As of January 2024, Pathogens and Disease is a fully open access journal. This means that all previously published content is free to read from this date.

It also means that all submissions that get accepted for publication will be published open access and will therefore be subject to an Article Processing Charge (APC). See the Copyright and license including Open Access section of our Author Guidelines for more information.

At FEMS we are working hard to make publishing in our journals as financially accessible as possible. We want the barrier to entry to publishing in our journals to be around the quality and soundness of the science, rather than a financial barrier. This is why we are keeping one broad-scope journal free-to-publish; our APCs are set lower than many other quality journals in our field; and we have put in place generous discount and waiver policies; visit our Open Access FAQs page for more information.

Pathogens and Disease publishes outstanding primary research on hypothesis- and discovery-driven studies on pathogens, host-pathogen interactions, host response to infection and their molecular and cellular correlates. It covers all pathogens – eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and viruses – and includes zoonotic pathogens and experimental translational applications.

The journal was formerly published as FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology and FEMS Microbiology Immunology. Content for these titles can be found in the Pathogens and Disease archive.

Scope of the journal
Pathogens and Disease aims to publish outstanding primary research articles reporting on hypothesis- or discovery-driven studies that significantly advance our understanding of pathogens, their interactions with host cells and organisms as well as host responses to infections and their molecular, cellular, microbial and environmental correlates. Studies corresponding broadly to the fields of molecular pathogenesis, cellular microbiology, innate and adaptive immunity and studies of the systems biology (‘omics) of pathogens are welcome. Commentaries and Perspectives on matters related to articles published in Pathogens and Disease or Minireviews on topics of interest in infectious disease research are also welcome. Clinical studies, excluding clinical trials, and modelling studies (from in situ to in silico) that are relevant to the aforementioned fields will also be considered. Experimental translational applications in vaccine research, therapeutics, probiotics, pathogen typing or diagnostics are also considered, if they contribute a significant advancement in the field. Articles will be assigned to one of several sub-categories based on the dominant approach/topic of the study.

Molecular Effectors of Pathogenesis (e.g., regulation, structure/function of effectors, host response factors, or systems biology) 
Molecular Pathogenesis (molecular and genetic correlates of pathogenesis) 
Cellular Pathogenesis (cellular correlates of pathogenesis) 
Microbial Communities in Infection and Disease (e.g., role of biofilms and microbiota in infection, co-infections)
Host Responses to Infection (e.g., signalling, innate and adaptive immunity, inflammation, immunopathology)
OneHealth (e.g., studies that document environmental, veterinary and/or community correlates of human infection and disease; emergence of microbial antibiotic resistance in humans and animals)
'Omics and Systems Biology (e.g., comparative pathogenomics, pathogen and host transcriptomics, proteomics, lipidomics, glycomics, metabolomics, immunomics, etc. and modelling thereof)
Translational Research (e.g., experimental immunity to infection/disease in animal or other models, identification of host/pathogen targets for drug screening, susceptibility/resistance to experimental drugs, including probiotics, identification of host/pathogen biomarkers of infection or disease).
If you are unsure which Section is most appropriate for your manuscript, for example in the case of multidisciplinary studies, we recommend that you contact one of the Editors-In-Chief by email prior to submission.

Appropriate experts will referee the papers.

Editors-In-Chief


Jörn Coers
Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, USA.
Bacterial pathogenesis; Host response; Innate immunity; Inflammation; Interferon stimulated genes; Mouse models of infection; Functional genomics


Alfredo Garzino-Demo
Institute of Human Virology, and Department of Micriobiology and Microbiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA.
Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Italy.
Virology; HIV; Virus-host interactions; Immunity to viruses


Willa Huston
School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.
Chlamydia; Intracellular pathogens; Serology; Infertility; Women’s health

Handling Editor
Dr Kate Miller
Discipline of Biomedical Sciences, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences James Cook University, McGregor Rd, Smithfield, QLD 4878 AUSTRALIA
Tel: 07 4232 1670
Email: kate.miller1@jcu.edu.au
Location: Building E1.102C
Protozoa, immunology, inflammation, host-parasite interactions, parasitology
orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0001-6071-5102.

 

Editors and their specialist fields
Patrick J. BrennanPatrick J. Brennan
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Mycobacterium; Mycobacterial diseases; Immune response to bacteria; Bacterial pathogenesis; Bacterial infectious agents and drug development


Nicholas CarbonettiNicholas Carbonetti
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Bordetella pertussis; Type I and III interferons


Anuradha ChowdharyAnuradha Chowdhary
Professor, Department of Medical Mycology, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, University of Delhi, India.
Fungal pathogenesis; Antifungal resistance; Fungal diagnosis; Ecology of fungi; Candida spp; Aspergillus spp



Tom CoeneeTom Coenye
Laboratorium voor Farmaceutische Microbiolgie, Faculteit Farmaceutische Wetenschappen, Universiteit Gent, Belgium.
Sociomicrobiology; Bofilms; Quorum sensing; Burkholderia cepacia complex; Cystic fibrosis microbiology; Staphylococcus aureus
orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-6407-0601


