About us
Biology Open (BiO) is an online author-pays Open Access journal that publishes peer-reviewed original research in all areas of the biological and biomedical sciences. It is a requirement for consideration at BiO that the work addresses a clearly stated, non-trivial, biological hypothesis. Editors will also consider Methods & Techniques papers, papers on computational analysis, replication studies, and rigorous reports presenting negative results. It is published by The Company of Biologists, a not-for-profit publishing organisation dedicated to supporting and inspiring the biological community.
BiO does not consider articles in pure physics, chemistry, engineering, earth sciences, clinical studies, surgical procedures, public health, and homeopathy, complementary or alternative medicine.
Since its launch in 2011, BiO has published more than 1100 peer-reviewed papers that have been accepted on the basis that they are technically sound and their conclusions are supported by the data shown – rather than on the perceived importance of the findings.
The scope of BiO reflects The Company of Biologists' acknowledged expertise in cell, developmental, experimental and translational biology, and reaches further to support research communities across all aspects of the biological and biomedical sciences. Authors are encouraged to submit their work directly to BiO for consideration by an international board of research-active academic Editors led by Editor-in-Chief Steven Kelly, and Deputy Editors Jack Hayes, Cathy Jackson and Yishi Jin.
BiO also extends the service delivered by our sister journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology and Disease Models & Mechanisms. Papers rejected from these journals can be transferred to BiO, strictly with the authors' approval, via a simple one-click manuscript transfer option. We believe this helps the author community by providing a welcoming home for their papers and helping to avoid additional rounds of formatting, submission and review.
What BiO offers
- Submissions handled by expert academic Editors
- Competitive decision speeds
- Preprint-friendly policies
- Format-free submission
- Easy one-click transfer option from other Company journals
- Strong commitment at first decision – over 95% of invited revisions accepted
- Rapid publication, including advance posting of accepted articles
- Open Access publication of all articles – easy online payment system
- Wide international readership
- Altmetrics and usage statistics for all articles
- Post-publication commenting option
- Strong ethical approach to publishing best practice
- Simple solutions for data sharing and access
- Two-way integration with bioRxiv
- Not-for-profit publisher
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. 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.
- Impact Factor: 2.217
- Five-year Impact Factor: 2.318
- Two-year citation median: 2.0
- Eigenfactor score: 0.0106
- Article Influence Score: 0.937
- Cited half-life: 3.2
- Immediacy index: 0.260
The distribution of citations in 2017 to citable items published in 2015 and 2016.
- Scopus CiteScore: 2.26
- h index: 27
- SJR indicator: 1.451
- SNIP: 0.69
BiO is abstracted and/or indexed by (amongst others): Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS, CAB abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, Clarivate Analytics Web of Science, 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).
Online ISSN 2046-6390
Supporting our community
BiO is a journal that strives to support the members and research of the biological sciences community. It was launched with the aim of addressing some pressing issues in publishing. The Directors of The Company of Biologists, practising scientists, saw a problem for some authors finding homes for papers that were sound, but lacked perceived impact. They also wished to address the issue of reviewer fatigue in the community.
In an in-depth survey of authors, we found:
- 64% of authors were concerned about the speed of peer review and publication
- 56% of authors felt publication delays harmed their paper's impact
- 61% of cell science authors face significant challenges finding a home for their papers
The journal supports the community not only through the rapid publication of sound research, but also through other means, such as sponsoring international meetings and workshops in the field. For example, BiO sponsors Keystone Symposia, Gordon Conferences and EMBO workshops, as well as supporting speakers to attend international meetings. It is published by The Company of Biologists – a not-for-profit organisation that provides a range of awards and charitable grants.
BiO online
All BiO's content is available online, and is fully browsable and searchable. All BiO papers are published as Open Access articles under the unrestrictive CC-BY licence. BiO deposits all articles in PMC 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.