Journal profile · Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Engineering in Life Sciences
ISSN 1618-0240 · eISSN 1618-2863 · Wiley-VCH Verlag · GERMANY · Bimonthly · Founded 2001
Engineering in Life Sciences: CAS Zone 3 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.14; fully open access; APC about USD 3,630; median 165 days to acceptance (71 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 80%; 85 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus; the journal's website says it has moved to a new publisher.
The journal's website says it has moved to a new publisher: As of Mar 30 th, 2026, Engineering in Life Sciences will no longer be published by Wiley. More information can be found on the new publisher's website: https://www.maxapress.com/els. Source ↗Publisher website ·
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Engineering in Life Sciences is published by Wiley-VCH Verlag and is in Zone 3 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction, Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects and Biofuel production and bioconversion, together about 27.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology and Biomedical Engineering. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Engineering in Life Sciences integrates innovations in technology and basic biology. The journal focuses on bioprocess and biochemical engineering, as well as applied biotechnology. Limited resources and energy shortage, as well as global climate change, require fundamental innovations to effectively produce chemicals, fuels and materials from renewable resources. Furthermore, the increasing healthcare costs and the huge potential of personalized medicine call for new concepts and tools in biomanufacturing of pharmaceuticals. Engineering in Life Sciences addresses these needs and provides an interdisciplinary forum to support innovation in Biotechnological production systems Bioprocess engineering (upstream and downstream processing) Applications in the production of chemicals, food and pharmaceuticals, biofuels as well as biomedicine. Biotechnological production systems include any type of microbes, bacteria as well as fungi, plant cell and plant organ cultures, algae, mammalian cells and stem cells. Of particular interest are hosts optimized by metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, as well as other innovative production concepts, such as cell-free systems, enzyme cascades, integrated chemo-bioproduction processes, and electro-biotechnological systems. Bioprocess engineering involves bioreactor design and operation, modelling and control, high-throughput technology and miniaturized systems; bioprocess monitoring and analysis including bioanalytics; scale-up/down; and downstream processing. Engineering analysis of organisms is also of interest, including systems biology approaches and single-cell dynamics. Applications with a strong focus on industrial biotechnology are key to the journal's scope. These include bioenergy, e.g. biofuels and biogas, biocatalysis, biomaterials and bioplastics, as well as synthesis of high and low-value chemicals. In addition, the journal focusses on biopharmaceutical production, engineering concepts for biosensors and bio-diagnostics, micro- and nanotechnology, and innovative concepts for environmental and medical biotechnology. Out of scope Engineering in Life Sciences will not consider submissions consisting of marginal advancements and narrow application potential, such as medium and fermentation optimization without technical novelty, biosorption and biodegradation studies without presentation of an innovative method or insights into the mechanism, and cloning and characterization studies without functional data or
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Editor-in-chief Thomas BleyPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 50%); most named Mainland China 2, Germany 2 (4 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Microbial Metabolic Engineering and BioproductionBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology11.1%
- Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in InsectsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology8.8%
- Biofuel production and bioconversionEngineering7.6%
- Enzyme Catalysis and ImmobilizationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology7%
- Diverse Scientific and Economic StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5.2%
- Algal biology and biofuel productionEnergy5%
- Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical ResearchBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.7%
- Protein purification and stabilityBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EI CompendexWeb of ScienceCASCAB AbstractsPublisher website
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
- 4.14LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8.2LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.88LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.03LetPub ·
- h-index
- 45LetPub ·
- h-index
- 90OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,139OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.16OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 53LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,528 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 37 | 37 | 25 |
| 2025 | 85 | 85 | 186 |
| 2024 | 61 | 61 | 185 |
| 2023 | 71 | 71 | 469 |
| 2022 | 91 | 91 | 1,166 |
| 2021 | 110 | 110 | 1,790 |
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
165 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 105 days – 225 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 27 days (71 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 198 days
- Sample
- 71 articles with submission and acceptance dates (101 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)
- 80%LetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 17 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 2,810 / GBP 2,660 / USD 3,630 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,300 / EUR 2,920 / GBP 2,660 | — | — |
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 accepted2
- reviewReviewLength not stated
- short communicationShort CommunicationLength not stated
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
- Wiley-VCH Verlag
- Country or region
- GERMANY
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 2001
- ISSN
- 1618-0240
- Electronic ISSN
- 1618-2863
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 26, Issue 4 (April 2026)
- 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 Engineering in Life Sciences
What CAS zone is Engineering in Life Sciences in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Engineering in Life Sciences is in Zone 3 of Biology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Engineering in Life Sciences?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.14; CiteScore 8.2, h-index 90.
How long does peer review take at Engineering in Life Sciences?
Based on the dates recorded on 71 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 165 days (interquartile range 105–225 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 80%”. 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 Engineering in Life Sciences based?
Of the 4 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 50%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (2) and Germany (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Engineering in Life Sciences?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Engineering in Life Sciences is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists EI Compendex, Web of Science, CAS and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Engineering in Life Sciences open access, and what is the APC?
Engineering in Life Sciences is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,630.
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: .