Microbes and Infection

As of the end of 2025, Elsevier will no longer publish the journal on behalf of the Institut Pasteur. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the authors, referees, and editors who contributed to the journal over past years. Published papers will remain available on ScienceDirect.

A Journal on Infectious Agents and Host Defenses
A publication of the Institut Pasteur

Microbes and Infection publishes 8 peer-reviewed issues per year in all fields of infection and immunity, covering the different levels of host-microbe interactions, and in particular:

• the molecular biology and cell biology of the crosstalk between hosts (human and model organisms) and microbes (viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi), including molecular virulence and evasion mechanisms.

• the immune response to infection, including pathogenesis and host susceptibility.

• emerging human infectious diseases.

• systems immunology.

• molecular epidemiology/genetics of host pathogen interactions.

• microbiota and host "interactions".

• vaccine development, including novel strategies and adjuvants.

Clinical studies, accounts of clinical trials and biomarker studies in infectious diseases, unless purely descriptive, are within the scope of the journal.

Microbes and Infection publishes articles on human pathogens or pathogens of model systems. However, articles on other microbes can be published if they contribute to our understanding of basic mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions. Purely descriptive and preliminary studies are discouraged.

Reviews of a major topic of current interest must be commissioned by a Microbes and Infection editor. Unsolicited contributions and presubmission enquiries will not be considered.

Special issues focus on the present knowledge of a virulent microbe and the disease it causes, the immune response in infectious disease, or on critical issues relevant to the scope of the journal.