About PLoS Biology

PLoS Biology (eISSN-1545-7885; ISSN-1544-9173) is an open-access, peer-reviewed general biology journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. New articles are published online weekly; issues are published monthly.

Open Access

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) applies the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) to all works we publish. Under the CCAL, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles in PLoS journals, so long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.

Publication Charges

To provide open access, PLoS journals use a business model in which our expenses—including those of peer review, journal production, and online hosting and archiving—are recovered in part by charging a publication fee to the authors or research sponsors for each article they publish. For PLoS Biology the publication fee is US$2850. Authors who are affiliated with one of our Institutional Members are eligible for a discount on this fee.

We offer a complete or partial fee waiver for authors who do not have funds to cover publication fees. Editors and reviewers have no access to payment information, and hence inability to pay will not influence the decision to publish a paper.

For further information, see our Publication Fee FAQ.

Impact Factor

PLoS Biology is ranked in the top-tier of life science journals by The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), with an impact factor of 13.5.

Scope

PLoS Biology features works of exceptional significance, originality, and relevance in all areas of biological science, from molecules to ecosystems, including works at the interface of other disciplines, such as chemistry, medicine, and mathematics. Our audience is the international scientific community as well as educators, policy makers, patient advocacy groups, and interested members of the public around the world.

PLoS Biology publishes outstanding primary research articles in all aspects of biology, from molecules to ecosystems. We also publish various magazine articles:

Synopses are digests of research articles that are accessible to researchers in all disciplines as well as a lay readership.
Community Pages provide a platform for organizations and societies to highlight their efforts to enhance the dissemination and value of scientific knowledge.
Unsolved Mysteries discuss a topic of biological importance that is poorly understood and in need of research attention.
Primers provide a concise introduction into an important aspect of biology highlighted by a current PLoS Biology research article.
Essays articulate an opinion on a specific topic of broad interest to scientists.
News Features, written by science journalists, report on topical or controversial issues of interest to scientists and the general public.
Perspectives provide experts with a forum to comment on topical or controversial issues of broad interest.
Historical and Philosophical Perspectives provide professional historians and philosophers of science with a forum to reflect on topical issues in contemporary biology.
Book reviews and more.

Indexing and Archiving

PLoS Biology is indexed in PubMed, MEDLINE, PubMed Central, Scopus, Google Scholar, the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), RefAware, EMBASE, PsychInfo, Web of Science as well as being searchable via the Web of Knowledge. In addition, PLoS Biology is formally archived via PubMed Central.

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information about PLoS, visit www.plos.org.

Notes, Comments and Ratings

PLoS Biology provides a number of 'Web 2.0' tools to facilitate community evaluation and discourse around published articles. See our guidelines explaining how you can add Notes, Comments and Ratings to any PLoS Biology article.