Open Access Pub · ISSN 2690-4829
Journal of Enzymes
Aims and Scope
Enzymes publishes peer-reviewed research in which an enzyme is the substantive scientific contribution — its discovery, structure, mechanism, regulation, engineering or application. The journal follows catalysis from the chemistry of an active site to the processes and technologies that chemistry makes possible, across organisms, biological systems and fields of use.
The remit
What the journal publishes
The areas below map the field the journal serves. A manuscript belongs in one or more of them, and work that sits between them is equally welcome.
01
Discovery, structure and molecular recognition
New and previously uncharacterized enzymes; three-dimensional structure and structure–function relationships; active-site architecture, cofactors and metal centers, and the molecular recognition that sets substrate specificity.
02
Catalytic mechanism and kinetics
The chemistry of the catalytic step; steady-state, pre-steady-state and single-molecule kinetics; transition states, intermediates, isotope effects and the energetics of turnover.
03
Inhibition, activation and regulation
Inhibitors, activators and allosteric modulators; cooperativity, post-translational modification and feedback control; the chemical and physical conditions under which an enzyme’s activity is set.
04
Evolution, pathways and systems enzymology
Comparative enzymology, enzyme families and ancestral sequence reconstruction; metabolic and pathway enzymology; genome-scale and flux-based work, and other systems-level studies in which enzyme function remains the scientific center of the question.
05
Enzyme engineering and biocatalysis
Rational design, site-directed mutagenesis and directed evolution; de novo and synthetic enzyme systems and cascades; stability, solvent tolerance, immobilization and specificity engineering; biocatalysis and enzyme-based biotechnology.
06
Computation, methods and measurement
Computational and theoretical enzymology that yields enzyme-specific insight, including simulation, quantum-mechanical treatment of the active site and machine-learning prediction of enzyme structure, function and activity; assay development, spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, structural biology and single-molecule methods that materially advance enzyme research.
07
Clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic enzymology
Enzymes in diagnosis and clinical measurement; enzyme deficiencies and the biochemistry of metabolic disease; therapeutic enzymes, including replacement, prodrug-activating and enzyme-based biologic approaches, together with the delivery and stability work that supports them.
08
Pharmacological enzymology
Research on enzymes as pharmacological targets and determinants of drug response, including enzyme–inhibitor interactions, enzyme-mediated drug metabolism, and pharmacogenomic variation when enzyme function or activity—or its effect on drug handling—is the central scientific question.
09
Industrial, environmental and food enzymology
Enzymes in pharmaceutical and fine-chemical synthesis, food and feed processing, biomass conversion and biofuels, textiles and detergents, and the enzymatic routes used in bioremediation and environmental treatment.
Breadth
Forms of contribution
Enzymes are studied in every domain of life and in cell-free, engineered and designed systems, and the journal’s remit follows them there. Organism, biological system and field of application may vary; what holds constant is that the enzyme carries the scientific question.
Fundamental, computational, methodological, engineering, translational and applied contributions are read on the same footing. A study may be experimental or theoretical, may report a mechanism or a measurement, and may use whichever technique suits its question. Newer approaches are assessed on the same scientific basis as long-established ones.
- Fundamental
- Computational
- Methodological
- Engineering
- Translational
- Applied
Scope boundary
Where the boundary falls
Work arriving from molecular biology, omics, computational biology, chemistry, materials science, medicine and biotechnology belongs here when enzyme science is a substantive focus of the study — when the manuscript adds to what is known about an enzyme’s identity, structure, mechanism, regulation, engineering or performance.
A study in which enzymes appear only as incidental measurements, as reagents in service of another question, as generic biomarkers or as background context is usually better placed in a journal of that study’s own field. Such work is welcome here when it also contributes enzyme-specific knowledge.
Submissions
Submitting to the journal
Researchers whose work places an enzyme at the center of the question are invited to submit. Manuscripts are assessed against the scope described on this page.
- Primary route: ManuscriptZone oap.manuscriptzone.net
- Alternative route: Simple manuscript submission form openaccesspub.org/manuscript-submission-form
- Assisted route: Editorial email [email protected]
Authors must use only one submission route for the same manuscript.