Submission to first decision
32 days

Viruses are convenient models for the elucidation of life processes. The study of viruses is again on the cutting edge of biological sciences: systems biology, genomics, proteomics, metagenomics, using the newest most powerful tools.
Huge amounts of new details on virus interactions with the cell, other pathogens and the hosts – animal (including human), insect, fungal, plant, bacterial, and archaeal - and their role in infection and disease are forthcoming in perplexing details requiring analysis and comments.
Virus Genes is dedicated to the publication of studies on the structure and function of viruses and their genes, the molecular and systems interactions with the host and all applications derived thereof, providing a forum for the analysis of data and discussion of its implications, and the development of new hypotheses.
VIRUS GENES publishes
studies on analysis of virus genes, gene products and functions, regulation of virus gene function, cell biology of virus infection
functional studies of genes and gene families, encoded by eukaryotic, prokaryotic and archaeal viruses, viroids, as well as unconventional and novel infectious agents
phylogenetic and evolutionary data from all virus genera and families
systems biology of virus-host interactions
next generation sequencing of complex infectious samples for genomic, transcriptomic, and metagenomic studies
studies on antivirals affecting specific virus or host gene functions
VIRUS GENES does NOT publish purely descriptive studies, e.g., primary sequence data of known viruses based on local sample collections.
Papers are organized as
Original work (Full papers)
Short reports
(Mini-)Reviews
Correspondence (letters to editor)
Editorials
Manuscripts with Original work, Short reports, and (Mini-)Reviews undergo a peer review process. Correspondence and Editorials are published at the discretion of the editors.

Editors-in-Chief:
Joachim J. Bugert
Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany
Detlev H. Kruger 
Institute of Virology, University Hospital Charité, Berlin, Germany

Founders:
Yechiel Becker
Jerusalem, Israel
Gholamreza Darai
Heidelberg, Germany

Subject Editors:
Seung-Kook Choi (Plant Viruses)
Department of Horticultural Environment, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Suwon, Korea
William Dundon (Animal Viruses)
FAO/IAEA Animal Production and Health, Seibersdorf, Austria
Zhen F. Fu (Animal Viruses)
State-key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
Wolfram H. Gerlich (Human Viruses)
Institute for Medical Virology, Biomedical Research Center Seltersberg, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
Hartmut Hengel (Human Viruses) 
Institute for Virology, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany

Andrew D. Millard (Bacteriophages)
Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, United Kingdom

Takeshi Noda (Animal Viruses)
Laboratory of Ultrastructural Virology, Division of Integrated Life Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

A. Lorena Passarelli (Insect Viruses)
Kansas State University, Division of Biology, Manhattan, KS, USA
Karel Petrzik (Plant Viruses)
Institute of Plant Molecular Biology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Juergen A. Richt (Animal Viruses)
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
Simon D. Scott (Human Viruses)
Medway School of Pharmacy, University of Kent, United Kingdom

Editorial Board:
Randy A. Albrecht, USA
Moshe Bar-Joseph, Israel
Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer, Germany
Nor Chejanovsky, Israel
Troy D. Cline, USA
Jeffrey I. Cohen, USA
Ellen W. Collisson, USA
Christina Cousens, United Kingdom
Irit Davidson, Israel
Nicola Decaro, Italy
Esteban A. Engel, USA
Michael Eschbaumer, Germany
David H. Evans, Canada
Zhen Chuan Fan, USA
Toshiyuki Fukuhara, Japan
Pablo D. Ghiringhelli, Argentina
Kathleen L. Hefferon, Canada
Arun V. Iyer, USA
Arun Kapoor, USA
Erik A. Karlsson, Cambodia
Boris Klempa, Slovakia
Anna Kramvis, South Africa
Jiban K. Kundu, Czech Republic
Xuefeng Liu, USA
Piet Maes, Belgium
Timothy J. Mahony, Australia
Annette Mankertz, Germany
Martin Messerle, Germany
Maria T. Pérez Gracia, Spain
Vinay Shivanna, USA
Drake C. Stenger, USA
Jan H. ter Meulen, USA
Nicole D. Tischler, Chile
Ioannis E. Tzanetakis, USA
Štefan Vilček, Slovakia
Veronika von Messling, Germany
Henry Xiu-Feng Wan, USA
Qunfeng Wu, USA