Journal profile · Biology
Biology Direct
ISSN 1745-6150 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Irregular · Founded 2006
Biology Direct: CAS Zone 2 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.53; fully open access; APC about USD 2,990; median 72 days to acceptance (114 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 85%; 125 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Biology Direct is published by BioMed Central and is in Zone 2 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies, RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms and Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis, together about 24.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Biology Direct is an open access, peer reviewed journal devoted to the biochemistry, genetics, cell, molecular, and computational biology of organisms and cells. It deals with all aspects of life sciences that have relevant biological and medical implications. Biology Direct will also place an emphasis on translational and applied research and will provide a unified forum open to the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. It is committed to the rapid publication of high-quality original papers together with topical - usually solicited – review papers, meeting reports, discussion forums, editorial correspondence and occasional commentaries on controversial and scientifically informative issues.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Biology
Editor-in-chief Tito CaliPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Italy 16, United States 6, United Kingdom 3, Slovenia 2, Germany 1 (31 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Genomics and Phylogenetic StudiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology8.3%
- RNA and protein synthesis mechanismsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology8.2%
- Ferroptosis and cancer prognosisMedicine7.8%
- Cancer-related molecular mechanisms researchBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.3%
- Bacterial Genetics and BiotechnologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5%
- RNA modifications and cancerBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5%
- Origins and Evolution of LifePhysics and Astronomy4.9%
- Bioinformatics and Genomic NetworksBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Biology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Biology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Biology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINECASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 5.53LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.5Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.26LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.84LetPub ·
- h-index
- 59LetPub ·
- h-index
- 103OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 757OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.03OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 119LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 1,200,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,374 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 262 | 262 | 76 |
| 2025 | 125 | 125 | 622 |
| 2024 | 147 | 147 | 1,456 |
| 2023 | 86 | 86 | 1,515 |
| 2022 | 41 | 41 | 800 |
| 2021 | 27 | 27 | 1,061 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with Crossref · to
72 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 47 days – 110 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 10 days (114 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 91 days
- Sample
- 114 articles with submission and acceptance dates (447 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 7 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 85%LetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 4 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 9 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Open peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | EUR 2,590 / USD 2,990 / GBP 2,290 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,890 / EUR 2,490 / GBP 2,190 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,090 / USD 2,790 / EUR 2,390 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,290 / USD 2,990 / EUR 2,590 | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
Article types accepted4
- commentFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Review Comment HypothesisLength not stated
- hypothesisFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Review Comment HypothesisLength not stated
- researchFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Review Comment HypothesisLength not stated
- reviewFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Review Comment HypothesisLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY licence; authors retain copyright. Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. Biology Direct articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Comm…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions. Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research metho…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- BioMed Central
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Irregular
- Founded
- 2006
- ISSN
- 1745-6150
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Biology Direct
What CAS zone is Biology Direct in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Biology Direct is in Zone 2 of Biology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Biology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Biology Direct?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.53; CiteScore 6.4, h-index 103.
How long does peer review take at Biology Direct?
Based on the dates recorded on 114 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 72 days (interquartile range 47–110 days); authors report an average review time of about 7 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 85%”. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Where are the editorial board members of Biology Direct based?
Of the 31 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Italy (16), United States (6) and United Kingdom (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Biology Direct?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Biology Direct is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Biology Direct open access, and what is the APC?
Biology Direct is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,990.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .