History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences publishes interdisciplinary perspectives on biology, biomedicine, or the environmental sciences. We particularly invite research that offers: foundational research, local and regional contexts, or implications of scientific practices and related developments

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences is an interdisciplinary journal committed to providing an integrative approach to understanding the practices, knowledge, and impact of life sciences. It welcomes submissions in English from historians, philosophers, biologists, medical practitioners and scholars in the social studies of science in all geographical latitudes.. Papers should engage meaningfully with contemporary debates and relevant scholarly literature in history, sociology, or philosophy of the life and biomedical sciences. Submissions that are collaborative and feature different disciplinary approaches are especially encouraged, as are submissions written by junior scholars (including graduate students).  

HPLS aims to provide authors with a decision within 3 months after submission. Articles are published continuously, this means authors of accepted articles do not have to wait and are directly published in an issue. 

HPLS publishes research papers, essay reviews, notes & comments, as well as book reviews (we are particularly interested in reviews of non-English-language books). See submission guidance for details. HPLS welcomes shorter commentaries on articles previously published in the journal, as well as submissions featuring novel formats. This includes essays on contemporary issues or perspectives, results of unique workshops, and/or discussions featuring a wide range of perspectives within studies of the life sciences. 

We are very interested in topical collections, particularly those which take a cross-disciplinary perspective and open new arenas in the history, philosophy or social science of the life sciences. Proposals for topical collections should be sent to the managing editors.

HPLS welcomes multilingual abstracts, that is, in addition to the English abstract authors may submit a second abstract in a language of their choosing. The two abstracts, insofar as possible, should express the same information. The majority of major languages are available, although the Editors need to have the resources to double-check with a competent language user. The option to include a multilingual abstract is included in the submission process.