What is special about physiological journals?

Authors publishing in journals specialized in physiology know that they not only reach their own scientific community but also reach out to readers with medical background interested in understanding basic mechanisms and readers specialized in related subdisciplines such as biophysics, mathematical modelling of biological systems, pharmacologists and many others. Physiologists know that these journals lead the discipline,

Though many articles in physiological journals identify mechanisms at the (sub)celluar and molecular level they will also have data on the functional aspects and implications for the organs or the whole organism. In this way the articles reflect a “systemic” approach to the conundrums of life which is embedded in physiology.

Authors can also be sure that their submitted papers will be reviewed by true experts, who are familiar with the state of the art methodologies and appropriate animal models. This promotes best practice and helps ensure reproducibility of findings.

Journals associated with physiological societies

From the plethora of biomedical journals which welcome research papers written by physiologists we can only list here journals which are published in English and which are owned, or co-owned by physiological societies being members of IUPS around the globe, or where physiological societies at least consider it their official journal. Forgive us if we missed one we are always prepared to extend the list!

The American Physiological Society (APS) has the broadest offer of journals. Among the 16 journals are seven focussing on cells or organ systems, but there is also Applied Physiology, Function and of course the “bible” of review journals in the field, Physiological Reviews. Shorter reviews are found in Physiology. All journal published by the American Physiological Society are found here

The Physiological Society (TPS) in ccoperation with Wiley, offers three journals, one of them in collaboration with APS. These journals are The journal of Physiology, Experimental Physiology and Physiological Reports.

Acta Physiologica is published by the Scandinavian Physiological Society (SPS) , again in cooperation with Wiley. It is also considered the official journal of the Federation of European Physiology Societies (FEPS)

The Physiological Society of Japan (PSJ) publishes two journals: The Journal of Physiological Sciences, an international peer-reviewed bimonthly in English, and The Journal of The Physiological Society of Japan, a bimonthly in Japanese distributed to the members. The former is edited by the PSJ (Editor-in-Chief, Yoshihiro Ishikawa, president of the PSJ) and published by Springer-Verlag

Pflügers Archiv – European Journal of Physiology is the official journal of the German Physiological Society (DPG), published by Springer-Verlag.

Nigerian Journal of Physiological Sciences (Niger. J. Physiol. Sci.) is a biannual publication of the Physiological Society of Nigeria.

The Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology is affiliated, among other with the Canadian Physiological Society.

The Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology is published by the Polish Physiological society.

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences, representing the Hungarian Physiological Society publishes Physiology International (formerly Acta Physiologica Hungarica)

IUPS Journals

IUPS is co-publishing two journals, Physiology and Physiome

Interested in short reviews comprising trend-setting topics in all areas of physiological research? Interested in applicable mathematical models based on original publications in physiologic journals?

Then these two journals offer you interesting resources!

Physiology

Physiology is published by the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) together with the American Physiological Society. Both institutions “collaborate to reflect the wide range of work and interests of international physiology”. Physiology was launched 2003 as a review journal which in provides actual highlights of physiological research thus promoting physiology as a world-wide discipline of high impact. When scrolling through the issues it becomes evident how broad the discipline of physiology is, and how IUPS and APS members work toward improving human knowledge and life. Michael J. Caplan is Editor-in-Chief

Perhaps strange questions in the times of global warning, but What can cold exposure do on metabolism and how do mitochnondria work in hibernation?? And what can an organ-on-a-chip teach about lung pathophysiology? Did you ever think about temporal compartmentalization?

Answers and much more you will find in the current issue of Physiology

Physiome

Our second journal, Physiome, was launched in September 2020. The term physiome comes from “physio” (life) + “ome” (as a whole), and is intended to provide a quantitative description of physiological dynamics and functional behavior of the intact organism. Peter Hunter, a former Vice President of IUPS is leading the project. The journal will, with cooperation of mathematicians and physiologists, publish widely applicable mathematical models based on original publications in physiologic journals.

