Journal of Nephrology Advances · ISSN 2574-4488
Aims and Scope
The Journal of Nephrology Advances publishes peer-reviewed research on the kidney: how it works, how it fails, how kidney disease is measured and treated, and how people living with kidney disease are cared for. The journal is open across the whole field, from molecular and cellular renal biology to clinical nephrology, kidney replacement therapy, transplantation, and the epidemiology and delivery of kidney care.
Open accessCC BY 4.0Peer reviewed
The remit
What the journal publishes
Nephrology is studied at several scales at once. A single question — why a glomerular filtration rate falls, why a graft is lost, why one dialysis population has the outcomes it has — is approached by different disciplines working at the level of the molecule, the nephron, the patient, the service and the population. The journal is organized around that range rather than around one preferred kind of evidence. Mechanistic, experimental, clinical, diagnostic, methodological and population-based studies are each assessed on their own terms.
Contributions include fundamental and applied research, descriptive and observational studies, replication and validation studies, and evidence synthesis. A study of podocyte biology, a validation study for a measurement method, a trial of a therapy and a cohort study of kidney outcomes can each be within scope. Scope eligibility rests on the substantive nephrology question; methodological rigor and reporting quality are assessed separately.
The sections below set out the subjects the journal covers, how interdisciplinary work is placed, how scope is applied during assessment, and the article formats the journal publishes.
Subjects
The field, at the five scales it is studied
These strata illustrate the journal’s broad coverage. Other subjects with a substantive connection to kidney science, disease or care are also within scope.
-
01
Renal biology and disease mechanisms
Laboratory, experimental and computational work on how the kidney is built, how it functions and how it is injured and repaired.
- Kidney development, nephron structure and renal anatomy
- Glomerular and tubular physiology; podocyte biology and podocytopathies
- Renal hemodynamics, autoregulation and tubuloglomerular feedback
- Sodium, water, potassium, acid–base and mineral handling
- Molecular and cellular mechanisms of kidney injury, inflammation, fibrosis and repair
- Genetic, congenital and inherited kidney disease
- Renal pharmacology, nephrotoxicology and drug handling by the kidney
- Experimental models, organoids and tissue engineering relevant to the kidney
-
02
Kidney disease and clinical nephrology
The diagnosis, natural history, complications and treatment of kidney disease across the life course.
- Acute kidney injury, critical care nephrology and the transition to chronic disease
- Chronic kidney disease, its progression, prevention and complications
- Glomerular disease, including primary and secondary glomerulonephritis, IgA nephropathy and lupus nephritis
- Diabetic kidney disease and metabolic kidney disease
- Tubulointerstitial, cystic and obstructive kidney disease
- Hypertension, renovascular disease and cardiorenal medicine
- Electrolyte, acid–base, mineral and bone disorders; anemia of kidney disease
- Pregnancy and the kidney; pediatric nephrology and transition to adult care
- Drug dosing, prescribing safety and medication-related kidney injury
-
03
Kidney replacement therapy and transplantation
Research on the treatments that replace or restore kidney function, and on the care that surrounds them.
- Hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis; home and incremental dialysis
- Dialysis prescription, adequacy and quality measurement
- Vascular access creation, surveillance and complications
- Complications of kidney replacement therapy and their management
- Kidney transplantation: donor evaluation, immunosuppression, rejection and graft outcomes
- Organ preservation, allocation and emerging replacement technologies
- Conservative kidney management, supportive and palliative kidney care
-
04
Diagnosis, measurement and methods
Work whose contribution is to how the kidney is measured, classified, imaged or studied.
- Kidney function measurement and estimating equations
- Albuminuria, proteinuria and urinary diagnostics
- Biomarker discovery, validation and clinical utility
- Kidney biopsy, renal pathology and digital pathology
- Renal imaging and image analysis
- Omics, bioinformatics and machine learning applied to kidney data
- Trial design, evidence synthesis, systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- Statistical and methodological research relevant to kidney studies
-
05
Populations, outcomes and kidney care
Studies of kidney health in groups of people and of the services that care for them.
- Epidemiology, incidence, prevalence and burden of kidney disease
- Risk factors, prevention, screening and early detection
- Patient-reported outcomes, symptom burden and quality of life
- Health services research and models of kidney care delivery
- Access to dialysis, transplantation and specialist kidney care
- Environmental, occupational and nutritional exposures affecting the kidney
- Kidney health in underserved and understudied populations
- Health economics of kidney disease and its treatment
Fit
Work at the boundary of the field
Kidney research draws on many specialties. Submissions are considered by subject rather than departmental affiliation. The scope criterion is a substantive connection to kidney science, health, disease, replacement therapy or care.
Cardiology, endocrinology, immunology, rheumatology, critical care, obstetrics, infectious disease, pharmacology, nutrition and public health all contribute to kidney research. Interdisciplinary work is in scope when a kidney-related scientific, methodological or care question is a substantive focus of the work. Urologic examples include obstruction and its renal consequences, stone disease and its metabolic and renal effects, vascular access for dialysis, and the urologic aspects of transplantation. Studies focused on the lower urinary tract should establish a substantive kidney connection in their research question or application.
Scope and evidence are separate questions
Scope decides whether this journal is the right place for the question. Peer review decides what the evidence in front of it supports. A single-center cohort, a study with a negative result and a case report describing an unusual presentation can each be in scope; what differs between them is the strength of claim the design will carry. Manuscripts are expected to state conclusions their methods support, and each is assessed on the question it asks, the design that answers it and the evidence it reports.
Assessment
How scope is applied
Scope is the first question asked of a manuscript, and it is asked again by the reviewers alongside the other criteria on which a decision rests.
- Editorial screening
- All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal’s scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review.
- Review model
- Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request.
- Reviewers
- Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.
- Decision criteria
- Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal. Decisions remain independent of fees, services, memberships and roles.
Formats
Forms in which research is published
The scope above applies to every format. The requirements for preparing each one — structure, limits, reporting standards and file formats — are set out in the Instructions for Authors, which also describes brief communications and short reports.
- Original Research
- Full-length reports of clinical, observational, laboratory, experimental or translational studies in nephrology.
- Reviews
- Systematic reviews, meta-analyses and narrative reviews that synthesize current evidence on a kidney-related question.
- Case Reports
- Clinical cases describing an unusual presentation, a diagnostic problem or an instructive course in kidney disease.
- Perspectives
- Commentary and analysis on questions, methods and practice in nephrology.
Next
Submitting work to this journal
Authors whose work sits within the remit above are invited to submit. A manuscript may be sent through any one of the routes below, and the editorial office is glad to advise on fit before submission.
- Primary route
- ManuscriptZone
- Alternative route
- Simple manuscript submission form, with this journal preselected
- Assisted route
- info@openaccesspub.org
Authors must use only one submission route for the same manuscript.