Infection and Immunity is a peer-reviewed

Peer review

Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...

 medical journal published by the American Society for Microbiology

American Society for Microbiology

The American Society for Microbiology is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. Microbiology is the study of organisms too small to be seen with the naked eye and which must be viewed with a...

. It focuses on interactions between bacterial, fungal, or parasitic pathogens and their hosts. Areas covered in the journal include molecular pathogenesis

Pathogenesis

The pathogenesis of a disease is the mechanism by which the disease is caused. The term can also be used to describe the origin and development of the disease and whether it is acute, chronic or recurrent...

, cellular microbiology

Microbiology

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...

, bacterial infection, host responses and inflammation

Inflammation

Inflammation is part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. Inflammation is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli and to initiate the healing process...

, fungal and parasitic infections, microbial immunity

Immunity (medical)

Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...

 and vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...

s, and molecular genomics

Genomics

Genomics is a discipline in genetics concerning the study of the genomes of organisms. The field includes intensive efforts to determine the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping efforts. The field also includes studies of intragenomic phenomena such as heterosis,...

. The journal publishes primary research articles, editorials, commentaries, minireviews, and a spotlight report highlighting articles of particular interest selected by the editors. The journal is cited more than 52,000 times a year in the scientific literature, making it the most highly cited journal in the category of Infectious Diseases and the third most highly cited journal in Immunology.

History

The journal was established in 1970. Prior to that time, original research articles covering topics in infection and immunity were published in a section of the Journal of Bacteriology. As the size of this section grew, the need for a separate journal publishing peer-reviewed research in this area became apparent. The first editor-in-chief was Erwin Neter (SUNY Buffalo

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, also commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university and a "University Center" in the State University of New York system. The university was founded by Millard Fillmore in 1846. UB has multiple campuses...

).

Editors-in-chief

The following persons have been editor-in-chief of Infection and Immunity:

• 1970-1979: Erwin Neter
• 1980-1989: Joseph W. Shands, Jr.
• 1990-1999: Vincent A. Fischetti
• 2000-2007: Alison D. O’Brien
• 2007-present: Ferric C. Fang

Access

Access to articles is restricted to subscribers for the first six months post-publication, after which they become open access

Delayed open access journal

Delayed open access journals are traditional subscription-based journals that provide open access or free access upon the elapse of an embargo period following the initial publication date...

 through PubMed Central

PubMed Central

PubMed Central is a free digital database of full-text scientific literature in biomedical and life sciences. It grew from the online Entrez PubMed biomedical literature search system. PubMed Central was developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine as an online archive of biomedical journal...

. Author-paid optional open access is available for all article types. Tables of contents and abstracts are freely available. Through its "Global Outreach Program", free online access is available to qualified microbiologists in eligible developing countries.

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in AGRICOLA

AGRICOLA

AGRICOLA is a database created and maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture. The database serves as the catalog and index for the collections of the United States National Agricultural Library, but it also provides public access to information on agriculture and allied...

, BIOSIS Previews

BIOSIS Previews

BIOSIS Previews is an English-language, bibliographic database service, with abstracts and citation indexing. It is part of Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge suite. Content that was originally integrated from the BIOSIS company before the merger in 2004 is now part of the Web of Knowledge...

, CAB Abstracts, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts Service

Chemical Abstracts Service

Chemical Abstracts is a periodical index that provides summaries and indexes of disclosures in recently published scientific documents. Approximately 8,000 journals, technical reports, dissertations, conference proceedings, and new books, in any of 50 languages, are monitored yearly, as are patent...

, Current Contents

Current Contents

Current Contents is a rapid alerting service database from the Institute for Scientific Information, now part of Thomson Reuters, that is published online and in several different printed subject sections.-History:...

/Life Sciences, EMBASE

EMBASE

Embase is an online information source of published literature designed to supportinformation managers and pharmacovigilance in complying with the regulatoryrequirements of a licensed drug. Through its unique and comprehensive content coverage,...

, Food Science and Technology Abstracts

Food Science and Technology Abstracts

Food Science and Technology Abstracts is an indexing and abstracting database covering the literature of food science and food technology. Coverage includes all the major food commodities plus animal science, crop science, horticulture, biotechnology, microbiology, food safety , additives,...

, Illustrata, Index Medicus

Index medicus

Index Medicus is a comprehensive index of medical scientific journal articles, published since 1879. It was initiated by John Shaw Billings, head of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office, United States Army...

, MEDLINE

MEDLINE

MEDLINE is a bibliographic database of life sciences and biomedical information. It includes bibliographic information for articles from academic journals covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and health care...

, and the Science Citation Index

Science Citation Index

The Science Citation Index is a citation index originally produced by the Institute for Scientific Information and created by Eugene Garfield in 1960, which is now owned by Thomson Reuters. The larger version covers more than 6,500 notable and significant journals, across 150 disciplines, from ...

. According to the Journal Citation Reports

Journal Citation Reports

Journal Citation Reports is an annual publication by the Healthcare & Science division of Thomson Reuters. It has been integrated with the Web of Knowledge, by Thomson Reuters, and is accessed from the Web of Science to JCR Web. It provides information about academic journals in the sciences and...

, the journal has a 2009 impact factor

Impact factor

The impact factor, often abbreviated IF, is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science and social science journals. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field, with journals with higher impact factors deemed...

 of 4.205 and an Eigenfactor

Eigenfactor

The Eigenfactor score, developed by Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom at the University of Washington, is a rating of the total importance of a scientific journal...

score of 0.112, ranking it 10th by impact factor and 3rd by Eigenfactor out of 57 journals in the category "Infectious Diseases" and 27th by impact factor and 8th by Eigenfactor out of 128 journals in the category "Immunology".