PhysMath Central Blog

PMC Biophysics - open access to the latest research in this interdisciplinary field

We are very pleased to announce the launch of the third fully-open access journal on PhysMath Central, PMC Biophysics.

The journal with its prestigious editorial board - headed by Huan-Xiang Zhou - will publish research on all aspects of biological physics, including theoretical and experimental aspects of; physical concepts with potential applications to biological systems, physical models inspired by biological systems, biological problems addressed by physics-based methods and soft condensed matter & mesoscale systems.

Biophysics is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field drawing on expertise in physics, biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics and even engineering, and as such is one of the most vibrant areas of scientific research. Examples of some of the primary areas if interest for the new journal are:

• Thermodynamics and kinetics of biological processes
• Structural stability and confomational transition of biomolecules
• Correlation of macromolecular dynamics and biological function
• Macromolecular assembly
• Modeling of cellular environments
• Protein-membrane interactions and ion channels
• Signaling and interaction networks
• Energy transduction and motility
• Novel biophysical methods

Given this interdisciplinary nature and the cross-over interest to people working in bioinformatics, structural biology and associated fields, PMC Biophysics will be cross-listed on the BioMed Central site.

PMC Biophysics aims to provide researchers in the field of biological physics with an open access venue where they can communicate and discuss technological or theoretical developments as well as novel applications of physics to biology. Along with other PhysMath Central journals, PMC Biophysics will offer authors unparalleled dissemination of their work, no restrictions on the length of their manuscript, or the number of figures, and the ability to host multimedia elements, such as movies, animations and audio descriptions alongside their text and figures. Coupled to speedy referee processes and immediate publication upon acceptance, we hope that this will make PMC Biophysics an outstanding venue for biophysicists to publish their research.

In addition to the usual article types (editorials, research articles and reviews) PMC Biophysics will also be soliciting work in the form of Letters (short communications about a previously published article in the journal), Mini-reviews (shorter reviews on an emerging field) and Problems (where readers are invited to suggest biological problems which may merit further investigation by physical methods).

Submissions to PMC Biophysics are fully peer-reviewed. The peer-review process will be overseen by the Editor-in-chief, working in association with expert Editorial Board members to ensure that only the highest quality referees review all submissions.

After peer-review, accepted papers will normally be subject to an Article Processing Charge.

However, to celebrate the journal's launch, there is no article processing charge for all accepted articles which are submitted before 30 September 2008.

This is the perfect opportunity to see for yourself how online-only publishing offers many advantages over traditional journals, and to see that open access means that your work is available to everyone, all over the world, permanently and for free, leading to greater impact and citations.

Submit your article now!

Posted by Chris Leonard at 19:08    Comments (3)