Dear Colleagues,

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a fascinating group of emerging RNA viruses that infect mammals and birds and cause acute self-limited and fatal infections. From a biological perspective, three unique characteristics set CoVs apart from other RNA viruses: i) CoVs have the largest and most complex RNA genomes known, with up to 32 kb of positive-sense RNA; ii) CoVs encode an RNA proofreading activity that is essential for replication fidelity and diversity; and iii) CoVs exhibit a high frequency of genetic recombination.  In the past 17 years, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV, in 2003), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV, in 2012), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2, in 2019) have overcome interspecies barriers and successfully infected humans with devastating effects. The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic underscores the need to define mechanisms of coronavirus pathogenesis, identify therapeutic targets, and develop diagnostics, antivirals, and vaccines.

This Special Issue seeks all types of manuscripts (e.g., reviews, research articles, and short communications) on animal and human coronaviruses’ interactions with their hosts to better understand mechanisms of disease, zoonosis and transmission, the immune response to infection, diagnostics, antiviral drug discovery, and vaccine development.

Prof. Sonia Navas-Martin
Prof. Colleen B. Jonsson
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Coronaviruses
• SARS-CoV
• MERS-CoV
• SARS-CoV-2
• COVID-2019
• Immune response to coronavirus
• Coronavirus vaccines
• Coronavirus antivirals
• Coronavirus pathogenesis
• Coronavirus diagnostics