Journal profiles

Currently in Focus: Acta Physiologica

Acta Physiologica is a leading scientific journal that publishes original research and review articles in the field of physiology. The journal has been in publication since 1889 making it one of the very first journals in medical basic sciences. At that time, German was not the lingua franca of sciences but came close to being so. Accordingly, it may not surprise that Acta Physiologica’s name of birth is Skandinavisches Archiv für Physiologie.

Pontus Persson editor in chief

Acta Physiologica is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Scandinavian Physiological Society, which is a charitable society. Thus, any profit made goes to supporting our peers. The most mentionable prize for scientific publishing, The Acta Physiologica Award, goes to authors the editors feel are most worthy.

With an impact factor of 7.5,1 and by being indexed in several major databases, including MEDLINE, PubMed, and Scopus, Acta Physiologica is a valuable resource for researchers in the field.

One of the unique features of Acta Physiologica is its focus on interdisciplinary research. The journal publishes articles that cover a broad range of physiological topics, including cardiovascular physiology, respiratory physiology, neurophysiology, endocrine physiology, and cellular physiology. This multidisciplinary approach allows readers to fathom the depths of various physiological systems and to better understand how our body works.

Acta Physiologica also places a strong emphasis on the use of advanced research techniques and technologies. Many of the articles published in the journal utilize state-of-the-art experimental methods and cutting-edge technologies, such as electrophysiology, imaging techniques, and molecular biology, to investigate physiological processes at the cellular and molecular levels. This focus on advanced research methods ensures that Acta Physiologica remains at the forefront of physiological research and provides readers with valuable insights into the latest developments in the field.

In addition to original research articles, Acta Physiologica also publishes reviews, commentaries, and editorials. These articles provide readers with a broader perspective on current issues and controversies in physiology. They also serve as a platform for researchers to share their opinions and engage in critical discussions with their peers.

Pflügers Archiv -Eropean Journal of Physiology

History and Concept

Pflügers Archiv is the oldest physiological journal. It was founded in 1868 by the German physiologist, Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm Pflüger, under the title Archiv für die gesamte Physiologie des Menschen und der Tiere, published in German language. The first issue of the journal contained 26 articles and included the earliest accurate description of the action potential by Julius Bernstein.

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In 1910, after Pflüger’s death, the journal was retitled Pflüger’s Archiv für die gesamte Physiologie des Menschen und der Tiere and was already published by Springer. The journal assumed its current title in 1968. It was published in a mixture of English, French and German until 1997, when it became an exclusively English-language journal.

Apart from Bernstein descriptions of resting and action potentials other key developments published in the journal include W. Einthoven´s basics of cardiac electrophysiology, which were later published in Pflügers Archiv. In 1965, Kornhuber and Deeke described the readiness potential as the first measurable brain signal of intended movements. Rainer Greger’s group used several Pflügers Archiv papers to publish their findings on the basics of Na/K/Cl2 co-transport in the early 1980s

At roughly the same time, when the patch-clamp technique was introduced, the groups of the Nobel Prize winners Erwin Neher and Bernd Sakmann revolutionized physiology research by describing the gigaseal and the sophisticated application of the patch-clamp technique to brain slices. The giga-seal paper has received more than 17,600 citations to date and remains the most highly cited paper ever to be published in Pflügers Archiv.

Since 2021 Pflügers Archiv European Journal of Physiology is the official journal of the Germans Physiological Society. The journal publishes the results of high-quality original research covering the whole range of physiology and pathophysiology. Papers should give mechanistic insights into physiological functions at the molecular, cellular or organ level. The journal welcomes papers linking genomic and proteomic approaches to physiological functions, as well as articles describing work on the mechanistic phenotyping of transgenic animal models. In addition, Pflüger´s Archiv welcomes papers on methods when these facilitate the further investigation of physiological mechanisms. Priority is given to manuscripts that provide conceptual novelty, but also papers reporting negative results of broad interest will be considered.