About

Genome Medicine is an open access journal publishing outstanding research in the application of genetics, genomics and multi-omics to understand, diagnose and treat disease, bridging the basic science and clinical research communities. Our publication policy combines selection for broad interest and importance with a commitment to serving authors well.

Hospitable publishing process. Genome Medicine offers rapid evaluation and clear and continuous communication on the progress of your manuscript. Upon submission, our in-house editors work with carefully selected reviewers and where necessary our Editorial Board of leading international experts to ensure a high quality and constructive editorial and peer review process.

High visibility. All content is open access immediately on publication. Papers that are published in Genome Medicine are featured on our website with article-level metrics and promoted via press releases, blogs and social media.

Flexible formatting. To facilitate the submission process, we are flexible with regard to the format, style and length of initial submissions. If it is more convenient to the authors, manuscripts can be uploaded as a single PDF or a Microsoft Word file with high resolution figures, figure legends and supplemental information included. The cover letter is provided separately during the submission process. Journal-specific formatting is required only once manuscripts reach the later stages of the publication process.

Portable peer review. To reduce time spent on serial submissions and iterative reviewing, Genome Medicine offers to consider manuscripts on the basis of reviews received at other journals. We also support transfers of reviews obtained at Genome Medicine to other journals, including those outside of BMC and Springer Nature. Learn more from our peer review policy page.

Scoop protection. Genome Medicine offers "scoop protection", meaning that if other researchers publish similar findings after submission, or post them on a preprint server, this will not be a reason for rejection. However, the submission can still be rejected on other grounds.

Submissions from medRxiv. Genome Medicine is happy to consider manuscripts that have been, or will be, posted on a preprint server. Authors are able to submit their manuscripts directly from medRxiv without having to re-upload files.

Why publish your article in Genome Medicine?

We publish important advances of broad interest in the application of genetics, genomics and multi-omics to understand, diagnose, and treat disease. We aim to bridge the basic science and clinical research communities in all areas of human health and disease, including clinical genomics, precision medicine, and clinical trials.
Ranked in the top quartile of genetics and heredity journals worldwide, we publish high quality research and expert reviews across basic science, translational, and clinical research.
Our expert and highly responsive editorial team provides excellent service throughout, with rapid evaluation and publication of research with broad and lasting impact.
As a fully open access journal with more than 3.5 million annual downloads, Genome Medicine reaches a broad international genomic audience.

Aims and scope

Genome Medicine publishes important advances of broad interest in the application of genetics, genomics and multi-omics to understand, diagnose and treat disease. The Journal aims to bridge the basic science and clinical research communities in areas that include, but are not limited to: cancer genomics, immuno-oncology, immunogenomics, infectious disease, microbiome, neurogenomics, systems medicine, clinical genomics, gene therapies, precision medicine, and clinical trials. The Journal content includes original research, method, software, database and guideline articles as well as reviews, opinions and commentaries.

Open access

All articles published by Genome Medicine are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers. Further information about open access can be found here.

As authors of articles published in Genome Medicine you are the copyright holders of your article and have granted to any third party, in advance and in perpetuity, the right to use, reproduce or disseminate your article, according to the BMC license agreement.

For those of you who are US government employees or are prevented from being copyright holders for similar reasons, BMC can accommodate non-standard copyright lines. Please contact us if further information is needed.

Article processing charges (APC)

Authors who publish open access in Genome Medicine are required to pay an article processing charge (APC). The APC price will be determined from the date on which the article is accepted for publication.

The current APC, subject to VAT or local taxes where applicable, is: £3490.00/$5090.00/€4090.00

Visit our open access support portal and our Journal Pricing FAQs for further information.

Open access funding

Visit Springer Nature’s open access funding & support services for information about research funders and institutions that provide funding for APCs.

Springer Nature offers agreements that enable institutions to cover open access publishing costs. Learn more about our open access agreements to check your eligibility and discover whether this journal is included.

Springer Nature offers APC waivers and discounts for articles published in our fully open access journals whose corresponding authors are based in the world’s lowest income countries (see our APC waivers and discounts policy for further information). Requests for APC waivers and discounts from other authors will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and may be granted in cases of financial need (see our open access policies for journals for more information). All applications for discretionary APC waivers and discounts should be made at the point of manuscript submission; requests made during the review process or after acceptance are unable to be considered.

Indexing services

All articles published in Genome Medicine are included in:

CAS
Citebase
Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition
MEDLINE
OAIster
PubMed
PubMed Central
Science Citation Index
SCImago
Scopus
SOCOLAR
Zetoc

The full text of all articles is deposited in digital archives around the world to guarantee long-term digital preservation. You can also access all articles published by BioMed Central on SpringerLink.

