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About

Aims and scope

Molecular Autism is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that publishes high-quality basic, translational and clinical research that has relevance to the etiology, pathobiology, or treatment of autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions. Research that includes integration across levels is encouraged. Molecular Autism publishes empirical studies, reviews, and brief communications.

We encourage submissions from a range of fields including (but not restricted to) genetics, molecular neurobiology, neuropathology, neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience, epidemiology, and biomarker discovery. Molecular Autism also publishes articles on screening, diagnosis and classification, including articles that consider subgrouping to refine our understanding of basic mechanisms. Intervention studies are also welcome, especially when considered with respect to revealing causal mechanisms.

Although the primary focus is on conditions on the autism spectrum (including Asperger syndrome), the scope encompasses molecular research into related neurodevelopmental conditions such as specific language impairment, dyspraxia, and specific or general developmental delays; and into related medical syndromes such as fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, and Rett syndrome.

Molecular Autism also considers articles with no molecular data but which, in the long-term, may close the gap from molecule to behavior in autism. The journal welcomes reports and reviews of good science that proceed from either end of this complex chain of events: from molecule upwards, or from behavior downwards. Reports and reviews can be basic and/or translational. Note that, because we rarely accept unsolicited reviews, we strongly encourage authors of potential reviews to make use of the presubmission inquiry system if they feel that an important topic has not been adequately reviewed and where, ideally, they are proposing a systematic review.

Open access

All articles published by Molecular Autism are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers. Further information about open access can be found here.

As authors of articles published in Molecular Autism you are the copyright holders of your article and have granted to any third party, in advance and in perpetuity, the right to use, reproduce or disseminate your article, according to the BMC license agreement.

For those of you who are US government employees or are prevented from being copyright holders for similar reasons, BMC can accommodate non-standard copyright lines. Please contact us if further information is needed.

Article processing charges (APC)

Authors who publish open access in Molecular Autism are required to pay an article processing charge (APC). The APC price will be determined from the date on which the article is accepted for publication.

The current APC, subject to VAT or local taxes where applicable, is: £2590.00/$3790.00/€2990.00

Visit our open access support portal and our Journal Pricing FAQs for further information.

Open access funding

Visit Springer Nature’s open access funding & support services for information about research funders and institutions that provide funding for APCs.

Springer Nature offers agreements that enable institutions to cover open access publishing costs. Learn more about our open access agreements to check your eligibility and discover whether this journal is included.

Springer Nature offers APC waivers and discounts for articles published in our fully open access journals whose corresponding authors are based in the world’s lowest income countries (see our APC waivers and discounts policy for further information). Requests for APC waivers and discounts from other authors will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and may be granted in cases of financial need (see our open access policies for journals for more information). All applications for discretionary APC waivers and discounts should be made at the point of manuscript submission; requests made during the review process or after acceptance are unable to be considered.

Indexing services

All articles published in Molecular Autism are included in:

  • Biological Abstracts
  • BIOSIS
  • CAS
  • Citebase
  • DOAJ
  • Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition
  • MEDLINE
  • OAIster
  • PubMed
  • PubMed Central
  • Science Citation Index Expanded
  • Scopus
  • SOCOLAR
  • Zetoc

The full text of all articles is deposited in digital archives around the world to guarantee long-term digital preservation. You can also access all articles published by BioMed Central on SpringerLink.

Peer-review policy

Peer-review is the system used to assess the quality of a manuscript before it is published. Independent researchers in the relevant research area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help editors determine whether the manuscript should be published in their journal. You can read more about the peer-review process here.

Molecular Autism operates a single-blind peer-review system, where the reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer reports provided to authors are anonymous.

The benefit of single-blind peer review is that it is the traditional model of peer review that many reviewers are comfortable with, and it facilitates a dispassionate critique of a manuscript.

Submitted manuscripts will generally be reviewed by two or more experts who will be asked to evaluate whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, whether it duplicates already published work, and whether or not the manuscript is sufficiently clear for publication. The Editors will reach a decision based on these reports and, where necessary, they will consult with members of the Editorial Board.

Criteria for publication

Molecular Autism considers the following types of articles:

  • 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.
  • Letter to the Editor: these can take three forms: a substantial re-analysis of a previously published article, or a substantial response to such a re-analysis from the authors of the original publication, or an article that may not cover 'standard research' but that may be relevant to readers.
  • Methodology: presentation of a new experimental method, test or procedure. The method described may either be completely new, or may offer a better version of an existing method. The article should describe a demonstrable advance on what is currently available.
  • Research: reports of data from original research. These articles form the major content of the journal.
  • Reviews: summaries of recent insights in specific research areas within the scope of Molecular Autism. These articles are often written by opinion leaders invited by the Editorial Board.
  • Short reports: brief reports of data from original research.
  • Viewpoints: short opinion pieces focusing on the latest high-impact research.

Molecular Autism does not generally consider case reports, unsolicited reviews or medical hypotheses.

Editorial policies

All manuscripts submitted to Molecular Autism should adhere to BioMed Central's editorial policies.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Citing articles in Molecular Autism

Articles in Molecular Autism  should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. Because articles are not printed, they do not have page numbers; instead, they are given a unique article number.

Article citations follow this format:

Authors: Title. Mol Autism [year], [volume number]:[article number].

e.g. Roberts LD, Hassall DG, Winegar DA, Haselden JN, Nicholls AW, Griffin JL: Increased hepatic oxidative metabolism distinguishes the action of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor delta from Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma in the Ob/Ob mouse. Mol Autism 2009, 1:115.

refers to article 115 from Volume 1 of the journal.

Appeals and complaints

Authors who wish to appeal a rejection or make a complaint should follow the procedure outlined in the BMC Editorial Policies.

Benefits of publishing with BMC

High visibility

Molecular Autism's open access policy allows maximum visibility of articles published in the journal as they are available to a wide, global audience. 

Speed of publication

Molecular Autism offers a fast publication schedule whilst maintaining rigorous peer review; all articles must be submitted online, and peer review is managed fully electronically (articles are distributed in PDF form, which is automatically generated from the submitted files). Articles will be published with their final citation after acceptance, in both fully browsable web form, and as a formatted PDF.

Flexibility

Online publication in Molecular Autism gives you the opportunity to publish large datasets, large numbers of color illustrations and moving pictures, to display data in a form that can be read directly by other software packages so as to allow readers to manipulate the data for themselves, and to create all relevant links (for example, to PubMed, to sequence and other databases, and to other articles).

Promotion and press coverage

Articles published in Molecular Autism are included in article alerts and regular email updates. Some may be highlighted on Molecular Autism’s pages and on the BMC homepage.

In addition, articles published in Molecular Autism may be promoted by press releases to the general or scientific press. These activities increase the exposure and number of accesses for articles published in Molecular Autism. A list of articles recently press-released by journals published by BMC is available here.

Copyright

As an author of an article published in Molecular Autism you retain the copyright of your article and you are free to reproduce and disseminate your work (for further details, see the BMC license agreement).

For further information about the advantages of publishing in a journal from BMC, please click here.

Annual Journal Metrics

  • 2022 Citation Impact
    6.2 - 2-year Impact Factor
    7.2 - 5-year Impact Factor
    1.690 - SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper)
    1.647 - SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

    2023 Speed
    9 days submission to first editorial decision for all manuscripts (Median)
    139 days submission to accept (Median)

    2023 Usage 
    1,320,043 downloads
    1,592 Altmetric mentions