About Algorithms for Molecular Biology

What is Algorithms for Molecular Biology?

Algorithms for Molecular Biology is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that encompasses all aspects of algorithms and software tools for molecular biology and genomics.

Areas of interest include but are not limited to: algorithms for RNA and protein structure analysis, gene prediction and genome analysis, comparative sequence analysis and alignment, phylogeny, gene expression, machine learning, and combinatorial algorithms.

Where appropriate, manuscripts should describe applications to real-world data. However, pure algorithm papers are also welcome if future applications to biological data are to be expected, or if they address complexity or approximation issues of novel computational problems in molecular biology. Articles about novel software tools will be considered for publication if they contain some algorithmically interesting aspects.

Content overview

Algorithms for Molecular Biology considers the following types of articles:

• Research: these articles should present original research work on the development and analysis of novel algorithms in bioinformatics. In general, the usefulness of algorithms should be demonstrated by applications to biological data. However, purely theoretical manuscripts are also welcome if future applications to problems in molecular biology are to be expected or if they address complexity or approximation issues of novel computational problems in molecular biology. Clear writing and understandable algorithm description are of particular importance. Unclearly written manuscripts and manuscripts with substantial grammatical errors will be immediately rejected, regardless of their possible scientific content.
  
  Although authors are asked to prepare manuscripts according to our Instructions for authors, we do allow some flexibility. In particular, our journal has no standardised section headings. Authors are free to use the manuscript structure and section headings that they think are appropriate for their article.
  
  
• Review articles: these articles should give a general overview on a sub-field of algorithmic bioinformatics. In general, reviews are invited by the Editorial Board, but proposals for review articles are welcome.
• Editorials: short articles written by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and selected members of the Editorial Board. These articles highlight new developments in the journal.
• Book reports: short summaries of the strengths and weaknesses of a book; they should evaluate its overall usefulness to the intended audience. As review articles, book reports are usually invited by the editors.
• Commentaries: short, focused and opinionated articles on any subject within the journal's scope. These articles are usually related to a contemporary issue, such as recent research findings, and are often written by opinion leaders invited by the Editorial Board.
• Debate articles: these articles present an argument that is not essentially based on practical research. Debate articles can report on all aspects of the subject including political, sociological and ethical aspects.
• Meeting report: short reports on conferences that the authors have attended, usually invited by the Editorial Board. It is best for these articles to be published as soon after the meeting as possible, and they should focus on the key developments presented and discussed at the meeting.
• Short reports: brief reports of data from original research, usually about 1500 words.
• Software articles: these papers should describe newly developed software tools or substantial improvements to existing tools. They should contain some algorithmic novelty; manuscripts about web servers, graphical user interfaces etc. will not be considered.

Peer review policies

The Editor-in-Chief will send submitted manuscripts to an associate editor responsible for the field, who will manage the editorial and refereeing procedure. The associate editor will send the manuscript to two or three referees and will ensure that the reports are returned within three weeks. The associate editor managing a manuscript will be responsible for the final decision about acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.

Edited by Burkhard Morgenstern and Peter Stadler, Algorithms for Molecular Biology is supported by an expert Editorial Board.

Publishing in Algorithms for Molecular Biology

All articles are listed in PubMed immediately upon acceptance (after peer review), and are covered by PubMed Central, Thomson Reuters (ISI), ACM, Biosis, CAS and Scopus.

Articles in Algorithms for Molecular Biology should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. However, because articles in this journal are not printed, they do not have page numbers. Instead, they have a unique article number.

The following citation:

Algorithms Mol Biol 2004, 2:1

refers to article 1 from volume 2 of the journal.

As an online journal, Algorithms for Molecular Biology does not have issue numbers. Each volume corresponds to a calendar year.

To keep up to date with the latest articles from Algorithms for Molecular Biology, why not register to receive alerts? Registration also enables you to customise your subject areas of interest, store your searches, and submit your manuscripts.

Submission of manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to Algorithms for Molecular Biology using the online submission system. Full details of how to submit a manuscript are given in the instructions for authors.

General journal policies

Algorithms for Molecular Biology is published by BioMed Central, part of Springer Science+Business Media. BioMed Central is committed to ensuring peer-reviewed biomedical research is open access. That means it is freely and universally accessible online, it is archived in at least one internationally recognised free access repository, and its authors retain copyright, allowing anyone to reproduce or disseminate articles, according to the BioMed Central copyright and licence agreement. Algorithms for Molecular Biology however, has taken this further by making all its content open access.

Algorithms for Molecular Biology's articles are archived in PubMed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's full-text repository of life science literature, and also at INIST in France and in e-Depot, the National Library of the Netherlands' digital archive of all electronic publications. The journal is also participating in the British Library's e-journals pilot project, and plans to deposit copies of all articles with the British Library.

Algorithms for Molecular Biology is able to deliver summaries of frequently updated content via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. These are accessible via the orange "XML" button at the top of the list of recent articles or the list of most accessed articles. For more information about RSS feeds see our publisher's website.

For further information about general policies please see the instructions for authors.