Journal profile · MICROBIOLOGY
Microbiome
ISSN 2049-2618 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Founded 2013
Microbiome: CAS Zone 1 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 14.82; fully open access; APC about USD 5,190; median 191 days to acceptance (99 articles, last 24 months); 305 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Microbiome is published by BioMed Central and is in Zone 1 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Gut microbiota and health, Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology and Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies, together about 48.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Microbiome: The scope of the journal encompasses studies of microbiomes colonizing humans, animals, plants or the environment, both built and natural or manipulated, as in agriculture. Studies on the development and application of meta-omics approaches or novel bioinformatics tools, on community/host interaction with emphasis on structure-function relationship that would lead to substantial advances in the field will be considered for publication. Microbiome is especially interested in studies that go beyond descriptive omics surveys and include experimental or theoretical approaches that mechanistically support proposed microbiome functions, and establish, if possible, cause and effect relationships. Studies of individual microbial isolates/species in vivo or in laboratory cultures without exploring the mechanisms by which they affect the complex microbiome structures and functions will not be considered. Through this collection of literature Microbiome hopes to integrate researchers with common scientific objectives across a broad cross-section of sub-disciplines within microbial ecology. Microbiome works closely with its sister journals Environmental Microbiome and Animal Microbiome, and with BMC Microbiology. If a submission is more appropriate for one of these journals, the opportunity to transfer the manuscript files to these journal will be offered. BEFORE YOU SUBMIT: Please read the Aims & Scope, our Editorial A blueprint for contempory studies of microbiomes, and the Submission Guidelines carefully, particularly in relation to Microbiome's data availability policies. Please note that the Journal does not consider unsolicited Reviews.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): MICROBIOLOGY
Editor-in-chief Jacques RavelPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 49 in mainland China (about 18%); most named United States 86, Mainland China 49, United Kingdom 32, Germany 20, Canada 12 (276 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 Biology30.2%
- Microbial Community Ecology and PhysiologyEnvironmental Science12%
- Genomics and Phylogenetic StudiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.9%
- Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens researchMedicine5.2%
- Bacteriophages and microbial interactionsEnvironmental Science5%
- Probiotics and Fermented FoodsAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.5%
- Plant-Microbe Interactions and ImmunityAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.1%
- Oral microbiology and periodontitis researchDentistry2.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Microbiology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Microbiology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Microbiology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEEmbaseCASCAB AbstractsPublisher 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
- 14.82LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 14.9Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 18.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 23LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 4.17LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.85LetPub ·
- h-index
- 50LetPub ·
- h-index
- 238OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,981OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 15.09OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 284LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 5,300,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,542 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 239 | 239 | 286 |
| 2025 | 305 | 305 | 3,471 |
| 2024 | 277 | 277 | 8,633 |
| 2023 | 277 | 277 | 12,623 |
| 2022 | 247 | 247 | 17,984 |
| 2021 | 245 | 245 | 26,587 |
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
191 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 127 days – 251 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 42 days (99 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 241 days
- Sample
- 99 articles with submission and acceptance dates (641 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 4 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 24 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 4 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Unspecified 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 4,290 / USD 5,190 / GBP 3,590 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 4,990 / EUR 4,090 / GBP 3,490 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 3,290 / USD 4,690 / EUR 3,790 | 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)
Open calls for papers2, by deadline
Publisher websiteExcerpts 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
- 2013
- ISSN
- 2049-2618
- 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 Microbiome
What CAS zone is Microbiome in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Microbiome is in Zone 1 of Biology, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Microbiology; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Microbiome?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 14.82; CiteScore 23, h-index 238.
How long does peer review take at Microbiome?
Based on the dates recorded on 99 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 191 days (interquartile range 127–251 days); authors report an average review time of about 4 weeks. 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 Microbiome based?
Of the 276 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 49 (about 18%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (86), Mainland China (49) and United Kingdom (32). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Microbiome?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Microbiome is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, Embase, CAS and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Microbiome open access, and what is the APC?
Microbiome is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 5,190.
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: .