Publishing

Journal of General Virology turns ‘50’

This year marks the 50th birthday for one of the Society’s stable of peer-reviewed journals, Journal of General Virology. The first issue of Journal of General Virology was published in January 1967, in response to the growing number of submissions in virology to Journal of General Microbiology (now Microbiology).

Journal of General Virology was founded by distinguished virologists Colin Kaplan and Peter Wildy, who became the first Co-Editors-in-Chief. Colin Kaplan served as Editor-in-Chief for five years; Peter Wildy took on the role of President of the Society for General Microbiology (now Microbiology Society). The journal has published several significant discoveries over the years, and many talented Editors have worked on its Editorial Board. 

The discipline of virology has changed over the past 50 years. However, the journal has maintained an international leading reputation in the field, illustrated by its rise in Impact Factor. Today, the journal continues to publish high-quality research articles, reviews and short insight reviews, covering the full range of viruses from animal and plant to bacteriophages. The diverse scope includes molecular biology, immunology, virus–host interactions and antivirals/vaccines. The journal also offers authors a gold open access option, known as OpenMicrobiology. 

To mark the half-century, the journal will be running various promotions throughout the year, including an article collection of the past 50 years, insights into the journal from our Editors and poster prizes. 

Journal of General Virology would like to announce that Paul Duprex has taken the position of Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Paul is currently at the School of Medicine, Boston University, in the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences. His research programme focuses on areas such as understanding the molecular basis of paramyxovirus pathogenesis. Paul is Director of Cell & Tissue Imaging at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL).

If you would like to know more about Journal of General Virology, please visit the journal’s homepage. If you would like to submit a paper to the journal, please do so using our online submission system.

Shalene Singh-Shepherd

Editorial Office Coordinator

Mark Harris

Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to our new Journal of Medical Microbiology Editors-in-Chief!

Journal of Medical Microbiology is welcoming Norman Fry and Kalai Mathee as new Co-Editors-in-Chief. 

Norman is currently a Clinical Scientist at Public Health England’s National Infection Service in London, holding the following roles:

• Deputy Head of the Respiratory and Vaccine Preventable Bacteria Reference Unit
• Head of the Vaccine Preventable Bacteria Section
• Head of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae

Kalai is currently at the Hebert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, with her research programme focusing on areas such as the molecular pathogenesis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and antimicrobial resistance. Kalai is in the following roles:

• Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
• Associate and Founding Director of Global Health Consortium

Dianndra Roberts

Editorial Development Coordinator

Microbial Genomics partners with an epidemic tracking platform

Microbial Genomics has partnered with Microreact, a free data visualisation and sharing platform that allows scientists and health professionals worldwide to better collaborate to understand disease outbreaks. 

This partnership will allow Microbial Genomics authors to provide extra context to their articles, promoting open availability and access while building a unique resource for global health professionals and scientists.

Microreact allows full data and metadata sets to be uploaded via a web browser, which can be shared through a permanent web link. This was developed in the David Aanensen Research Group, Imperial College London and The Centre for Genomic Pathogen Surveillance. More information on Microreact can be found at 10.1099/mgen.0.000093.

Nicola Wise

Publisher

Journal of Medical Microbiology and Microbiology introduce Short Communications and Letters to Editor

Article types are changing for Journal of Medical Microbiology and Microbiology. Journal of Medical Microbiology has separated the Correspondence article type into two sections – Short Communications and Letters to the Editor; Microbiology has introduced Short Communications to its current article types. 

Short Communications are an alternative format for describing smaller novel pieces of completed work. The concise nature of these article types will allow for rapid peer review and can aid in the outreach of present topics to a wider audience.

Letters will allow authors to address personal observations and opinions, or alternative interpretations of others’ work. Letters can be utilised as a response to recently published work and can bring a different viewpoint of the subject matter. Discussions amongst the community will emanate from this article type and will allow for a greater understanding of research. 

If you would like to submit via our online submission system please see www.editorialmanager.com/jmm and www.editorialmanager.com/mic. Further information on the journals can be found at jmm.microbiologyresearch.org and mic.microbiologyresearch.org.

Sid Islam

Editorial Office Coordinator