Deoraheadshot2Rajendar Deora
LMicrobial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State University, OH, USA.
Bacterial genetics; Bacterial pathogenesis; Biofilms; Gene regulation; Bacterial vaccines; Adjuvants




Eva Frickel
Host-Toxoplasma Interaction Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom.
Toxoplasma gondii; Host-pathogen interactions; Host cell death pathways; Artificial intelligence-driven image analysis; Gamma interferon; Stem-cell derived macophages



Giorgio Gribaudo
Professor, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Italy.
Virus-host interactions; Herpesvirus; Cytomegalovirus; Antivirals 
orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-1583-9146
Richard T. Marconi

Richard T. Marconi
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
Microbial pathogenesis; Immune evasion; Host immune responses; Arthropod borne diseases; Lyme disease; Spirochetes; Vaccine development; Periodontal disease; Treponemes; Borrelia
Kathleen McDonough

Kathleen McDonough
Deputy Director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, USA. Professor Department of Biomedical Sciences, University at Albany, NY, USA.
Mycobacteria; Molecular microbiology; Gene regulation; Bacteria-host interactions; Cyclic nucleotide signaling; Small RNAs
Hayley Newton

Hayley Newton
Senior Lecturer, Co-Theme Leader of Host-Pathogen Interactions, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Intracellular pathogens; Host-pathogen interactions; Coxiella; Legionella; Bacterial secretion systems
Andrew Olive

Andrew Olive
Biomedical Physical Sciences, Michigan State University, Michigan, USA.
Host-pathogen interactions; Host response to chronic infections; Antimicrobial resistance mechanisms; Tolerance to infections
orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0003-3441-3113
Erin Price

Erin Price
USC Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia.
Burkholderia; Haemophilus; Respiratory infections; Infectious diseases; Bacterial evolution; Within-host evolution; Phylogeography; Melioidosis; Genomics; Metagenomics; RNA-seq; Metatranscriptomics
Jacques Schrenzel
Jacques Schrenzel
Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.

 

Raphael H. Valdivia

Raphael H. Valdivia
Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
Cellular microbiology; Type II&III secretion; Microbial genetics; Genomics; Membrane transport; Apoptosis; Cell signaling; Cytoskeletal dynamics; Chlamydia pathogenesis; Intracellular pathogen; Innate immunity; Inflammation; Proteomics

Wei Wang

Wei Wang
Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Virology; Glycoprotein; RNA viruses; Molecular mechanism of the JEV and LASV envelope protein mediated virus-cell membrane fusion

Guangming Zhong

Guangming Zhong
University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, Department of Microbiology, San Antonio, TX, USA.
Host-pathogen interactions; Immune evasion; Microbiome; Vaccine development; Chlamydia

Editorial board members
Herve Agaisse (U Virginia, USA)
Thomas Bjarnsholt (U Copenhagen, Denmark)
Gabriella Campadelli-Fiume (U Bologna, Italy)
Guy Cornelis (U Namur, Belgium)
Steven Dewhurst (U Rochester, USA)
Charles Dorman (US University of the Health Sciences, USA)
Stephen Dumler (J Hopkins U, USA)
Alain Filloux (Imperial Coll London, UK)
Jorge Galan (Yale, USA)
Thomas Hawn (U Washington, USA)
Jürgen Heesemann (U Muenchen, Germany)
Daniel Henk (Imperial Coll London, UK)
Niels Hoiby (U Copenhagen, Denmark)
David Horn (London Sch Hyg Trop Med, UK)
Matthias Horn (U Vienna, Austria)
Shie-Liang 'Edmond' Hsieh (Academia Sincia, Taiwan)
Kazuyoshi Ikuta (Osaka U, Japan)
William Jaconbs Jr (Alb Einstein Coll Med, USA)
Eun-Kyeong Jo (Chungnam Nat U, South Korea)
Hans-Dieter Klenk (U Marburg, Germany)
Karl Kuchler (U Vienna, Austria)
Jose Luis Martinez (U Madrid, Spain)
Valerie Mizrahi (U Cape Town, South Africa)
Virginia Miller (U North Carolina, USA)
Servaas Morre (U Maastricht, The Netherlands)
Staffan Normark (Karolinska Institute, Sweden)
Eric Oswald (U Toulouse, France)
Julian Parkhill (Sanger Center, UK)
Mariagrazia Pizza (Novartis, Italy)
Jacques Ravel (U Maryland Baltimore, USA)
Lee Riley (UC Berkeley, USA)
Pascale Romby (U Strasbourg, France)
Craig Roy (Yale, USA)
Thomas Rudel (U Wuerzburg, Germany)
Nina Salama (U Washington, USA)
Philippe Sansonetti (Pasteur Inst, France)
Scott Stibitz (FDA, USA)
Herve Tettelin (U Maryland Baltimore, USA)
Tone Tønjum (U Oslo, Norway)
Guy Tran van Nhieu (Coll de France, France)
Michele Swanson (U Michigan, USA)
Bernt Eric Uhlin (Umea U, Sweden)
Ruifu Yang (Beijing Inst Micro & Epidemiol, China)
Yi Zeng (Beijing U Technology, China)