Biology of Sex Differences

Call for Papers: Sex differences in neurodegenerative diseases

Biology of Sex Differences is calling for submissions to our Collection on Sex differences in neurodegenerative diseases. This Collection aims to advance understanding of the complex interplay between sex/gender and neurodegenerative diseases, fostering innovations in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention strategies.

Call for Papers: Sex differences in prenatal and neonatal life

Biology of Sex Differences is calling for submissions to our Collection on "Sex differences in prenatal and neonatal life". This Collection aims to improve the knowledge and underline the importance of sex-gender impact at the beginning of life. 

Call for Papers: Sex Differences in Autoimmune Disease

Biology of Sex Differences is calling for submissions to our Collection on Sex Differences in Autoimmune Disease. Most autoimmune diseases occur predominantly in women. This Collection provides recent data and perspectives on Sex and Gender Differences in Autoimmune Diseases from leaders in the field.

Call for Papers: Eschewing the Binary: Sex and Gender Science in Human and Non-human Animal Research

This Collection in Biology of Sex Differences is an occasion to highlight recent research and emerging perspectives on the interaction of sex and gender as well as to convene a conversation about how the social influences the biological, and in turn, how that interaction affects individuals. 

Featured Editorial: Sex differences research is important!

A newly published editorial, which comes as the current administration makes drastic federal cuts and eliminates information resources, highlights the importance of sex differences research. One of the co-authors, Jill Becker at the University of Michigan, said: “Changes in the priority of the USA government regarding diversity, equity, and inclusivity has resulted in federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, taking down or substantially modifying websites that refer to sex as a biological variable. These changes occur even though studying sex differences is critical to our understanding of chronic disease and sex-specific characteristics of many diseases."

In this editorial published in the journal Biology of Sex Differences, Becker and Sofia B. Ahmed present the case for the importance of sex differences research.

Dr. Becker is available for interviews. Please contact her at jbbecker@med.umich.edu.”

The editorial views do not represent the views of the University of Michigan, BMC, or Springer Nature as a publisher. The journal is editorially independent from Springer Nature, and all journals are published by Springer Nature.

Featured Article: Breaking rules: the complex relationship between DNA methylation and X-chromosome inactivation in the human placenta

In this study, we examine DNA methylation, a DNA modification that can influences gene expression, in the human placenta. The placenta has less DNA methylation overall than most other organs, and here we evaluate DNA methylation patterns on the X chromosome in over 350 placental samples compared to samples of other tissues. Our findings reveal that the placenta has unique DNA methylation patterns on the inactive X chromosome (the second X chromosome in females, which is typically silenced) that differ from what we see in other tissues. We found that DNA methylation on the X chromosome is affected by the cell composition of placental samples, especially trophoblast cells, which are the first cells that contribute to the developing placenta. Interestingly, we observed that genes on the X chromosome in placenta sometimes have low gene expression without high levels of DNA methylation, which suggests that the rules of X chromosome inactivation may differ in the placenta as compared to other tissues. Our research provides insight into how X chromosome DNA methylation in the placenta may influence early development and sex differences before birth. Future studies will need to investigate how these patterns of DNA methylation arise, and what impact they have on prenatal development.

Authors: Amy M Inkster, Allison M Matthews, Tanya N Phung, Seema B Plaisier, Melissa A Wilson, Carolyn J Brown & Wendy P Robinson 

Published: 04 March 2025

Aims and scope

Biology of Sex Differences is unlike any other scientific journal: articles focus on sex differences in all aspects of an individual or organism. Everything from molecules to behavior and from studies of cellular function to clinical research studies are reported in this journal. Biology of Sex Differences aims to improve understanding of basic biological principles mediating sex differences and foster development of therapeutic and diagnostic tools that are sex-dependent. To the extent that gender influences biological outcomes, this journal also is interested in research addressing gender differences. Articles are expected to report results that directly compare sex/gender differences in the statistical analysis.

Biology of Sex Differences addresses a broad audience of readers. Articles are expected to report and discuss their findings using language that is accessible to non-specialists in the field, please minimize discipline-specific jargon. The Title and Abstract should be understandable to non-specialists. The novelty of the findings should be clear to all readers, non-experts as well as experts. To this end, the use of abbreviations should also be kept to a minimum. We now require a Plain English summary in addition to the Abstract.

Please refer to the “About” page for further details. Note also the changes to ‘Criteria’ that have been made including the requirement for 5 suggested reviewers included in the appropriate field during submission: https://bsd.biomedcentral.com/submission-guidelines

In your cover letter, please note two members of our Editorial Board to review your manuscript , dependent on the relevant expertise. In light of this, please ensure that there are no conflicts of interest.

Biology of Sex Differences is the official journal of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences, and a publication of the Society for Women's Health Research.

Watch for new special collections announcements coming soon!