PLOS Pathogens Year in Review
2021 was a continued year of growth for PLOS Pathogens. We continued to publish noteworthy studies in pathogenic research, updated our journal scope, and created a brand new data sharing option for PLOS Pathogens authors. Discover journal updates, a message from the Editors-in-Chief, research highlights, and more.
6,705
Published authors
978
Published articles
75
Countries represented by submitting authors
2,065,780
Article views
This year, we continued to receive and publish the latest research on pathogenic organisms. Read noteworthy research published in 2021.
- Furin cleavage of SARS-CoV-2 Spike promotes but is not essential for infection and cell-cell fusion
- New insights into the interactions between Blastocystis, the gut microbiota, and host immunity
- Capsule carbohydrate structure determines virulence in Acinetobacter baumannii
- A variant ECE1 allele contributes to reduced pathogenicity of Candida albicans during vulvovaginal candidiasis
- Five key aspects of metaproteomics as a tool to understand functional interactions in host-associated microbiomes
Want more top research from the journal? Visit our homepage for the latest articles from the PLOS Pathogens community.
In 2021, PLOS Pathogens articles were referenced over 1,000 times by media outlets around the world. Explore articles that made the news.
- Dating first cases of COVID-19
- SARS-CoV-2 infections harbor limited within-host diversity and transmit via tight transmission bottlenecks
- Manipulation of the unfolded protein response: A pharmacological strategy against coronavirus infection
- A human coronavirus evolves antigenically to escape antibody immunity
- Reduced neutralisation of the Delta (B.1.617.2) SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern following vaccination
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“Reflecting on 2021, we would first like to thank our community of authors, reviewers, and editors, who have worked tirelessly to continue to support rapid publication of breakthrough findings even under the most trying circumstances. But as much as 2021 was a hard year in many respects, it was also a year that brought some exciting future-looking changes for PLOS Pathogens. Our dedicated team of Section Editors met for a virtual summit in the fall and are enthusiastic to expand the PLOS Pathogens community in geography, career stage, and published subject areas. In fact, we revised our scope statement which you can read here, to welcome microbiome, clinical, and computational submissions that inform pathogen biology. To advance our mission in support of data sharing and Open Science, we also introduced a pilot Dryad integration last year which allows authors to upload their data and make use of Dryad curation for free as part of the submission process. We’ve missed being able to gather in person as a community, and it’s too soon yet to say what exactly 2022 will have in store for us all. But we are certain that PLOS Pathogens is excited to build on the forward momentum of last year to continue to grow with the Pathogens community.”

Kasturi Haldar, Editor-in-Chief orcid.org/0000-0001-5065-158X

Michael Malim, Editor-in-Chief orcid.org/0000-0002-7699-2064
Journal Updates
Introducing a revised journal scope
We revised the PLOS Pathogens scope statement to be more inclusive of and welcome microbiome, clinical and computational papers that inform pathogen biology.
New fast and effective data sharing option for authors
In 2021, we introduced a new data sharing option designed to make data deposition free and easy for authors while supporting broader journal goals of improving transparency and reproducibility in the field. Authors submitting to the journal are now able to upload data files directly to the Dryad Digital Repository during manuscript submission or revision – a service provided free of charge to authors during the initial 1 year pilot phase. To learn more about this exciting offering, read the editorial and review our simpe, step-by-step guide to depositing your data with Dryad..
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