BMC Biology
BMC Biology is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by BioMed Central, part of Springer Nature, appearing continuously without traditional volumes or issues. Fully open access since its founding, it is the flagship biology title of the BMC series and publishes original research and commissioned content across all areas of biology.《BMC 生物学》（''BMC Biology''''）是由生物医学中央出版社（BioMed Central，斯普林格自然旗下）出版的同行评审学术期刊，连续出版、不设传统卷期。该刊自创刊起即为完全开放获取，是 BMC 系列刊物的旗舰生物学刊，刊载生物全学科的原创研究与特邀内容。
Scope
The journal describes itself as a selective journal of the BMC series, in which in-house professional editors work with an editorial board of international experts to assess papers under a publication policy combining selection for broad interest and for importance. That framing explains how it differs from the rest of the series: the other titles divide the disciplines among themselves, while this one selects on impact rather than on subject area. Its principal subject areas include:本刊的官方定位是 BMC 系列中一份有选择性（selective）的生物学刊物，由出版社内部的专业编辑团队与国际专家编委会共同评估稿件，其出版政策强调「对广泛兴趣与重要性双重甄选」。这一定位解释了它与 BMC 系列其他刊物的差别：系列刊各有学科分工，而本刊按影响力而非学科归属取稿。收文覆盖的主要方向包括：[1]
- Molecular and cell biology: intracellular signalling pathways, the cytoskeleton and motility, and the cell cycle and division.分子与细胞生物学： 细胞内信号通路、细胞骨架与运动、细胞周期与分裂。
- Genetics and genomics: genetic regulation, genome stability, gene editing, and functional genomics.遗传学与基因组学： 遗传调控、基因组稳定性、基因编辑与功能基因组学。
- Developmental and regenerative biology: embryonic development, stem cells and regeneration, tissue engineering and organ formation.发育与再生生物学： 胚胎发育、干细胞与再生、组织工程与器官形成。
- Immunology and infection: mechanisms of immune response, pathogen biology, and host–pathogen interaction.免疫与感染： 免疫应答机制、病原体生物学、宿主-病原体互作。
- Neurobiology and behaviour: development and function of the nervous system, circuit mechanisms, and the biological basis of behaviour and cognition.神经与行为生物学： 神经系统发育与功能、神经环路机制、行为与认知的生物学基础。
- Ecology and evolutionary biology: interspecific interaction, evolutionary mechanisms, ecology, and conservation biology.生态与演化生物学： 物种间互作、演化机制、生态学与保护生物学。
The journal has been fully open access since its founding in 2003, not converted to it later本刊自 2003 年创刊起即完全开放获取，不是后来转为开放获取；许可为署名或署名-非商业性使用-禁止演绎三种。评审采用单匿名制。需要注意的是，出版方对每篇获录用文章收取文章处理费，按国家分层定价，本刊现行价格区间为 2690 英镑、3790 美元或 3090 欧元（含税另计），二〇〇七年时这一费用为 2000 英镑。文章处理费与「发表不收费」是两回事，不可混为一谈。出版社未公布本刊的录用比例。 the available licences are attribution, and attribution non-commercial with no derivatives. Review is single-anonymous. One point needs care: the publisher charges an article processing charge for each accepted article, on a country-tiered basis, currently GBP 2,690, USD 3,790 or EUR 3,090 before tax, against GBP 2,000 in 2007. An article processing charge and free-to-publish are different things and should not be conflated. The publisher publishes no acceptance rate.[2]
History
- Founding context (2003): the journal launched in November 2003 under the stewardship of Peter Newmark, its fifth-anniversary editorial identifying it as the flagship open access biology journal of the BMC series. The founding rationale is stated plainly in that editorial: a gap existed between the premier general journal Journal of Biology and the established specialist titles of the series, and this journal was created to fill it.创刊背景（2003年）： 本刊于 2003 年 11 月创刊，早期由彼得·纽马克掌舵，创刊社论明确把它定位为 BMC 系列中的旗舰开放获取生物学刊物。创刊动因在官方社论中写得很直白：在顶级综合性刊物《生物学杂志》与 BMC 系列既有的各专业刊之间存在一段空隙，本刊即为填补这段空隙而设。[3]
- Absorption of a sister title (2010): from April 2010 the journal incorporated the sister title Journal of Biology, which had appeared from January 2002 to March 2010 and whose entire content remains accessible from the BMC Biology site. The German union catalogue accordingly records the current title as BMC Biology, incorporating Journal of Biology. The merger left this title broader in scope than the other journals of the series.吸收姊妹刊（2010年）： 自 2010 年 4 月起，本刊并入姊妹刊《生物学杂志》，该刊自 2002 年 1 月至 2010 年 3 月出版，其全部内容现亦可从本刊网站获取。德国电子图书馆的现刊名直接著录为「BMC 生物学（含《生物学杂志》）」。这一并入使本刊在学科范围上比 BMC 系列其他刊物更宽。[4]
