Parasitology

Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life. This means it forms a synthesis of other disciplines, and draws on techniques from fields such as cell biology, bioinformatics, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, genetics, evolution and ecology.

Fields

The study of these diverse organisms means that the subject is often broken up into simpler, more focused units, which use common techniques, even if they are not studying the same organisms or diseases. Much research in parasitology falls somewhere between two or more of these definitions. In general, the study of prokaryotes falls under the field of bacteriology rather than parasitology.

Medical parasitology

"Humans are hosts to nearly 300 species of parasitic worms and over 70 species of protozoa, some derived from our primate ancestors and some acquired from the animals we have domesticated or come in contact with during our relatively short history on Earth".

Parasitology (journal)

Parasitology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the area of parasitology, including the biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, ecology and epidemiology of eukaryotic parasites, and the relationship between the host and the parasite. It is published fourteen times a year by Cambridge University Press and was established in 1908. The editor-in-chief is R. Stephen Phillips (University of Glasgow).

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed by:

According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2013 impact factor of 2.350, ranking it 13th out of 36 journals in the category "Parasitology".