Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

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I. Editorial Policy

Perspectives in Biology and Medicine is an interdisciplinary journal published by The Johns Hopkins University Press. Our readers include scientists, physicians, students, and scholars in many disciplines who are interested in the intersections of biology and medicine. We publish essays that place biological and medical topics within broad scientific, social, or humanistic contexts. We also publish short articles, critical assessments of books, and, occasionally, short stories. Although some of our essays are invited, we welcome voluntary contributions. Please note that we do not publish primary scientific research.

Essays should be preceded by an abstract of up to 200 words. The essays we publish generally range from 4,000 to 7,000 words. We encourage authors to use a personal, informal writing style that preserves the humanity, excitement, and color of the biological and medical sciences.

All essays are subject to peer review before publication, and all manuscripts are edited according to The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Univ. of Chicago Press). 

II. Preparation of Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be submitted in digital format as Word (.doc) files, via the ScholarOne system at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pbm. Text should be in Times Roman font and double-spaced throughout. When an abbreviation is peculiar to any field of biology or medicine, the complete word(s) should be used at first mention in the text, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Tables and illustrations will be accepted when necessary for the presentation of ideas and should be submitted as separate digital images (high-quality .jpeg, .tiff, or .eps files), not in the main manuscript or as PowerPoint slides; specific submission details are available on ScholarOne.

Footnotes are discouraged. If required, they should be numbered consecutively within the text and appear at the end of the document.

Authors should use the minimum number of references consistent with good scholarship and should cite them according to Chicago Manual author-date format, using initials for given names, “et al.” for references with four or more authors, and Medline abbreviations for journal titles. Citations should be given as (Author Year); multiple citations should be listed in alphabetical rather than chronological order and separated by semicolons (Faria, Fredrikson, and Furmark 2008; Moerman 2002).

Journal references should include author(s), year, title, journal title (abbreviated according to Medline, without periods), volume, issue (if available), and inclusive pagination; DOI is optional:

Faria,V., M. Fredrikson, and T. Furmark. 2008. “Imaging the Placebo Response: A Neuro-Functional Review.” Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 18: 473–85.

Hare, C. 2017. “Risk and Radical Uncertainty in HIV Research.” J Med Ethics 43 (2): 87–89.

Hirsch, T., et al. 2017. “Regeneration of the Entire Human Epidermis Using Transgenic Stem Cells.” Nature 551 (7680): 327–32. DOI: 10.1038/nature24487.

Book references should include author(s), year, chapter title, book title, edition, editor(s), inclusive page numbers, place of publication, and publisher:

Childress, J. F. 1997. “The Normative Principles of Medical Ethics.” In Medical Ethics, ed. R. M. Veatch, 29–56. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Moerman, D. E. 2002. Meaning, Medicine and the “Placebo Effect.” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Trevathan, W. R., E. O. Smith, and J. McKenna. 2008. Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.

Internet references should include URL but no “accessed” date:

Nuffield Council on Bioethics. 2016. Genome Editing: An Ethical Review. London: Nuffield Council. https://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/publications/genome-editing-an-ethical....

For questions regarding manuscript formatting, contact Solveig Robinson, Managing Editor, at Man.Ed.PBM@hotmail.com.

III. Manuscript Acceptance Policy

While it is our policy to require the assignment of copyright for most essays, we do not usually request assignment of copyright for other contributions. Although the copyright to such a contribution may remain with the author, it is understood that, in return for publication, the journal has the nonexclusive right to publish the contribution and the continuing right, without limit, to include the contribution as part of any reprinting of the issue and/or volume of the journal in which the contribution first appeared by any means and in any format, including computer-assisted storage and readout, in which the issue and/or volume may be reproduced by the publisher or by its licensed agencies.

The Hopkins Press Journals Ethics and Malpractice Statement can be found at the ethics-and-malpractice page.

Peer Review Policy

Essays submitted to Perspectives in Biology and Medicine should be original, unpublished work not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The Editors do an initial review to determine suitability for the journal and select submissions to be sent out for full peer review. Peer review is double-blind.  Manuscripts are generally reviewed by two to four peer reviewers. The journal seeks well-written essays that target a wide interdisciplinary readership and place important biological or medical topics in a broad scientific or medical context. The editors privilege an informal style of writing. While we encourage interdisciplinary engagement, the journal does not publish basic scientific research, reviews of the literature, or reports on empirical studies. Manuscripts that receive a “revise and resubmit” decision are reviewed again upon resubmission, often by the original referees and sometimes by new referees, at the editors’ discretion. For manuscripts sent out for peer review, the review process generally takes about two months.

