EDITORIAL POLICY Protistology, An International Journal is one of the five "organism-oriented" journals for researchers of protistan world. It publishes manuscripts on the whole spectrum of lower Eukaryote cells including protozoans, lower algae and lower fungi. Modern Protistology is a biological science studying these tiny living creatures which are more diverse and abundant than other organisms. Protists are ubiquitous; they play pivotal roles in the ecosystems and can be of utmost importance for humans, particularly as pathogenic agents. The aim of the journal is to inform the broad scientific community on the results of innovative research in Protistology. The Journal accepts original papers (experimental and theoretical contributions), full-size review papers, short topical reviews (which are supposed to be somewhat "provocative" for setting up new hypotheses), rapid short communications, book reviews, symposia materials, historical materials, obituary notices on famous scientists, letters to the Editor, comments on and replies to published papers, and chronicles which present information about past and future scientific meetings, conferences etc. Protistology is an Open Access peer-reviewed journal which is published both on-line and as hard-copy version, to provide maximal availability of published materials for researchers. Accepted papers appear on-line in PDF format before the final version is available in print. Authors of the original and review papers are requested to provide suggestions for referees who have got publications in the field of the submitted article during the recent 3 years. Comments are not refereed; however, they may be selected and edited prior to publication, or rejected if considered inappropriate by the Editors. The Journal processing is carried out by the Strategic Editorial Team (SET) which is composed of the Editor-in-Chief and three Deputy Editors. SET is assisted by other members of the Editorial Board who are involved in providing focused and timely refereeing and participate actively in maintaining high quality of our Journal in every aspect. Referees' comments to manuscripts are archived by SET and kept during 5 years. Protistology is included in the catalogue of the Russian Scientific Electronic Library ( http://elibrary.ru/ ) and the International database Ulrich's Periodicals Directory ( http://www.ulrichsweb.com/ ). Protozoological Society affiliated with the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Penza State Pedagogical University co-sponsor the Journal.