molecular-biology-and-evolution
Molecular Biology and Evolution (molecular-biology-and-evolution)
Journal positioning
Molecular Biology and Evolution is the flagship research journal of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE), published by Oxford University Press. It covers the quantitative study of molecular evolution, population genetics, phylogenetics, and the molecular basis of evolutionary change — emphasizing methodological rigor, inference under explicit evolutionary models, and the integration of genomic data with evolutionary theory. The readership is molecular evolutionists, population geneticists, phylogeneticists, and computational biologists who use sequence data and evolutionary models as primary tools. A paper must deliver either a new method with demonstrated performance advantages or a biological insight derived from rigorous molecular-evolutionary analysis — preferably both. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the MBE Oxford Academic site.
When to trigger
- The author names MBE as the target venue for a molecular evolution, phylogenetics, or population-genetics study.
- A genomic or sequence-analysis study needs a rigorous molecular-evolutionary framing rather than a purely descriptive genomics or ecology framing.
- The author is developing a new statistical or computational method for phylogenetic inference, selection detection, or population-genetic analysis.
- The author is choosing between MBE, Genome Biology, and Nature Ecology & Evolution for a study integrating molecular evolution with ecology or genomics.