Is your allergy immunology study a fit for IJA? The journal considers research that explains the immune mechanisms underlying allergic disease and hypersensitivity.
Journal aim
IJA publishes original research, reviews, and short communications that advance understanding of allergic immune biology. The central question—not the clinical setting, technology, or size of the dataset—should explain or critically evaluate a mechanism relevant to allergy or hypersensitivity.
Mechanistic work may use human cohorts or clinical samples, experimental models, primary cells, cell lines, organoids, tissues, biochemical or structural methods, and computational approaches. The setting alone does not determine scope; the research question, evidence, and interpretation do.
A quick fit test
Your manuscript is likely to fit when all four conditions are met.
- Mechanism is central
- The study tests or critically synthesises a defined immune process involved in allergy or hypersensitivity.
- Evidence matches the claim
- The design, controls, and analysis support the proposed level of mechanistic or causal interpretation.
- Allergy relevance is explicit
- Sensitisation, allergic inflammation, immune tolerance, or hypersensitivity is central—not incidental—to the question.
- Reporting is transparent
- Methods, reagents, cohorts, ethics, limitations, and relevant data or code statements are sufficiently described.
Core areas within scope
IJA considers immediate and delayed hypersensitivity pathways when their relevance to allergic or immune-mediated hypersensitivity disease is explicit.
Cellular effector and regulatory biology
Mast cells, basophils, eosinophils, B and T lymphocytes, dendritic cells, innate lymphoid cells, and immune-tolerance pathways.
Antibodies, receptors and humoral immunity
IgE and relevant IgG responses, B-cell class switching, Fc-receptor biology, and antibody–allergen interactions.
Mediators and signalling pathways
Cytokines, chemokines, complement, epithelial alarmins, intracellular signalling, and immune-cell recruitment.
Allergen molecular science
Allergen structure, epitopes, processing, immunogenicity, cross-reactivity, and molecular determinants of sensitisation.
Susceptibility and immune regulation
Immunogenetics, epigenetic regulation, gene–environment interactions, and mechanisms that establish or disrupt immune tolerance.
Mechanistic biomarkers and systems immunology
Biomarkers, omics, single-cell methods, and computational models when they answer an allergy-specific biological question and include appropriate validation.
Study settings welcomed
- Human cohorts and well-characterised clinical samples
- Primary cells, cell lines, tissues, and organoids
- Animal models with clear relevance and stated limitations
- Biochemical, structural, and molecular investigations
- Omics and single-cell studies with biological validation
- Computational and systems-immunology approaches tied to a defined mechanism
How boundary cases are assessed
Clinical or data-intensive work is not excluded simply because of its setting. Editors look for a substantive immune-mechanism question and evidence that can answer it.
Clinical or immunotherapy studies
- Likely in scope when
- Immune modulation, tolerance, or response mechanism is a primary question with substantive immune endpoints.
- Usually out of scope when
- The study compares efficacy, dosing, administration, adherence, or routine management only.
Diagnostic or biomarker studies
- Likely in scope when
- The marker is biologically grounded and validated in relation to an allergic mechanism.
- Usually out of scope when
- It reports classification, test accuracy, or threshold performance without mechanistic insight.
Epidemiology or environmental exposure
- Likely in scope when
- Population evidence is integrated with immune, molecular, or functional investigation.
- Usually out of scope when
- It reports prevalence, association, exposure, or risk factors without immunological investigation.
Omics, single-cell or machine learning
- Likely in scope when
- The analysis is allergy-specific, appropriately validated, and biologically interpreted.
- Usually out of scope when
- It is descriptive profiling, dataset benchmarking, or black-box prediction without functional support.
Microbiome research
- Likely in scope when
- A host–microbe–immune mechanism relevant to allergy is tested.
- Usually out of scope when
- It reports taxonomic or abundance differences alone.
Respiratory, dermatologic or gastrointestinal research
- Likely in scope when
- Allergic inflammation or hypersensitivity is central to the hypothesis and analysis.
- Usually out of scope when
- The work concerns disease management or a non-allergic mechanism.
In scope and out of scope
Strong scope signals
- A defined allergy or hypersensitivity mechanism
- Functional, molecular, cellular, structural, or validated computational evidence
- Appropriate controls and analysis for the proposed claim
- Explicit model, cohort, reagent, and phenotype definitions
Not considered without mechanistic investigation
- Clinical case reports or management-centred case series
- Diagnostic guidelines or test-performance studies
- Treatment protocols, dosing, administration, or efficacy-only studies
- Prevalence, risk-factor, or public-health surveys
- Descriptive omics, microbiome, biomarker, animal, cellular, or computational studies
- Research in which allergic hypersensitivity is incidental
Article formats
- Original Research
- New experimental, human, translational, or computational evidence addressing an allergy or hypersensitivity mechanism.
- Review Article
- A critical, evidence-based synthesis of a defined mechanism that evaluates the literature, identifies uncertainty, and sets a research agenda.
- Short Communication
- A focused, well-supported finding or methodological advance with a clear mechanistic contribution and appropriately bounded claims.
What editors look for at scope screening
- ✓A clearly stated allergy or hypersensitivity question
- ✓A defined mechanistic contribution
- ✓Appropriate design, controls, replication, and analysis
- ✓Clear identification of allergens, reagents, models, and phenotypes
- ✓Proportionate conclusions and explicit limitations
- ✓Applicable ethics, consent, welfare, and reporting declarations
Still deciding whether your manuscript fits?
Send the editorial office your proposed title, abstract, article type, and a one-sentence description of the immune mechanism addressed. Scope guidance can help you choose the right route, but it does not guarantee peer review or acceptance.
Editorial office: [email protected] · Read the Instructions for Authors before submission.