About Biology Open
About us
Biology Open (BiO) is an online Open Access journal that publishes rigorous, high-quality research across the breadth of the biological and biomedical sciences. We provide timely, thorough, constructive and fair peer review, with a focus on supporting researchers and reducing the pain to publish.
Our international board of research-active academic Editors, led by Editor-in-Chief Daniel Gorelick, comprises leaders in their respective fields. The BiO team is committed to Open Access publishing as a mechanism to widen access, promote equality and ensure sustainability in publishing in the biological sciences.
BiO is committed to supporting and inspiring early-career researchers. We proudly display our First Person interviews on our homepage, provide funds to sponsor early-career meetings, and create career development opportunities through our Meeting Reviews and Future Leader Reviews programme.
BiO, together with The Company of Biologists, strives to ensure that the profits from the hard work of scientists inspire future scientific discovery and help develop the next generation of researchers. Surplus generated from publishing is returned by the Company to the community in the form of meeting grants, Travelling Fellowships and grants to scientific societies.
The Company of Biologists is committed to improving equity, diversity and inclusion in all our activities. We believe that diversity – in areas including but not limited to geography, ethnicity, gender and career stage – is essential for a community to thrive. As such, we aim to engage a broad and diverse group of authors, reviewers, editors, staff, readers, grant awardees and meeting participants. Find out more about our EDI activities to date, and our plans moving forward, on our EDI page.
Find out more about the aims and scope of BiO, how to submit to the journal, and our Open Access policies and charges.
Online ISSN 2046-6390
What BiO offers
- Submissions handled by expert academic Editors
- Format-free submission
- Competitive decision speeds
- Strong commitment at first decision – over 90% of invited revisions accepted
- Scoop protection
- Rapid publication, including advance posting of accepted articles.
- Open Access publication of all articles
- Altmetrics and usage statistics for all articles
- Integration with the reviewer recognition service hosted by Web of Science (previously Publons)
- Support for early-career development
- A tree planted for each published Research and Review article – ancient woodland protected for each completed peer review
- Not-for-profit publisher
- Read & Publish agreements for institutions and library consortia
BiO online
All BiO content is available online, and is fully browsable and searchable. All BiO papers are published as Open Access articles under the unrestrictive CC-BY license. BiO deposits all articles in PMC and PubMed for immediate release, on behalf of the authors.
BiO is also a participant of the LOCKSS/CLOCKSS project, an international community initiative through which libraries and publishers work together to preserve their digital content for the long-term.
Focus on biodiversity: The Forest of Biologists
The Forest of Biologists is a living and growing forest that has been created as part of a biodiversity initiative that celebrates author and reviewer contributions to the journals of The Company of Biologists. For every Research Article and Review-type article published in Biology Open a real tree is planted in new forest and a representation of that tree appears in a virtual forest. In addition to planting new trees, we are also funding the restoration and preservation of ancient woodland and dedicating these trees to our peer reviewers, who help us preserve the integrity of the scientific record. The Forest of Biologists, launched in 2023, is a symbol of the work of the biologists whose research and expertise fills our journal.
The Company of Biologists has chosen to work with the Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, focusing on the role that trees and woods play in tackling the threats of climate change and nature loss.
Read the Editorial to find out more about The Forest of Biologists.
Journal metrics
BiO is a signatory of the DORA declaration, which makes a number of recommendations for improving the way in which the quality of research output is evaluated (a useful guide on the responsible use of quantitative indicators in research assessment is available). In accordance with the recommendations, BiO uses a number of metrics that together can provide a rich view of the journal's performance. In addition, Altmetrics data and usage statistics are available for individual articles.
- 2023 Impact Factor: 1.8
- Five-year Impact Factor: 2.0
- Two-year citation median: 1
- Eigenfactor score: 0.00452
- Article Influence Score: 0.648
- Cited half-life: 6.2
- Immediacy index: 0.5
- h-index: 58
- Scopus CiteScore: 3.9
- SJR indicator: 0.758
- SNIP: 0.680
BiO is abstracted and/or indexed by (amongst others): Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS, CAB abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, Clarivate Analytics Web of Science, Medline, PMC, PubMed and Scopus. BiO is a member of OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association) and is indexed in the DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals).
BiO provides transparency around costs, APC pricing and publishing metrics in line with the Plan S Price and Transparency Framework developed by Information Power. More details can be found on our transparent metrics page.
Last updated: 9 December 2024
