Journal profile · MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES
GigaScience
ISSN 2047-217X · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Founded 2012
GigaScience: CAS Zone 2 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.95; fully open access; APC about USD 2,638; median 198 days to acceptance (95 articles, last 24 months); 170 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
GigaScience 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, Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics and Chromosomal and Genetic Variations, together about 36.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
GigaScience is an open access, open data, open peer-review journal focusing on ‘big data’ research from the life and biomedical sciences. GigaScience is GigaScience Press’ (the Open Access and Open Data Publishing division of BGI) and OUP’s flagship Open Science journal, leading the way in moving scientific communication beyond Open Access. Our in-house Editorial and Curation teams provide a single unified service to make published research and all of the supporting data, code, and methods open and stably shared. Built upon the principles of open and FAIR data; reproducibility, usability and utility are our key criteria for publication. Showcasing an “integrated publishing” model, GigaScience provides researchers an Open Science solution to meet the new global standards and policies for sharing research outputs.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES
Editor-in-chief Xun XuPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 15 in mainland China (about 100%); most named Mainland China 15 (15 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 Biology25.8%
- Single-cell and spatial transcriptomicsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.6%
- Chromosomal and Genetic VariationsAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.2%
- Bioinformatics and Genomic NetworksBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.2%
- Scientific Computing and Data ManagementDecision Sciences5.2%
- Genomics and Rare DiseasesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.4%
- Cell Image Analysis TechniquesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.3%
- Gene expression and cancer classificationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology3.6%
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 | Multidisciplinary Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Multidisciplinary Sciences | Zone 3 |
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 | Multidisciplinary Sciences | 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
MEDLINEPMCPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar
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
- 4.95LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.8LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.39LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.23LetPub ·
- h-index
- 32LetPub ·
- h-index
- 138OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,061OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 8.72OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 98.93%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 165LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,586 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 96 | 96 | 84 |
| 2025 | 170 | 170 | 1,107 |
| 2024 | 120 | 120 | 2,175 |
| 2023 | 12 | 12 | 134 |
| 2022 | 239 | 239 | 4,758 |
| 2021 | 105 | 105 | 23,831 |
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 PubMed · to
198 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 131 days – 247 days
- Acceptance to online
- —
- Submission to online
- —
- Sample
- 95 articles with submission and acceptance dates (280 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 1 weekLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 29 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 | USD 2,638 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,638 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 2,512 | Yes | — |
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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websitePublication ethics, Open access, Peer review
- Publication ethics Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
COPE member Model summary
This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) publicationethics.org
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Beyond Open Access: GigaScience is Your Open Science Solution
GigaScience is GigaScience Press’ (the Open Access and Open Data Publishing division of BGI) and OUP’s flagship Open Science journal, leading the way in moving scientific communication beyond Open Access. Our in-house Editorial and Curation teams provide a single unified service to make published research and all of the supporting data, code, and methods open and stably shared. Built upon the prin…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer-Review Policy
Peer-review is the system used to assess the quality of a manuscript before it is published. Independent researchers in the relevant research area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help editors determine whether the manuscript should be published in their journal. GigaScience operates a single-blind peer-review process, where the reviewers' names are not di…
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
- Founded
- 2012
- ISSN
- 2047-217X
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- 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 ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about GigaScience
What CAS zone is GigaScience in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, GigaScience is in Zone 2 of Biology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Multidisciplinary Sciences. 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 GigaScience?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.95; CiteScore 6.8, h-index 138.
How long does peer review take at GigaScience?
Based on the dates recorded on 95 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 198 days (interquartile range 131–247 days); authors report an average review time of about 1 week. 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 GigaScience based?
Of the 15 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 15 (about 100%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (15). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index GigaScience?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, GigaScience is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE and PMC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is GigaScience open access, and what is the APC?
GigaScience is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,638.
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 2026-08-24). Last updated: .