About this Special Issue

Submission deadlines

Manuscript Summary Submission Deadline 31 May 2025 | Manuscript Submission Deadline 1 October 2025

Background

As the world’s population ages, the rising number of elderly transplant recipients, coupled with the growing demand for organs from older donors, presents significant challenges for transplantation medicine which urge for novel considerations for both donor and recipient eligibility. While older organs hold considerable potential to help address the shortage of donor organs, they are more frequently discarded due to physiological and immunological aspects. Aged recipients in turn were shown to exhibit less pronounced allo-immune responses while being at risk for augmented side effects of immunosuppressive therapies and infections. Furthermore, increasing evidence suggests a biological interplay of the graft and recipient organism affected by age discrepancies. Collectively, ageing displays one of the most crucial risk factors for transplant outcomes and has emerged as one of the fastest growing research fields within recent years.

Therefore, we are pleased to announce the forthcoming special issue Silver Linings: Navigating the Challenges and Opportunities in an Ageing Population at Transplant International, aiming to explore the multifaceted challenges and opportunities associated with ageing populations in the context of organ transplantation.

We invite researchers, clinicians, and experts in the fields of transplant medicine, immunology, geriatrics, epidemiology, and related disciplines to contribute original research articles, reviews, and case studies that address:

· Ageing Biology and its relevance for graft function and outcomes
· Demographic trends and their impact on transplant supply and demand
· Immunosenescence and its implications for transplant outcomes and rejection risks
· Age-related changes in immune response and how they affect immunosuppressive therapies
· Strategies for optimizing transplantation in older adults, including donor-recipient matching and post-transplant care
· Ethical and policy considerations surrounding transplantation in ageing populations

Submissions will undergo peer review and if accepted, will be published in Transplant International.

Important
As a Gold open access journal, all submissions are subject to publishing fees. Fee solutions are available on a case-by-case basis, including a number of Institutional Agreements as well as for ESOT members who qualify for a 40% discount on category A and category B article types. Please contact the editorial office if you have any questions.

Please see the following pages for:
Publishing Fees
Author Guidelines

Article types and fees

This Special Issue accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Special Issue description:

Brief Research Report
Consensus Report
Editorial
Executive Summary
Forum
Guidelines
In Memoriam
Letter to the Editor
Meeting Report

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.