Journal of Biological Chemistry

The Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) publishes research across the full breadth of the molecular and cellular life sciences. The journal’s core commitment is to advancing biological understanding through insight, rigor, and relevance. Complete mechanistic resolution is not required: JBC welcomes studies that deliver conceptual advances, establish a foundation for mechanistic insight, or make rigorous and substantive contributions to the molecular life sciences. JBC welcomes contributions spanning biochemistry, chemical biology, molecular biology, structural biology, cell biology, and allied disciplines, including both hypothesis-driven mechanistic investigations and quantitative studies that open new scientific directions or establish conceptual frameworks for future investigation. Areas of particular strength include, but are not limited to, protein synthesis, structure, and regulation; DNA and RNA structure, function, and regulation; epigenetics and chromatin biology; metabolism; lipids and membranes; membrane biology and transporters; signal transduction and pharmacology; redox biology; cellular stress responses; glycobiology and extracellular matrices; cancer biology and cell cycle regulation; immunology and inflammation; neurobiology; microbiology; cell and developmental biology; mechanisms of DNA repair; and plant biology and natural products.

JBC also welcomes studies employing contemporary large-scale and computational approaches, including genome-wide, proteome-wide, metabolome-wide, and lipidome-wide analyses; single-cell and spatial profiling; and machine learning or structure prediction methods, provided these are deployed to define biological questions. Studies that are purely descriptive, correlative without biological grounding, or incremental without conceptual advance fall outside the journal’s scope; hypothesis-generating work and studies that lay a foundation for future mechanistic investigation are explicitly encouraged. Translational work connecting molecular mechanisms to human disease, therapeutic targets, or physiological processes is similarly encouraged, as are methodological and resource papers that introduce new experimental or computational tools of broad utility to the field. Across all of these areas, JBC requires that submissions demonstrate rigor and reproducibility, offer novelty beyond incremental extension of prior work, and make a meaningful contribution to biological understanding at the molecular or cellular level.

For more information, go to https://www.jbc.org/