Aims and scope

Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM) is an Open Access biomedical research journal advancing novel insight into the mechanism, diagnosis and therapy of human disease. DMM is committed to publishing rigorously peer-reviewed research in disease biology that has significant translational impact at the interface of basic and clinical science. Our content is freely available to our communities of basic and clinical researchers, health professionals, patients and their advocates and families. DMM is interdisciplinary in scope, and covers a diverse range of diseases and experimental systems. We also publish cutting-edge methods and resources that advance the disease biology field.

Examples of DMM content

• Research that significantly advances human disease mechanisms, diagnosis and/or treatment.
• Innovative methods and resources for disease biology research.
• Preclinical analyses of candidate therapies, including drug screens, gene therapy and other forms of therapy.
• Presentation of new models that have been thoroughly validated to demonstrate their utility in disease studies*.
• Research exploring the effects of environmental exposure - toxicants, lifestyle factors and climate change - on disease pathogenesis and mechanism.
• Invited expert reviews and posters addressing current and emerging themes in biomedical science
• Perspectives from leaders in the field.
• Interviews with leading scientists in translational biomedical research.
• Editorials addressing wider issues of interest to the community, including regulatory, ethical and policy issues.
• Special collections that collate articles relating to a particular disease area or model system

*Descriptive work, such as the characterisation of a model system without demonstration of its usefulness to advance a field, is generally not considered for publication, unless the new model itself is considered by the Editorial team to provide an improved understanding of the disease mechanism and/or to demonstrate clear usefulness for the evaluation of treatment approaches.

Model systems of interest

We welcome research that utilises any system that best advances our understanding of disease mechanism, diagnosis and therapy. These include unique in vitro or ex vivo models, such as stem-cell-based models, organoids, patient material, model organisms, microorganisms, viruses, computational approaches and any other systems with relevance to human disease research.

Disease areas of interest

• Autoimmunity and inflammation
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular diseases, stroke and hypertension
• Developmental disorders
• Drug and biomarker discovery/screening
• Eye disorders
• Gastrointestinal diseases
• Gene therapy
• Infectious diseases
• Metabolic disorders, including diabetes and obesity
• Musculoskeletal disorders
• Neurodegenerative and neurological diseases
• Psychiatric disorders
• Regenerative medicine
• Renal and liver disease
• Stem cells
• Toxicology