We are pleased to announce the launch of Physics of Living Systems, a new subject area for eLife. The move to create this new section reflects the growing use of tools and methods from the physical sciences to shed light on biological systems and processes, and the increasing levels of collaboration between physicists and life scientists.
Aims and scope
The new section will publish studies in which experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches, rooted in the physical sciences, are developed and/or applied to provide deep insights into the collective properties and function of multicomponent biological systems and processes. Descriptions of methods that could enable the interrogation of classes of biological systems in new ways, as well as interdisciplinary studies that bring together scientists and approaches from the physical and life sciences, are also encouraged.
Editors
From top left: Arup Chakraborty, Naama Barkai, Richard Neher (image courtesy of University of Basel), Tony Hyman (image courtesy of Hyman Lab), Ray Goldstein (image courtesy of Churchill College Cambridge), Frank Jülicher (image courtesy of Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems) and Aleksandra Walczak (image courtesy of Ecole Normale Superieure).
Led by Senior Editor Arup Chakraborty, Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering; Professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, MIT, Physics of Living Systems will be overseen by eLife editors including:
- Naama Barkai, Weizmann Institute of Science
- Ray Goldstein, University of Cambridge
- Tony Hyman, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
- Frank Jülicher, Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems
- Richard Neher, University of Basel
- Aleksandra Walczak, Ecole Normale Superieure
eLife’s approach to publishing
Our goal is to make peer review constructive and collaborative, and to avoid unnecessary rounds of revision. All editorial decisions at eLife are taken by editors who are working scientists. Initial decisions are delivered quickly; and revision requests are consolidated following an open, internal consultation among reviewers. To help increase the accessibility of research and ensure that it is communicated as rapidly as possible, authors are encouraged to make use of preprint servers, such as arXiv and bioRxiv. To facilitate submission to eLife, researchers working in LaTeX can download and use our template or open it directly in Overleaf.
Authors interested in submitting to the new Physics of Living Systems research section may learn more from the eLife Author Guide. We welcome the submission of Research Articles, Tools and Resources, and Short Reports.
To receive dedicated alerts of new Physics of Living Systems research published in eLife, please sign up at: https://crm.elifesciences.org/crm/physicslivingsystems
We welcome comments, questions and feedback. You can contact us at editorial [at] elifesciences [dot] org.