- Open access and online-only from the start: the journal was born as an online-only title published open access, rather than converting to open access after a period of print or subscription publication. The German union catalogue records it as full text, online only, and another catalogue notes that it began publishing open access in 2003. Being online-only, it carries a single ISSN with no separate print number.创刊即为纯电子与开放获取： 本刊自创刊起即为纯电子刊并以开放获取方式出版，不是先出版纸本或订阅刊再转开放获取。德国电子图书馆著录其为「全文，仅在线」，另一份目录也注明该刊自 2003 年起即以开放获取出版。作为纯电子刊，它只有一个国际标准刊号，没有独立的纸本刊号。[4]
- Publisher and rights: the journal is published by BioMed Central, part of Springer Nature, and its copyright line reads that of BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.出版方与版权归属： 本刊由生物医学中央出版社出版，该公司隶属斯普林格自然集团，文章版权行为该社与斯普林格自然共有。[1]
- Metric standing: the journal records a 2024 impact factor of 4.5 with a five-year factor of 5.4 and a median of six days from submission to first decision. Care is needed with the reading here: five-year and annual impact factors are easily confused, and the annual value is 4.5 while 5.4 is the five-year figure. The publisher publishes no acceptance rate, and no CiteScore could be traced to an official page.指标水平： 本刊二〇二四年影响因子为 4.5、五年影响因子 5.4，投稿至首次决定的中位数为 6 天。需要留意口径：五年影响因子与年度影响因子常被混淆，本刊的年度值是 4.5，5.4 是五年值。出版社未公布本刊录用比例，引用分数亦未在官方页面溯源到。[5]
Editors
The editorial layer of the journal is dual-track: the chief editor is an academic, while all three senior editors are employees of the publishing group. This configuration is not the norm across the BMC series本刊的编辑层采用双轨制：首席编辑为学术主编，三位资深编辑则全部为出版集团内部雇员。这一配置在 BMC 系列中并非通例，其成因是本刊按影响力而非学科取稿、稿件在学科之间分布不均，需要一位跨学科判断力强的学术主编统合，同时仍由出版社雇员负责日常流程。出版社未公布本刊的录用比例。 it arises because this title selects on impact rather than discipline and its submissions are unevenly spread across fields, which calls for an academic chief editor with the breadth to synthesize, alongside staff editors carrying day-to-day work. The publisher publishes no acceptance rate for the title.[6]
- Graham Bell (chief editor since 2023): holder of a PhD in developmental biology, he joined BMC Biology in 2015 and was appointed chief editor in 2023. His postdoctoral work was on cell polarity and tissue morphogenesis at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, an academic background matching the journal's developmental and cell biological orientation.格雷厄姆·贝尔（2023年起任首席编辑）： 发育生物学博士，2015 年加入本刊，2023 年获任首席编辑。他早年在英国癌症研究委员会伦敦研究所从事细胞极性与组织形态发生研究，其学术身份与本刊的发育与细胞生物学取向一致。[6]
- The senior editors: all three senior editors are staff of the publishing group, one of whom has worked across titles since 2024 and joined this journal full-time in 2025, one who joined the BMC series in 2019 and moved to this journal in 2023, and one who has been with the journal since 2017.资深编辑团队： 三位资深编辑均为出版集团内部编辑，其中一位自 2024 年起跨刊工作并于 2025 年全职转入本刊，一位 2019 年加入 BMC 系列、2023 年转入本刊，另一位 2017 年即在本刊。[6]
- Founding stewardship: Peter Newmark steered the journal in its early years from its founding in 2003, and the fifth-anniversary editorial still acknowledged his guidance of the content in those years. Whether he held an academic or a publisher's post is recorded inconsistently: the journal's own editorial describes him only as the person who steered the content in the early years.创刊掌舵者： 彼得·纽马克自 2003 年创刊起掌舵本刊的早期阶段，创刊社论在五周年时仍致谢其早期对内容的引导。他具体属于学术编制还是出版方编制，各方记载不一，本刊官方社论只称其为掌舵早期岁月的负责人。[3]
- Standing in the field: one of the most highly cited titles in the BMC series, its impact factor placing it among the leading fully open-access general biology journals and sustaining that position without subscription revenue. Its editorial policy reflects the same aim, selecting for broad interest and importance together.学科地位： 本刊是 BMC 系列中被引用量最高的一批刊物之一，其影响因子在完全开放获取的综合性生物学刊物中居前，在没有订阅收入支撑的条件下维持了这一位置，在编辑政策上则体现在对广泛兴趣与重要性的双重甄选。[4]