, journal production, and online hosting and archiving—are recovered in part by charging a publication fee to the authors or research sponsors for each article they publish. For PLoS Genetics the publication fee is US$2200. Authors who are affiliated with one of our Institutional Members are eligible for a discount on this fee.

We offer a complete or partial fee waiver for authors who do not have funds to cover publication fees. Editors and reviewers have no access to payment information, and hence inability to pay will not influence the decision to publish a paper.

For further information, see our Publication Fee FAQ.

Measuring Impact

The impact factor is calculated in large part by how often a journal's papers have been cited in a particular year. The current impact factor for PLoS Genetics is 8.7. Although the impact factor cannot fully measure the value of published work or its wider influence, we are delighted with the response from and support of the genetics and genomics community and remain focused on our principal goal of publishing high-quality, substantive science. We also encourage contributors and readers to consider the wider issues surrounding the impact factor (see, for example, the June 2006 editorial in PLoS Medicine) and to participate in efforts to develop alternative metrics.

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information about PLoS, visit www.plos.org.