[2] The founding editors were Walter Fitch and Masatoshi Nei; the present editors-in-chief are Brandon Gaut and Claudia Russo.

MBE publishes patterns and processes that impact the evolution of life at molecular levels, across a full breadth of taxonomy, genomic organization, and functions, forms, and phenotypes.

MBE's Methods, Resource, and Protocol sections include research tools that enable discoveries, while the Reviews and Perspectives synthesize different aspects of the evolutionary thought.

Decisions to publish are made by the Board of Editors, led by the Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) that oversee processing and set the direction of the journal.

The board also includes Associate Editors (AEs) who solicit peer reviews and make an initial recommendation and the Senior Editors (SEs) who make the final recommendation that lead to the decision for each manuscript.