About

Aims and scope

Blue Biotechnology is an open access, peer-reviewed journal featuring studies that cover all areas of applied research and biotechnology involving marine microorganisms (microalgae, bacteria and fungi), algae and invertebrates. Aspects of basic biological research, such as evolution, phylogeny and taxonomy, ecology and metagenomics, cellular and molecular biology, are considered only when they are relevant to biotechnology and support translational research. The vision for Blue Biotechnology is to contribute to the advancement of blue bioeconomy and the sustainable management and protection of oceans, fisheries, and coastal and marine environments.

The main areas in scope are, but not only limited to:

Bioproduction from aquatic biomass, such as food, feed, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, energy, packaging, materials.
Biotechnology, synthetic biology, and genetic and metabolic engineering for aquaculture
Environmental aspects affecting marine biotechnology and bioproduction
Development of marine biological resources and biodiversity
Aspects of pathology and diseases related to marine biotechnology affecting human health
Policy issues, life cycle assessments, and debates

A key aim of Blue Biotechnology is to promote the visibility and reach of valid, diverse, and innovative research. While the main focus remains on research and reviews of wide applicability and relevance, the journal is also open to consider confirmatory research, short communications, data analyses and discussions, local studies of interest for specific regions, and case studies where the authors are able to show meaningful relevance to the broader discussion around key topics in environmental biotechnology.
Blue Biotechnology aims to highlight innovations that promote clean water and sanitation, sustainable cities and communities, life below water and life on land, according to the Sustainable Development Goals framework. Furthermore, the scope and the research published in Blue Biotechnology aims to resonate with the principles of Green Chemistry, particularly with the focus on safer solvents and reactions, energy efficiency, renewable feedstocks, degradation after use, and avoidance of chemical derivatives.

Open access

All articles published by Blue Biotechnology are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers. Further information about open access can be found here.

As authors of articles published in Blue Biotechnology you are the copyright holders of your article and have granted to any third party, in advance and in perpetuity, the right to use, reproduce or disseminate your article, according to the BMC license agreement.

For those of you who are US government employees or are prevented from being copyright holders for similar reasons, BMC can accommodate non-standard copyright lines. Please contact us if further information is needed.

Article processing charges (APC)

Authors who publish open access in Blue Biotechnology are required to pay an article processing charge (APC). The APC price will be determined from the date on which the article is accepted for publication.

The current APC, subject to VAT or local taxes where applicable, is: £1590.00/$2190.00/€1890.00

Visit our open access support portal and our Journal Pricing FAQs for further information.

Open access funding

Visit Springer Nature’s open access funding & support services for information about research funders and institutions that provide funding for APCs.

Springer Nature offers agreements that enable institutions to cover open access publishing costs. Learn more about our open access agreements to check your eligibility and discover whether this journal is included.

Springer Nature offers APC waivers and discounts for articles published in our fully open access journals whose corresponding authors are based in the world’s lowest income countries (see our APC waivers and discounts policy for further information). Requests for APC waivers and discounts from other authors will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and may be granted in cases of financial need (see our open access policies for journals for more information). All applications for discretionary APC waivers and discounts should be made at the point of manuscript submission; requests made during the review process or after acceptance are unable to be considered.

Peer-review policy

Peer-review is the system used to assess the quality of a manuscript before it is published. Independent researchers in the relevant research area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help editors determine whether the manuscript should be published in their journal. You can read more about the peer-review process here.

Blue Biotechnology operates a single-blind peer-review system, where the reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer reports provided to authors are anonymous.

The benefit of single-blind peer review is that it is the traditional model of peer review that many reviewers are comfortable with, and it facilitates a dispassionate critique of a manuscript.

Submitted manuscripts will generally be reviewed by two or more experts who will be asked to evaluate whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, whether it duplicates already published work, and whether or not the manuscript is sufficiently clear for publication. The Editors will reach a decision based on these reports and, where necessary, they will consult with members of the Editorial Board.

Editorial policies

All manuscripts submitted to Blue Biotechnology should adhere to BMC's editorial policies.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appeals and complaints

Authors who wish to appeal a rejection or make a complaint should follow the procedure outlined in the BMC Editorial Policies .

Benefits of publishing with BMC

High visibility

Blue Biotechnology's open access policy allows maximum visibility of articles published in the journal as they are available to a wide, global audience.

Speed of publication

Blue Biotechnology offers a fast publication schedule whilst maintaining rigorous peer review; all articles must be submitted online, and peer review is managed fully electronically (articles are distributed in PDF form, which is automatically generated from the submitted files). Articles will be published with their final citation after acceptance, in both fully browsable web form, and as a formatted PDF.

Flexibility

Online publication in Blue Biotechnology gives you the opportunity to publish large datasets, large numbers of color illustrations and moving pictures, to display data in a form that can be read directly by other software packages so as to allow readers to manipulate the data for themselves, and to create all relevant links (for example, to PubMed, to sequence and other databases, and to other articles).

Promotion and press coverage

Articles published in Blue Biotechnology are included in article alerts and regular email updates. Some may be highlighted on Blue Biotechnology’s pages and on the BMC homepage.

In addition, articles published in Blue Biotechnology may be promoted by press releases to the general or scientific press. These activities increase the exposure and number of accesses for articles published in Blue Biotechnology. A list of articles recently press-released by journals published by BMC is available here.

Copyright

As an author of an article published in Blue Biotechnology you retain the copyright of your article and you are free to reproduce and disseminate your work (for further details, see the BMC license agreement).

For further information about the advantages of publishing in a journal from BMC, please click here.