Intimate symbiotic relationships between species (e.g., between a larger ‘host' and a smaller ‘symbiont') span the range from mutualism to parasitism. The nature of a symbiotic relationship is not an intrinsic trait of the species involved, but rather the outcome of their interaction. Many symbiont species move along the mutualism–parasitism continuum depending on the environmental conditions. All this makes studying a single type of symbiotic interaction in isolation raise artificial walls in the study of host-symbiont relations. Parasitology is the leading specialized discipline in symbiosis research, although parasitology journals are bound to host-parasite relationships. This compromises the transfer of knowledge and tools among the researchers of different host-symbiont systems, although the knowledge gained on non-parasitic relationships is very relevant to understand parasitism relations, and vice versa. Opening the doors of parasitology journals to other symbionts would be a decisive first step for parasitologists to fully embrace the study of other symbionts. informacion[at]ebd.csic.es: Jovani et al (2017) Opening the doors of parasitology journals to other symbionts. Trends Parasitol DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2017.05.003