Journal of Immunization · ISSN 2577-137X · Open Access Pub
Aims and Scope
The Journal of Immunization publishes peer-reviewed research on immunization: the science of vaccines and the immune protection they produce, the evidence that establishes how well they work and how safely, and the programs, systems and decisions that carry that protection to populations.
Work is welcome at any point along that chain, from laboratory and clinical vaccine science through evaluation, delivery, access and uptake, in any population and any setting.
The remit
Immunization as one subject, end to end
Immunization joins laboratory science to the people who end up protected. A vaccine has to be designed and characterized, tested for immune response and effect, watched for safety, manufactured and kept cold, offered through a program someone has to run and fund, and finally accepted by a person in a particular place. The journal treats that whole span as one field and publishes research at every point in it.
What the journal publishes
Areas welcomed
These groupings describe the journal's remit. They are the subjects the editors actively seek; they are not a checklist a manuscript must match, and the published record illustrates the scope rather than setting its limits.
01
Vaccine science and development
Antigen and platform design, adjuvants, formulation and stability, immune response and correlates of protection, and the preclinical and clinical development of new and improved vaccines and other immunizing agents.
02
Evaluation and evidence
Immunogenicity, efficacy and effectiveness studies, schedule, dose and co-administration questions, duration of protection and boosting, and the trial designs, observational methods and analytic approaches that support such conclusions.
03
Safety, surveillance and assessment
Vaccine safety research, pharmacovigilance and adverse-event surveillance, signal evaluation, benefit-risk assessment, and the systems and methods through which safety is monitored after licensure.
04
Population protection and epidemiology
Population and herd immunity, transmission dynamics and modeling, seroepidemiology, outbreak response through immunization, and studies of vaccine-preventable diseases where the question bears directly on immunization.
05
Programs, delivery and coverage
Routine and campaign immunization programs, schedules and catch-up strategies, supply chains and cold chain, workforce and training, registries and reminder systems, and the measurement of coverage, timeliness and schedule completion.
06
Access, equity and implementation
Implementation science and health-system delivery, financing and cost, geography and service availability, and the conditions under which an offered vaccine actually reaches the people it is meant for, including underserved, displaced and hard-to-reach populations.
07
Confidence, acceptance and uptake
Vaccine confidence and hesitancy, acceptance and demand, decision making by individuals, families, communities and health workers, and communication, engagement and behavioral research that informs them.
08
Policy, recommendations and program evaluation
Immunization policy and recommendation processes, national and subnational program evaluation, economic evaluation where it informs immunization decisions, regulation and introduction decisions, and the evidence base for public-health decision making.
Disciplines and methods
Interdisciplinary by design
Immunization questions are answered by different disciplines depending on where in the chain they sit. The journal assesses each manuscript by the standards of its own method, and welcomes work from researchers, clinicians, program staff and multidisciplinary teams in any country and any income setting.
Laboratory and clinical
Immunology and vaccinology, assay development, clinical trials and clinical vaccine studies.
Epidemiological and quantitative
Observational epidemiology, surveillance analysis, biostatistics, modeling and data science.
Health systems and implementation
Health-services research, implementation and operational research, economics and policy analysis.
Social and behavioral
Qualitative and mixed-methods research, communication studies, and community-engaged research.
Scope boundary
What makes a manuscript in scope
One test settles most cases: the work must carry a genuine immunization or vaccine question, and its findings must speak to that question.
A manuscript is in scope when a vaccine, an immunizing agent, or an immunization program or decision is the subject of the study rather than part of its background — when the result changes what is understood about how protection is produced, measured, delivered, accepted or governed.
Studies that mention immunity or infection in passing sit better elsewhere. Generic immunology without a vaccine or immunization question, infectious-disease research not directed at immunization, general public-health work, and clinical care in which no immunization question is examined are all served better by journals in those fields, and the editors will say so promptly so that authors can submit where the work will be read.
A manuscript fits when
- a vaccine, immunizing agent, immunization program or immunization decision is the object of study;
- the methods are appropriate to the question and reported in enough detail to be assessed;
- the conclusions stay within what the design, setting and sample support;
- the work adds something a reader working on immunization could use.
Accepted manuscript types
Article types
The journal considers these formats when the work addresses a substantive immunization question.
01
Original Research
Original findings that address a substantive immunization question.
02
Review Articles
Evidence syntheses relevant to immunization.
03
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
Systematic evidence syntheses, with meta-analysis where appropriate.
04
Implementation and Program Evaluation Studies
Studies of immunization delivery, implementation or program outcomes.
05
Vaccine Safety and Surveillance Reports
Findings from vaccine-safety research or surveillance.
06
Methods, Protocols and Data Resources
Methods, protocols or data resources for immunization research.
07
Short Communications
Focused reports of immunization findings.
08
Policy and Practice Analyses
Analyses of immunization policy or practice.
09
Case Reports of Immunization Safety Events
Novel, rigorously documented events with clear immunization relevance; temporal association alone is insufficient.
Editorials, Commentaries and Letters are considered by invitation.
How submissions are assessed
Screening, review and decisions
- Screening
- All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review.
- Peer review
- Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.
- Decisions
- Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal. Decisions remain independent of fees, membership, editorial roles and paid services.
Before you submit
Preparing a manuscript for this journal
Read the author instructions for manuscript requirements, and the editorial policies for the journal's ethics, authorship and data expectations. An editor is glad to advise on fit before a full submission.
Read the author instructions Editorial policies Submit Paper