Editor

Olaf Dammann, Tufts University

Managing Editor

Solveig C. Robinson, Tacoma, WA

Editors Emeriti

Martha Montello, Harvard Medical School  
Robert L. Perlman, Chicago, IL  
Alan N. Schechter, Bethesda, MD

Editorial Interns

Bethany Taylor, Tacoma, WA

Advisory Board

Allan M. Brandt, Boston, MA  
Edward M. Hundert, Boston, MA  
Mark Siegler, Chicago, IL  
Robert D. Truog, Boston, MA

Editorial Board

Neal Baer, Boston, MA  
Keith Barrington, Montreal, Canada  
Catherine Belling, Chicago, IL  
Rebecca Weintraub, Brendel Boston, MA  
Daniel Brudney, Chicago, IL  
Tod S. Chambers, Chicago, IL  
Donald Chambers, Chicago, IL  
Larry R. Churchill, Blowing Rock, NC  
A. Mark Clarfield, Beer-sheva, Israel  
Farr Curlin, Durham, NC  
Véronique Fournier, Paris, France  
Jeffrey S. Flier, Boston, MA  
Arthur W. Frank, Calgary, Canada  
Paul R. Helft, Indianapolis, IN  
D. Micah Hester, Little Rock, AR  
Anne Hudson Jones, Galveston, TX  
David Jones, Boston, MA  
Annemarie Jutel, Wellington, New Zealand  
Jonathan Kimmelman, Montreal, Canada  
Susan E. Lederer, Madison, WI  
Christine Mitchell, Boston, MA  
Jamie Nelson, Lansing, MI  
Debjani Mukherjee, New York, NY  
Maria Serenella Pignotti, Florence, Italy  
Judith L. Rapoport, Bethesda, MD  
Lainie Friedman Ross, Chicago, IL  
David Schenck, Greensboro, NC  
John A. Spertus, Kansas City, MO  
Jeremy Sugarman, Baltimore, MD  
Daniel P. Sulmasy, Chicago, IL  
Effy Vayena, Zurich, Switzerland  
Eduard Verhagen, Groningen, Netherlands

