Journal profile · Immunology and Microbiology-Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
Microbial Biotechnology
ISSN 1751-7915 · John Wiley and Sons Ltd · United Kingdom
Microbial Biotechnology: CAS Zone 2 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 6.72; fully open access; APC about USD 4,260; median 94 days to acceptance (100 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 29% (journal website); 251 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Microbial Biotechnology is published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd 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 Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction, Biofuel production and bioconversion and Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology, together about 26.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Microbial Biotechnology publishes papers of original research reporting significant advances in any aspect of microbial applications, including, but not limited to biotechnologies related to: Green chemistry Primary metabolites Food, beverages and supplements Secondary metabolites and natural products Pharmaceuticals Diagnostics Agriculture Bioenergy Biomining, including oil recovery and processing Bioremediation Biopolymers, biomaterials Bionanotechnology Biosurfactants and bioemulsifiers Compatible solutes and bioprotectants Biosensors, monitoring systems, quantitative microbial risk assessment Technology development Protein engineering Functional genomics Metabolic engineering Metabolic design Systems analysis, modelling Process engineering Biologically-based analytical methods Microbially-based strategies in public health Microbially-based strategies to influence global processes The types of articles to be published are: Research Articles Brief Reports Rapid Communications Reviews Minireviews Genomics Update Netwatch Editorials Correspondence In addition, other items relating to the journal content and biotechnological applicability will be regularly featured. Special Issues Each year, one or two issues will be Special Issues devoted to particularly topical subjects, and edited by expert guest editors.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Immunology and Microbiology-Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
Editor-in-chief Juan-Luis RamosPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 13%); most named Spain 4, Mainland China 2, United States 2, United Kingdom 2, Hong Kong, China 1 (15 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 Biology12.3%
- Biofuel production and bioconversionEngineering7.3%
- Microbial Community Ecology and PhysiologyEnvironmental Science6.8%
- Gut microbiota and healthBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.1%
- Bacterial Genetics and BiotechnologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.4%
- Plant-Microbe Interactions and ImmunityAgricultural and Biological Sciences5%
- Bacteriophages and microbial interactionsEnvironmental Science4.9%
- Probiotics and Fermented FoodsAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.7%
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 | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | 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 | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Microbiology | Zone 3 |
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 | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Microbiology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceMEDLINEPubMedCASCAB 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
- 6.72LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 6.7Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 9.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 9.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 9.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.39LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.08LetPub ·
- h-index
- 48LetPub ·
- h-index
- 139OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,771OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 7.16OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 199LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 213Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 1,114,351Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,168 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 163 | 163 | 86 |
| 2025 | 251 | 251 | 1,257 |
| 2024 | 259 | 259 | 3,478 |
| 2023 | 187 | 187 | 3,078 |
| 2022 | 227 | 227 | 4,290 |
| 2021 | 258 | 258 | 7,149 |
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
94 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 52 days – 136 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 17 days (100 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 118 days
- Sample
- 100 articles with submission and acceptance dates (444 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 15 weeksLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 29%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 29%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 15 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 15 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 96 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 18 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 15 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 | USD 4,260 / GBP 2,660 / EUR 3,060 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 4,260 / EUR 3,060 / GBP 2,660 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 3,520 / GBP 2,200 / EUR 2,530 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Author–date
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Highlights
- Required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted10
- brief reports• Brief ReportsLength not stated
- correspondence• CorrespondenceLength not stated
- highlights• HighlightsLength not stated
- lilliput hot topics• Lilliput Hot TopicsLength not stated
- mini-reviews• Mini-ReviewsLength not stated
- opinion articles• Opinion ArticlesLength not stated
- patent trends• Patent TrendsLength not stated
- research articles• Research ArticlesLength not stated
- reviews• ReviewsLength not stated
- web alerts• Web AlertsLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Author contributions (CRediT)
This journal requires details of all authors’ contributions to the work by providing CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy) information during submission.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of Interest
MBT requires that all authors disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise, that might be perceived as influencing an author’s objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or indirectly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. Potential s…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Sharing and Data Availability
Data sharing required Model summary
This journal expects data sharing. Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics 4. Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations
Author contributions (CRediT) This journal requires details of all authors’ contributions to the work by providing CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy) information during submission. This information provided will be used to automatically generate an author contribution statement that will be published with the final article. You can learn more about CRediT and read an explanation of contribution …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access Agreement
ORCID required for corresponding authors Model summary
You will be prompted to sign the Open Access Agreement electronically after manuscript review and acceptance. We have introduced a convenient new process for signing your Open Access Agreement electronically (eOAA) that will save you considerable time and effort. If your paper is accepted, the author identified as the formal corresponding author for the paper will receive an email prompting them t…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review
Single-blind peer review Model summary
This journal operates under a single-blind peer review model. Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements. In-house submissions, i.e. papers authored by Editors or Editorial Board members of the title, will be sent to Editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprints allowed Model summary
Microbial Biotechnology will consider for review articles previously available as preprints on non-commercial servers such as ArXiv, bioRxiv, psyArXiv, SocArXiv, engrXiv, etc. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article. Authors may also post the final published version of the article immediately after publication.
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
- John Wiley and Sons Ltd
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1751-7915
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 19, Issue 9 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- 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 ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Microbial Biotechnology
What CAS zone is Microbial Biotechnology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Microbial Biotechnology is in Zone 2 of Biology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology / 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 Microbial Biotechnology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 6.72; CiteScore 9.4, h-index 139.
How long does peer review take at Microbial Biotechnology?
Based on the dates recorded on 100 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 94 days (interquartile range 52–136 days); authors report an average review time of about 15 weeks; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 29% (2025). 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 Microbial Biotechnology?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Author–date; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Highlights: Required; Cover letter: Required. 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 Microbial Biotechnology based?
Of the 15 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 13%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Spain (4), Mainland China (2) and United States (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Microbial Biotechnology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Microbial Biotechnology is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, CAS and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Microbial Biotechnology open access, and what is the APC?
Microbial Biotechnology is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 4,260.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, DOAJ; 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .