Phenotype and Gene Expression

Aims and scope:

Phenotype and Gene Expression is an open access, peer reviewed journal which covers all aspects of gene expression. Topics from protein synthesis (transcription, translation, regulation of gene expression), to the phenotype and genetic markers, are of interest to the journal. Modulation of these processes, technologies and techniques, the resulting gene products and overexpression are covered as well.

Editorial standards and procedures:

All submissions to this journal, with the exception of editorials and dedications (obituaries), are subject to rigorous peer review by a minimum of two peer reviewers who demonstrate current research experience in the paper's subject area.  Reviewers are required to provide in-depth, fair and objective reviews.  They may not act as reviewers if they are in a conflict of interest.  All final publishing decisions are made by the Editor in Chief or Associate Editor.

National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy compliant:

As of April 7 2008, the US NIH Public Access Policy requires that all peer reviewed articles resulting from research carried out with NIH funding be deposited in the Pubmed Central archive.

If you are an NIH employee or grantee Libertas Academica will ensure that you comply with the policy by depositing your paper at Pubmed Central on your behalf. 

Call for papers:

The Editor in Chief welcomes submissions.  Submissions of the following types are invited:

• Original research articles.
• Reviews: comprehensive, authoritative, descriptions of any subject within the journal's scope. They may cover basic science and clinical reviews, ethics, pro/con debates, and equipment reviews.
• Commentaries: focused and opinionated articles on any subject within the journal's scope. These articles are usually related to a contemporary issue.
• Hypotheses: articles that present an original hypothesis backed solely by previously published results rather than any new evidence. They should outline significant progress in thinking that would also be testable.
• Letters to the Editor: these can be either a re-analysis of a previously published article, or a response to such a re-analysis from the authors of the original publication.
• Methodology articles: these discuss a new experimental method, test or procedure. The article must describe a demonstrable advance on what is currently available. The method needs to have been well tested and ideally, but not necessarily, used in a way that proves its value.
• Short reports: brief reports of data from original research.
• Meeting reports: a report pertaining to activity at a meeting or conference Articles published in this journal are immediately available without delay upon publication and enjoy substantial visibility.

All submissions are subject to prompt, objective and fair peer review.  Copyright in published articles remains with the author(s).  Authors are continually informed of the progress of their paper and our staff are friendly and responsive.  One author recently wrote: "I would like to say that this is the most author-friendly editing process I have experienced in over 150 publications. Thank you most sincerely."

Criteria for publication: 

Publication of submissions is primarily dependent on the peer reviewers’ judgement of the paper’s validity and coherence. Reviewers are asked to review the article on the basis of its scientific quality, conformance with the journal’s aims and scope, and the quality of its writing.  All final publishing decisions are made by the Editor in Chief or Associate Editor.

Submissions will not be rejected solely on the basis of weak English except where this significantly hinders the conveyance of meaning or implies weak comprehension by the authors of their material. However, submissions with weak English will be required to be professionally edited to remedy this problem as a pre-condition of acceptance.

Articles submitted to other journals:

We are willing to consider papers which have been peer reviewed by other journals but not accepted for publication.  Authors must include the full peer review report as well as the manuscript and a description of their responses to the reviewers' comments.  All such submissions are forwarded to the Editor in Chief or Associate Editor.

Services for authors:

Prior to peer review of your paper we can:

• Have your paper's reference style revised to meet our requirements,
• Have your paper's English revised by specialist English-speaking technical editors.

After peer review of your paper we can:

• Have your paper revised in accordance with peer reviewer's recommendations and have a summary of responses to the reviewers created by our specialist external substantive editors,
• Provide bound reprints of your article in colour or black and white ,
• Provide online-early rapid publication if your paper prior to typesetting.

What other authors have said:

Libertas Academica actively requests, receives and acts upon feedback from authors, readers and editorial boards.  Here's what some recent authors have said about us:

"Within a couple of days the reviewers had been procured and the manuscript was out."

"The communication between your staff and me has been terrific.  Whenever progress is made with the manuscript, I receive notice.  Quite honestly, I've never had such complete communication with a journal."

"LA is different, and hopefully represents a kind of scientific publication machinery that removes the hurdles from free flow of scientific thought."

Article processing fees:

All submissions to this journal are subject to an article processing fee if they are accepted for publication.  Article processing fees are used to fund the processing of your paper and development of the journal.  Article processing fees are the only compulsory charge you will face and do not vary according to word count, page count, colour figures or any other factor.  There is no additional charge for the author(s) to make any use of their article and no charge to readers to access it.

Full fee waivers are available for authors working in undeveloped nations and partial discounts of 20-50% are available to authors in other nations.  Authors must be able to verifiably demonstrate their suitability for a discount or waiver.  Availability of waivers and discounts is subject to monthly availability and is given at the publisher's discretion.  Waivers and discounts must be applied for prior to submission.  Neither are available after submission.

Register as a peer reviewer:

Do you wish to register as a peer reviewer?  Or are you already a registered peer reviewer but you need to update your contact details?   To register or update your details visit the peer reviewer registration form. 

Applicants must be able to demonstrate at least five years of continuous experience in the journal's subject area including at least two in the previous 24 months.

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