Peer-review policy

Peer review is the system used to assess the quality of a manuscript before it is published. Independent researchers in the relevant research area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help Editors determine whether the manuscript should be published in their journal. You can read more about the peer-review process here.

Genome Medicine operates a single-blind peer-review system, where the reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer reports provided to authors are anonymous. The benefit of single-blind peer review is that it is the traditional model of peer review that many reviewers are comfortable with, and it facilitates a dispassionate critique of a manuscript.

Manuscripts submitted to Genome Medicine are assessed by our experienced in-house editorial team, who make all decisions based on extensive and rigorous peer review by academic experts who specialize in the manuscript topic. Editorial Board Members may provide advice on manuscripts submitted to the journal but are not involved in the final decisions. The overall editorial responsibility for the journal is with the Chief Editor.

We aim to provide our readership with the highest quality research and information in genomic and post-genomic medicine, and will therefore focus on articles of general and outstanding interest. We welcome presubmission enquiries by email.

Transferred manuscripts

A manuscript submitted to Genome Medicine might not meet the expectations for publication, but could be well-suited for another at Springer Nature. To help authors publish their work quickly, we offer a transfer service between our journals. Please note that if a manuscript you reviewed is transferred by the authors to another journal, your identity and report will also be transferred, where it will be assessed by the in-house editorial team. If you are asked to review a revised version of the manuscript post-transfer, we ask that you do your best to adapt your expectations to the standards of the new journal in relation to perceived significance and interest.

Portable peer review policy

To improve the efficiency of peer review, we are open to considering manuscripts on the basis of reviews received at other journals, including those outside of Springer Nature. Authors wishing to transfer papers with reviews to Genome Medicine should email us at editorial@genomemedicine.com to enquire about the suitability of the manuscript, and provide the previous journal’s identity and all reviews, alongside a point-by-point response to the reviewers’ comments. We typically ask the previous journal to share with us the reviews and reviewers’ identities, and - subject to agreement from all parties - original reviewers may be consulted if deemed appropriate. We aim to expedite the decision-making process in these cases, but reserve the right to seek additional advice from experts when needed.

We are also happy to facilitate transfers to journals within and outside Springer Nature by sharing reviews and reviewers’ identities at the authors’ request. Authors can request that reviews are passed on, and inform the receiving journal’s editors that they can contact us for further information.

Please note that sharing of reviews and reviewers’ identities is subject to reviewers’ approval.

Editorial policies

All manuscripts submitted to Genome Medicine should adhere to BioMed Central's editorial policies.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Citing articles in Genome Medicine

Articles in Genome Medicine should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. Because articles are not printed, they do not have page numbers; instead, they are given a unique article number.

Article citations follow this format:

Authors: Title. Genome Med [year], [volume number]:[article number].

e.g. Roberts LD, Hassall DG, Winegar DA, Haselden JN, Nicholls AW, Griffin JL: Increased hepatic oxidative metabolism distinguishes the action of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor delta from Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma in the Ob/Ob mouse. Genome Med 2009, 1:115.

refers to article 115 from Volume 1 of the journal.

Appeals and complaints

Authors who wish to appeal a rejection or make a complaint should follow the procedure outlined in the BMC Editorial Policies .

Benefits of publishing with BMC

High visibility

Genome Medicine's open access policy allows maximum visibility of articles published in the journal as they are available to a wide, global audience.

Speed of publication

Genome Medicine offers a fast publication schedule whilst maintaining rigorous peer review; all articles must be submitted online, and peer review is managed fully electronically (articles are distributed in PDF form, which is automatically generated from the submitted files). Articles will be published with their final citation after acceptance, in both fully browsable web form, and as a formatted PDF.

Flexibility

Online publication in Genome Medicine gives you the opportunity to publish large datasets, large numbers of color illustrations and moving pictures, to display data in a form that can be read directly by other software packages so as to allow readers to manipulate the data for themselves, and to create all relevant links (for example, to PubMed, to sequence and other databases, and to other articles).

Promotion and press coverage

Articles published in Genome Medicine are included in article alerts and regular email updates. Some may be highlighted on Genome Medicine’s pages and on the BMC homepage.

In addition, articles published in Genome Medicine may be promoted by press releases to the general or scientific press. These activities increase the exposure and number of accesses for articles published in Genome Medicine. A list of articles recently press-released by journals published by BMC is available here.

Copyright

As an author of an article published in Genome Medicine you retain the copyright of your article and you are free to reproduce and disseminate your work (for further details, see the BMC license agreement).

For further information about the advantages of publishing in a journal from BMC, please click here.