Aims and Scope
Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases is an international, peer-reviewed scientific journal that will appear quarterly. It publishes original research papers, short communications, state-of-the-art mini-reviews, letters to the editor, clinical-case studies, book reviews, announcements of pertinent international meetings, and editorials.
The journal covers a broad spectrum and brings together various disciplines, for example, zoology, microbiology, molecular biology, genetics, mathematical modelling, veterinary and human medicine. Multidisciplinary approaches and the use of conventional and novel methods/methodologies (in the field and in the laboratory) are crucial for deeper understanding of the natural processes and human behaviour/activities that result in human or animal diseases and in economic effects of ticks and tick-borne pathogens. Such understanding is essential for management of tick populations and tick-borne diseases in an effective and environmentally acceptable manner. The journal covers the following topics:
Ticks: biosystematics/taxonomy, morphology, evolution, ecology, physiology/biochemistry, behaviour, molecular biology, genomics/proteomics, and control
Ecology/ecoepidemiology of tick-borne diseases: vector ticks and reservoir hosts, the mechanisms and processes determining their abundance and distribution, the occurrence and prevalence of pathogens in tick and tick-host populations, tick-host-pathogen interactions at the ecological level and their dependence upon environmental factors, natural focality, and risk assessments of exposure to ticks and the occurrence of tick-borne diseases
Tick-borne pathogens: viruses, bacteria, and parasites, their biology in ticks and vertebrates, pathogen-tick and pathogen-host interactions on the molecular and cellular levels, transmission, coinfection, genomics/proteomics, and biosystematics/taxonomy
Tick-borne diseases in domestic animals and wildlife: epidemiology, diagnosis, immunology, treatment, vaccination, control/management, and economics
Tick-borne human diseases: epidemiology, diagnosis, immunology, treatment, vaccination, socioeconomics, and public health
In addition, methodological papers on all these areas will be published as well as timely reviews on vectors and vector-borne diseases in which tick biology or tick-borne diseases are addressed.
Audience
Clinical microbiologists, Infection biologists, Immunologists, Virologists, Public health authorities, Veterinary scientists, Biologists/Zoologists with research focus on ticks and tick-borne pathogens
