Abstract
As Senior Editors for Elsevier's new journal ‘Biofilm’, we are proud to announce the publication of the first papers.
‘Biofilm’ was launched in February 2019 and is a multidisciplinary, gold open access journal focused on hypothesis- or discovery-driven studies on microbial biofilms. The term biofilm is used in its broadest sense, and refers to all forms of multicellular communities, including surface-attached biofilms and non-surface-attached biofilm aggregates. The expansion beyond the traditional definition of a biofilm (i.e. a surface-attached multicellular community) reflects the current state-of-the-art in the field, in which biofilms are characterized by distinct gene expression profiles, growth rate, behavior and appearance compared to planktonic (free-living) cells, rather than by the fact that they are surface-attached.
We aim to cover biofilms in all settings, including industrial settings (e.g. food industry, waste management, energy production, engineered systems, built environment), the natural environment (e.g. biofilms associated with plants, animals, and fungi, biofilms in extreme environments, as well as abiotic environments), and biomedical/clinical settings, and encourage submission on all kinds and types of microorganisms, including polymicrobial and inter-kingdom biofilms. We will consider papers dealing with fundamental aspects of biofilm biology (e.g. molecular biology, genetics, physiology, social interactions, evolution, bioinformatics, modelling, host-pathogen interactions), as well as more applied/translational work (e.g. prevention or treatment of biofilm-related infections, biofouling, standardization of biofilm methodology). We refer to https://www.journals.elsevier.com/biofilm for a full and up-to-date description of our Aims and Scope. ‘Biofilm’ will consider primary research papers, (mini-)reviews as well as opinion papers on biofilm-related topics with the only criterion for publication being the scientific quality of the work and the extent to which it advances the field. In case of doubt, potential authors are encouraged to engage with the Senior Editors to informally discuss their manuscript prior to submission. Likewise, we will be hosting special/thematic issues and we will be more than happy to discuss suggestions for such issues with you.
To achieve our goals, we have assembled an impressive Editorial Board (https://www.journals.elsevier.com/biofilm/editorial-board) covering a wide range of topics and we are convinced that with such an outstanding Editorial Board many researchers in the field will be inclined to submit their best work to this new journal. We realize that accepting to become a member of the Editorial Board is a serious commitment (also timewise) and we would like to thank all Editorial Board members for their support.
When a new journal is launched, an often-heard question is ‘Do we really need another journal?’, and in many cases this is a fair question. However, the biofilm field has expanded dramatically since the pioneering work of Dr. Bill Costerton and the aim of ‘Biofilm’ is to bring together different research fields to significantly advance the knowledge on microbial communities, and specifically explore the interfaces between these disciplines. As such we are convinced that the above-mentioned question can only be answered with a full ‘YES’!
We of course hope that you will share the enthusiasm of the Senior Editors and the Editorial Board, we look forward to receiving your work, and we hope we can count on you to make this endeavor a successful one!
‘Biofilm’ was launched in February 2019 and is a multidisciplinary, gold open access journal focused on hypothesis- or discovery-driven studies on microbial biofilms. The term biofilm is used in its broadest sense, and refers to all forms of multicellular communities, including surface-attached biofilms and non-surface-attached biofilm aggregates. The expansion beyond the traditional definition of a biofilm (i.e. a surface-attached multicellular community) reflects the current state-of-the-art in the field, in which biofilms are characterized by distinct gene expression profiles, growth rate, behavior and appearance compared to planktonic (free-living) cells, rather than by the fact that they are surface-attached.
We aim to cover biofilms in all settings, including industrial settings (e.g. food industry, waste management, energy production, engineered systems, built environment), the natural environment (e.g. biofilms associated with plants, animals, and fungi, biofilms in extreme environments, as well as abiotic environments), and biomedical/clinical settings, and encourage submission on all kinds and types of microorganisms, including polymicrobial and inter-kingdom biofilms. We will consider papers dealing with fundamental aspects of biofilm biology (e.g. molecular biology, genetics, physiology, social interactions, evolution, bioinformatics, modelling, host-pathogen interactions), as well as more applied/translational work (e.g. prevention or treatment of biofilm-related infections, biofouling, standardization of biofilm methodology). We refer to https://www.journals.elsevier.com/biofilm for a full and up-to-date description of our Aims and Scope. ‘Biofilm’ will consider primary research papers, (mini-)reviews as well as opinion papers on biofilm-related topics with the only criterion for publication being the scientific quality of the work and the extent to which it advances the field. In case of doubt, potential authors are encouraged to engage with the Senior Editors to informally discuss their manuscript prior to submission. Likewise, we will be hosting special/thematic issues and we will be more than happy to discuss suggestions for such issues with you.
To achieve our goals, we have assembled an impressive Editorial Board (https://www.journals.elsevier.com/biofilm/editorial-board) covering a wide range of topics and we are convinced that with such an outstanding Editorial Board many researchers in the field will be inclined to submit their best work to this new journal. We realize that accepting to become a member of the Editorial Board is a serious commitment (also timewise) and we would like to thank all Editorial Board members for their support.
When a new journal is launched, an often-heard question is ‘Do we really need another journal?’, and in many cases this is a fair question. However, the biofilm field has expanded dramatically since the pioneering work of Dr. Bill Costerton and the aim of ‘Biofilm’ is to bring together different research fields to significantly advance the knowledge on microbial communities, and specifically explore the interfaces between these disciplines. As such we are convinced that the above-mentioned question can only be answered with a full ‘YES’!
We of course hope that you will share the enthusiasm of the Senior Editors and the Editorial Board, we look forward to receiving your work, and we hope we can count on you to make this endeavor a successful one!
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 100003 |
| Journal | Biofilm |
| Volume | 1 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| ISSN | 2590-2075 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |