Aims & Scope
Journal of Immunology and Geriatrics (JIG) publishes mechanistic research on age-related immune dysfunction, focusing on molecular pathways, biomarkers, and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying immunosenescence and age-associated immune disorders.
Tiered Research Scope
Immunosenescence Mechanisms
- Thymic involution and T-cell repertoire contraction
- B-cell dysfunction and antibody response decline
- NK cell senescence and cytotoxicity alterations
- Myeloid cell polarization in aging
- Telomere dynamics in immune cells
- Epigenetic modifications in aged lymphocytes
Typical Fit Example:
"Transcriptomic profiling reveals age-dependent upregulation of PD-1 pathway genes in CD8+ T cells, correlating with reduced cytokine production capacity."
Inflammaging & Chronic Inflammation
- SASP (senescence-associated secretory phenotype) mediators
- NF-κB pathway dysregulation in aging
- Inflammasome activation mechanisms
- Cytokine network alterations (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β)
- Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress
- Cellular senescence markers and pathways
Typical Fit Example:
"NLRP3 inflammasome priming in aged macrophages: role of mtDNA release and cGAS-STING pathway activation."
Autoimmunity Pathogenesis in Aging
- Loss of central and peripheral tolerance mechanisms
- Autoreactive T-cell escape and clonal expansion
- B-cell receptor editing defects
- Molecular mimicry and epitope spreading
- Regulatory T-cell dysfunction in elderly
- Autoantibody production pathways
Typical Fit Example:
"Age-dependent decline in AIRE expression correlates with breakdown of central tolerance and emergence of tissue-specific autoantibodies."
Infectious Disease Susceptibility
- Pathogen recognition receptor (PRR) signaling defects
- Impaired antigen presentation in aged APCs
- Vaccine response mechanisms and failure modes
- Memory T-cell and B-cell generation deficits
- Innate immune exhaustion pathways
- Host-pathogen interaction alterations
Typical Fit Example:
"TLR7/8 signaling attenuation in aged plasmacytoid dendritic cells reduces type I interferon production during influenza infection."
Immunogenetics & Molecular Immunology
HLA polymorphisms, immune gene expression profiling, single-cell transcriptomics, genetic susceptibility loci, somatic mutations in immune cells.
Biomarker Discovery
Circulating immune markers, proteomic signatures, metabolomic profiling, immune cell phenotyping, predictive biomarkers for immune aging.
Disease Models & Methodologies
Aged animal models, in vitro senescence systems, organoid technologies, imaging techniques for immune cell tracking, novel immunoassays.
Transplantation Immunology
Allograft rejection mechanisms in elderly, age-related tolerance induction, immunosuppression pharmacodynamics, graft-versus-host disease pathways.
Cancer Immunology in Aging
Immune surveillance decline, tumor microenvironment alterations, checkpoint molecule expression, CAR-T cell dysfunction mechanisms, age-related immunoediting.
Musculoskeletal Immunopathology
Osteoclast-osteoblast signaling, inflammatory mediators in osteoporosis, cartilage degradation pathways, synovial inflammation mechanisms, bone marrow niche alterations.
Computational Immunology
Machine learning for immune cell classification, network analysis of cytokine interactions, predictive modeling of immune aging trajectories. Note: AI/ML applications must directly address immunological mechanisms.
Microbiome-Immune Axis
Gut dysbiosis effects on systemic immunity, microbial metabolite signaling, age-related barrier dysfunction, host-microbe molecular crosstalk.
Neuroimmune Interactions
Microglial activation pathways, neuroinflammation mediators, blood-brain barrier immune cell trafficking, peripheral immune contributions to neurodegeneration.
Regenerative Immunology
Immune cell rejuvenation mechanisms, senolytic compound effects on immune function, stem cell niche immune regulation, tissue repair signaling pathways.
Explicit Exclusions
Clinical Treatment Protocols
Drug dosing regimens, treatment guidelines, therapeutic algorithms, patient management strategies. Rationale: Focus is on disease mechanisms, not clinical practice.
Clinical Outcomes Research
Mortality rates, hospital readmissions, quality-of-life measures, healthcare utilization without mechanistic investigation. Rationale: Pathophysiology journal, not clinical outcomes.
Diagnostic Criteria & Screening
Diagnostic algorithms, screening protocols, clinical assessment tools without biomarker validation. Rationale: Diagnosis is clinical domain; we focus on underlying pathology.
Health Services & Policy Research
Healthcare delivery models, cost-effectiveness analyses, public health interventions, health economics. Rationale: Outside pathophysiology scope.
Purely Epidemiological Studies
Disease prevalence, incidence rates, risk factor associations without mechanistic exploration. Rationale: Descriptive epidemiology lacks pathophysiological insight.
Behavioral & Psychosocial Research
Cognitive assessments, psychological interventions, social determinants without immune mechanism linkage. Rationale: Must demonstrate direct immunological pathways.
Article Types & Priorities
Expedited Review (14-21 days)
Regular Review (28-35 days)
Rarely Considered
Editorial Standards & Requirements
Reporting Guidelines
ARRIVE (animal studies), MIQE (qPCR), MIAME (microarray), STROBE (observational), PRISMA (reviews)
Data Transparency
Raw data deposition required (GEO, ArrayExpress, Dryad). Code availability for computational analyses. Reagent sharing agreements.
Ethics Compliance
IRB/IACUC approval mandatory. Informed consent documentation. Declaration of Helsinki adherence. GDPR compliance for human data.
Preprint Policy
Preprints encouraged (bioRxiv, medRxiv). No impact on submission. Must declare preprint DOI. Version control maintained.
Reproducibility
Detailed methods sections. Antibody validation (CiteAb). Cell line authentication. Statistical power calculations required.
Conflict of Interest
ICMJE disclosure forms. Funding source transparency. Industry collaboration declaration. Competing interests statement.
