About Biology Open

Biology Open (BiO) is an online Open Access journal that publishes peer-reviewed research in all areas of biology. By focusing on the timely publication of good-quality sound research, without a requirement for perceived impact, BiO is designed to facilitate dialogue and build a valuable body of work that supports the efforts of the research community.

BiO was created in response to the ‘pain to publish’ experienced by authors. Many voiced frustration that some reviewers were stringently enforcing a journal’s requirement for impact, driving authors to perform additional experiments to satisfy these criteria. This meant there was often no place for sound articles that added to a scientific story, rather than changing it. From discussions grew the idea of a new
journal – BiO.

Sound articles that add to a scientific story, rather than changing it, are widely read by scientists who follow that story.

The aim of BiO, as stated by the Founding Editor-in-Chief, Jordan Raff, is a simple one: “making life easier for us all”. Editors of BiO are practising scientists, and are committed to establishing a strong sense of community with our authors, reviewers and readers. They give a rapid publication decision for articles across all aspects of the biological sciences. They are asked not to suggest additional experiments unless these are absolutely necessary to support the main conclusions of the paper. Review procedures are fast, simple, ethical and rigorous. It is up to the scientific community to decide, after publication, the importance of each paper.

Authors are encouraged to submit work of appropriate scope and focus directly to BiO. The journal also offers an easy online transfer system to authors whose papers were rejected by one of The Company of Biologists’ other journals – Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology or Disease Models & Mechanisms. Articles transferred with existing reviews usually avoid the need for further rounds of review. This system speeds up editorial decisions and reduces the number of reviewers involved in the reviewing of such papers. In addition, BiO has a similar agreement in place with the journal eLife.