For Spotlight: Viruses, we’ll be looking at an exciting journal. Last month we looked at one of MDPI’s flagship journals, Molecules. This month, join us for Viruses.

Viruses: a brief history

Viruses launched its first issue in 2009 and received its first Impact Factor the next year. The journal added six topical sections in 2013: Antivirals and Vaccines, Viruses of Plants, Fungi and Protozoa, Animal Viruses, Insect Viruses, Bacterial Viruses, and Prions. And since then, over 9000 articles have been published in the journal. With an Impact Factor of 5.818, it is no surprise that Viruses is a top-ranking journal. The 2021 CiteScore for Viruses is 6.6.

Viruses has many societies that it collaborates with, including the American Society for Virology, the Australasian Virology Society, and the Canadian Society For Virology, to name a few. For a list of other societies that Viruses works with, we encourage you to visit the journal’s page on the subject.

Viruses has received increased interest of late. The ongoing state of the COVID-19 pandemic has researchers working hard on virus-related manuscripts. The journal is on the rise and it’s a good time to look at its history and future. In our original Journal of the Month feature, Dr. Eric O. Freed, the founding and current Editor-in-Chief, described it in the following way.

“[Viruses is a] leading open-access journal with a broad scope that encompasses all of virology. Viruses is a valued resource for the virology community worldwide.”

Want to learn more?

In brief, our aim is to provide rigorous peer review and enable rapid publication of cutting-edge research to educate and inspire the scientific community worldwide. We encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible. And there is no restriction on the length of the papers. Full experimental details must be provided. This is so that results can be reproduced. If you want to learn more about MDPI’s open access policies, please visit our site for details.

Thinking of submitting your manuscript to Viruses?

Manuscripts should be submitted online at susy.mdpi.com. The submitting author is generally the corresponding author and is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and peer-review process. To submit your manuscript, register and log in to the submission website. Once you have registered, click here to go to the submission form for Viruses. All co-authors can see the manuscript details in the submission system. To do so, they must register and log in using the e-mail address provided during manuscript submission.

Successes and what’s next

As the times change, there are always reasons to study this fascinating topic, and new cases are appearing all the time. Because of the wide variety of viruses, the journal is split into many different sections. The journal aims to be involved in conferences and events around the world. In April 2022, we held our conference, “Viruses 2022 – At the Leading Edge of Virology Research“. Dr. Freed, the Editor-in-Chief, chaired the event. It had 186 completed registrations, 51 oral communications, and 73 poster presentations. It was our fourth such conference and our first virtual one. Stay tuned for updates on future events.

There is space in the journal for any and all research related to virology. The following list presents the different areas of interest of the sections, along with a brief summary of each.

Animal Viruses

This section focuses on cases that affect both animals and humans. This is important when it comes to zoonotic cases that jump from animals to humans.

SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19

A highly refined section focusing on the coronavirus disease. This section was created in 2020 and promotes the research and study of this novel virus.

Viral Immunology, Vaccines, and Antivirals

Research on vaccinations and resulting immunity is very important and is the area of focus for this section. It includes information on how effective vaccines are and how quickly their effects wear off.

Human Virology and Viral Diseases

Are we ready for the next pandemic? This section collects research on this topic and includes work on prevention and treatment.

Viruses of Plants, Fungi and Protozoa

It’s not mainstream, but it’s vitally important to our wellbeing. Plants, fungi and protozoa can all catch diseases, and this can affect our food chain.

Insect Viruses

These can be deadly and can easily spread from insects to humans. The most common example is malaria of course, but other infected non-biting insects can also have an impact on our ecosystem.

Bacterial Viruses

Bacteriophages reproduce inside of bacteria and are useful in the treatment of various diseases.

Prions

Similar to viruses, prions can spread very easily and cause damage to both humans and animals. Misfolded proteins make up prions, and they can also cause the misfiling of other normal proteins.

General Virology

The field can be fairly broad and this section is an overview of the field with no particular niche.

Original idea by Bianca Sylvester and originally published 26 July, 2017. Keep up with journal updates by following the journal’s Twitter account.