Journal Guides7 min readUpdated Mar 25, 2026

Is Cell Host & Microbe Indexed in PubMed? Yes, and MEDLINE Is Active

Cell Host & Microbe is indexed in PubMed and currently indexed for MEDLINE, which matters because host-pathogen papers often need to reach immunology, microbiology, and microbiome readers together.

Associate Professor, Immunology & Infectious Disease

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Specializes in manuscript preparation and peer review strategy for immunology and infectious disease research, with 10+ years evaluating submissions to top-tier journals.

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Quick answer: yes. Cell Host & Microbe is indexed in PubMed, and the NLM Catalog shows that it is currently indexed for MEDLINE.

Direct answer

If you publish in Cell Host & Microbe, your article is discoverable in PubMed and sits inside the active MEDLINE system.

The NLM record shows:

  • publication start year: 2007
  • PubMed coverage from volume 1, issue 1
  • MEDLINE coverage from volume 1, issue 1
  • current indexing status: Currently indexed for MEDLINE
  • current subset: Index Medicus

That is a clean indexing record from launch onward.

Why this matters for Cell Host & Microbe

This is an interface journal. Its strongest papers often matter to more than one audience at once:

  • host-pathogen biologists
  • immunologists
  • infection biologists
  • microbiome researchers
  • translational infection readers

Those readers do not always browse the same journals, but they do converge on PubMed when they search by pathogen, host response, immune mechanism, colonization logic, or tissue biology. Indexing matters because it helps the paper travel across those adjacent communities.

PubMed versus MEDLINE

For this journal, the distinction is simple but useful:

  • PubMed means papers are discoverable in the biomedical search workflow many of those readers already use.
  • MEDLINE means the journal is actively included in the curated NLM journal index rather than simply surfacing through some other route.

For a selective host-microbe journal, that combination supports cross-field discoverability in a very practical way.

What indexing does and does not tell you

This page answers the discoverability question. It does not answer the harder editorial-fit question.

Indexing tells you the paper will be visible. It does not tell you whether the manuscript is integrated enough, mechanistic enough, or broad enough for a Cell Host & Microbe audience.

That is why the better next reads are:

Practical verdict

Yes, Cell Host & Microbe is indexed in PubMed and currently indexed for MEDLINE. If your question is whether a published paper will be visible inside the biomedical search system, the answer is clearly yes.

If your real question is whether the paper belongs in this journal, that is a separate judgment about host-microbe integration and field consequence. A free Manusights scan is the best next step if you want that call before submission.

References

Sources

  1. 1. Cell Host & Microbe NLM Catalog record, NLM.
  2. 2. NLM Catalog help: current indexing status, NLM.

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