Abstracting & Indexing Databases

• Adis International Ltd.
  • Reactions Weekly (Online)
• CABI
  • Abstracts on Hygiene and Communicable Diseases (Online)
  • AgBiotechNet
  • Agricultural Economics Database, coverage dropped
  • Animal Science Database
  • CAB Abstracts (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux)
  • Dairy Science Abstracts (Online)
  • Forest Science Database
  • Global Health
  • Helminthological Abstracts (Online)
  • Horticultural Science
  • Index Veterinarius (Online)
  • Leisure Tourism
  • Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews. Series A: Human and Experimental (Online)
  • Nutrition and Food Sciences Database
  • Tropical Diseases Bulletin (Online)
• Clarivate Analytics
  • Biological Abstracts (Online)
  • BIOSIS Previews
  • Current Contents
  • Web of Science
• De Gruyter Saur
  • Dietrich's Index Philosophicus
  • IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur
  • Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur
• EBSCOhost
  • Academic Search Alumni Edition, 6/1/1996-
  • Academic Search Complete, 6/1/1996-
  • Academic Search Elite, 6/1/1996-
  • Academic Search Premier, 6/1/1996-
  • America: History and Life, 6/1/2001-
  • Biography Index: Past and Present (H.W. Wilson), vol.26, 1983-vol.54, no.1, 2011
  • Biological & Agricultural Index Plus (H.W. Wilson), 7/15/1983-
  • Biological Abstracts (Online)
  • Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), Jul.1997-
  • Current Abstracts, 1/1/2000-
  • General Science Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), 1997/07-
  • General Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson), 7/15/1997-
  • Historical Abstracts (Online), 6/1/2001-
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), 7/15/1983-
  • Poetry & Short Story Reference Center, 6/1/1996-
  • PsycINFO, 1966-, dropped
  • RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale)
  • SocINDEX, 6/1/1972-
  • SocINDEX with Full Text, 6/1/1972-
  • STM Source, 6/1/1996-
  • STM Source, 6/1/1996-
  • TOC Premier (Table of Contents), 6/1/1996-
• Elsevier BV
  • EMBASE
  • Scopus, 1957-
• Gale
  • Academic ASAP, 01/1992-
  • Advanced Placement Science Collection, 01/1992-
  • Book Review Index Plus
  • Gale Academic OneFile, 01/1992-
  • Gale Academic OneFile Select, 01/1992-
  • Gale General OneFile, 01/1992-
  • Gale Health and Wellness, 1/1992-, dropped
  • Gale In Context: Biography, 01/1992 -
  • Gale in Context: College
  • Gale in Context: Elementary
  • Gale OneFile: High School Edition, 01/1992-
  • Gale OneFile: Popular Magazines, 01/1992-
  • General Reference Center, 01/1992-
  • General Reference Center Gold, 01/1992-
  • General Reference Centre International, 1/1992-
  • Health Reference Center Academic, 01/1992-
  • InfoTrac Custom, 1/1992-
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • Student Resources in Context, 01/1992-
• Gale in Context: High School
• H.W. Wilson
  • General Science Index, 1997/07-
• International Atomic Energy Agency
  • INIS Repository (International Nuclear Information System)
• Mosby, Inc.
  • Dental Abstracts (Online)
• National Library of Medicine
  • PubMed
• OCLC
  • ArticleFirst, vol.23, no.2, Pt 1, 1980-vol.54, no.1, 2011
  • Biological & Agricultural Index, vol.26, 1983-vol.54, no.2, 2011
  • Chemical Abstracts (Student Edition), vol.10, no.2, 1967-vol.53, no.4, 2010
  • Electronic Collections Online, vol.23, no.2, Pt 1, 1980-vol.54, no.1, 2011
  • General Science Index, 1997/07-
  • Periodical Abstracts, v.35, n.2, 1992-v.54, n.1, 2011
  • PsycFIRST, vol.17, no.4, 1974-vol.52, no.1, 2009
• Ovid
  • PsycINFO, 1966-, dropped
• Personal Alert (E-mail)
• Plexus Publishing, Inc.
  • Biology Digest
• ProQuest
  • Biological Science Collection, 1/1/1992-
  • Consumer Health Database, 01/01/1992-
  • Health & Medical Collection, 1/1/1992-
  • Health Research Premium Collection, 1/1/1992-
  • Hospital Premium Collection, 1/1/1992-
  • Medical Database, 1/1/1992-
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • Natural Science Collection, 1/1/1992-
  • PAIS Index (Public Affairs Information Service), Selective
  • Professional ProQuest Central, 01/01/1992-
  • ProQuest 5000, 01/01/1992-
  • ProQuest 5000 International, 01/01/1992-
  • ProQuest Central, 01/01/1992-
  • ProQuest SciTech Collection, 1/1/1992-
  • PsycINFO, 1966-, dropped
  • Research Library, 01/01/1992-
  • RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale)
  • Science Database, 01/01/1992-
  • SciTech Premium Collection, 01/01/1992-
• Sage Publications, Inc.
  • Abstracts in Anthropology (Online)
• Small Animals
• U.S. National Library of Medicine
  • MEDLINE
• VINITI RAN
  • Referativnyi Zhurnal

Abstracting & Indexing Sources

• Abstracts of Mycology   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Chemical Abstracts (Print)   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Chemical Titles   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Index Medicus   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Index to Dental Literature   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Index to Scientific Reviews   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Index Veterinarius   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Inpharma Weekly   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Psychological Abstracts   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Social Planning - Policy & Development Abstracts   (Ceased)  (Print)

Source: Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory.

0.7 (2024)
1.2 (Five-Year Impact Factor)
0.00076 (Eigenfactor™ Score)

Rank in Category (by Journal Impact Factor):
39 of 112 journals, in “History & Philosophy of Science”
170 of 195 journals, in “Medicine, Research & Experimental”

© Clarivate Analytics 2025

Published quarterly

Readers include: Research scientists, biologists, scientists, clinical doctors, and university and research library patrons

Print circulation: 89

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eTOC (Electronic Table of Contents) alerts can be delivered to your inbox when this or any Hopkins Press journal is published via your ProjectMUSE MyMUSE account. Visit the eTOC instructions page for detailed instructions on setting up your MyMUSE account and alerts.  

The article “Ethical Maxims for a Marginally Inhabitable Planet,” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 64, no. 4 (Autumn 2021), 494-510, by David Schenck and Larry R. Churchill was featured by environmentalist Joanna Macy in an international zoom conference entitled "Climate Change as Spiritual Practice” hosted by Jonathan Gustin, June 2022. This article was also a major impetus for the upcoming Autumn 2022 issue of Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, edited by Elizabeth Lanphier and Larry R. Churchill, entitled “The Translational Work of Bioethics,” which describes the practical uses of bioethics in a rapidly changing world.