Journal profile · Microbiology
BMC Microbiology
ISSN 1471-2180 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Monthly · Founded 2001
BMC Microbiology: CAS Zone 2 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.34; fully open access; APC about USD 3,090; median 118 days to acceptance (197 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 900 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
BMC Microbiology 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 Gut microbiota and health, Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria and Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology, together about 26.7% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
BMC Microbiology is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of microbiology, covering bacteria, archaea, algae and fungi, viruses, unicellular parasites and helminths. The journal considers studies on all aspects of the biology and biochemistry of microorganisms including but not limited to cell biology, genomics, signaling, the interaction of the microbes with the environment and host, mechanistic and functional insights into infection and disease, and biotechnological applications in science and industry. The journal welcomes manuscripts in the following broad sub-topics of microbiology: Applied microbiology and microbial biotechnology including studies relating to the application of microbiology, including environmental applications, soil degradation and bioremediation, food safety and degradation, and probiotics. It also includes studies on bacteria and yeasts: genetic manipulation, bioproduction, fermentation, metabolic engineering and downstream processing, bioremediation and biodegradation, biocatalysis and biofilms, and also environmental applications among other uses and applications. Clinical microbiology and vaccines including studies on all aspects of clinical microbiology, including virology, epidemiology, antimicrobial resistance, vaccines and immune responses, from a pathogen angle rather than a reaction from the host. This section also considers AMR epidemiological studies. Ecological and evolutionary microbiology including studies on all aspects of ecological and evolutionary microbiology, including microbial ecology, ecosystems, biodiversity, evolution, population genetics, phylogenetics, microbial communities and biofilms, marine and freshwater microbiology. Microbe-host interactions and microbial pathogenicity including studies on microbe-host interactions and pathogenicity, including pathogenic mechanisms, virulence factors, host invasion, immune evasion and the effect on the pathogen, effect of immunity on the pathogen, and symbiotic interactions. Microbial biochemistry, physiology and metabolism including studies on microbial biochemistry, physiology and metabolism, including enzymology, metabolic pathways and regulation, growth, development and stress responses. It also includes microbial cell biology. Microbial biotechnology including aspects of manipulation of microbes for their use in research, clinic and industry. Microbial genetics, genomics and proteomics including studies on all aspects of
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Microbiology
Editorial board by country: 112 in mainland China (about 18%); most named Mainland China 112, India 94, United States 82, Italy 33, Egypt 24 (617 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Gut microbiota and healthBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology9.8%
- Antibiotic Resistance in BacteriaBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology8.5%
- Bacterial Genetics and BiotechnologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology8.4%
- Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensingBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology7.4%
- Probiotics and Fermented FoodsAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.9%
- Escherichia coli research studiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.7%
- Antimicrobial Resistance in StaphylococcusMedicine4.3%
- Vibrio bacteria research studiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.3%
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 | Microbiology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Microbiology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Microbiology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
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
- 5.34LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 1.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.14LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.25LetPub ·
- h-index
- 94LetPub ·
- h-index
- 183OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 5,008OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.22OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.84%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 894LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 7,849 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,059 | 1,059 | 325 |
| 2025 | 900 | 900 | 4,035 |
| 2024 | 552 | 552 | 6,234 |
| 2023 | 405 | 405 | 7,256 |
| 2022 | 325 | 325 | 7,453 |
| 2021 | 353 | 353 | 10,324 |
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
118 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 84 days – 171 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 12 days (197 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 139 days
- Sample
- 197 articles with submission and acceptance dates (2,105 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 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 18 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous 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 2,690 / USD 3,090 / GBP 2,390 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,990 / EUR 2,590 / GBP 2,290 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,190 / USD 2,890 / EUR 2,490 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,390 / USD 3,090 / EUR 2,690 | — | — |
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)
What to prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
Article types accepted6
- commentResearch article Database article Software article Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- database articleResearch article Database article Software article Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- matters arisingResearch article Database article Software article Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- research articleResearch article Database article Software article Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- reviewResearch article Database article Software article Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- software articleResearch article Database article Software article Review Matters Arising CommentLength 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
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. BMC Microbiology articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Co…
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 policy Model summary
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
- Monthly
- Founded
- 2001
- ISSN
- 1471-2180
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about BMC Microbiology
What CAS zone is BMC Microbiology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, BMC Microbiology is in Zone 2 of Biology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Microbiology. 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 BMC Microbiology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.34; CiteScore 6.5, h-index 183.
How long does peer review take at BMC Microbiology?
Based on the dates recorded on 197 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 118 days (interquartile range 84–171 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”. 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.
What are the manuscript requirements of BMC Microbiology?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Author–date; Templates: LaTeX and Word. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of BMC Microbiology based?
Of the 617 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 112 (about 18%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (112), India (94) and United States (82). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index BMC Microbiology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, BMC Microbiology is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is BMC Microbiology open access, and what is the APC?
BMC Microbiology is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,090.
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: .