Future Leader Reviews from Biology Open

Purpose
The Company of Biologists and BiO are together committed to supporting early-career researchers. We proudly display our first author interviews on the journal homepage, we support the involvement of early-career researchers in reviewing, and provide travelling fellowships and travel grants for early-career researchers to attend conferences and workshops around the world. ‘Future Leader Reviews’ are the next phase in expanding our support for the early-career researcher community. These are aimed at people in the first phases of their scientific career who want to establish themselves in their field. They also provide an opportunity to help researchers who change subject post-PhD or post-post-doc place a foothold in a new area. They can also be used to help people build their profiles ahead of those all-important grant, fellowship and job applications. There is no charge for publishing Future Leader Review articles in BiO.

Read our previously published Future Leader Reviews.

Eligibility
BiO Future Leader Reviews are intended to be specifically written by early-career researchers. It is an open call and anyone can apply. However, you must have less than 10 years active research experience post-PhD. It doesn’t matter if you are a PhD student, a post-doc, a lecturer or a full professor (different countries have different career trajectories). However, you must be in the early phase of your scientific career. The early-career Future Leader must be the first and corresponding author (co-authors are permitted, with no restriction on career stage).

How do I propose a Review?
To suggest a BiO Future Leader Review article, please complete the proposal form and email it to bio@biologists.com. All proposals will be evaluated by a BiO Editor, who will decide whether to invite full submission.

Format and content
BiO Future Leader Reviews are peer-reviewed articles that highlight, critique and analyse recent important findings in a defined field of biological research. Authors are encouraged to be forward thinking in their approach; as well as providing a timely, balanced and accessible overview of the topic, the article should discuss future prospects, challenges and questions that are yet to be addressed. Controversial issues should be treated with unbiased tact. Reviews contain a summary of up to 250 words, up to 5000 words of main text (depending on the topic and at the discretion of the Editor) and 3–5 display items.

Scope
BiO Future Leader Reviews are invited in all areas of the biological and biomedical sciences. Review articles will not be considered in pure physics, chemistry, engineering, earth sciences, clinical studies, surgical procedures, public health, and homeopathy, complementary or alternative medicine.

Why publish in BiO
BiO is an online Open Access journal that publishes peer-reviewed original research in all areas of the biological and biomedical sciences.

• Not-for-profit publisher; publishing with us supports the biological sciences community.
• Open Access publication with no Article Publication Charge payable.
• Articles published under CC-BY license.
• Articles indexed by PubMed, PMC, Scopus and Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics).
• Promotion of review on BiO homepage and social media.
• Altmetric and usage statistics for all articles.
• Wide international readership.
• Member of DOAJ, OASPA and COPE.

Find out more about BiO, its aims and scope, and its Editor team.

Further information on BiO Future Leader Reviews

• All proposals will be assessed by a BiO Editor.
• We aim to notify you within two weeks of receipt of your proposal.
• Editors will make a decision based on the excellence of the proposal.
• BiO will aim to feature a breadth of different subject areas from within its broad scope.
• Successful applicants will be required to provide the Review article within two months.
• Authors will be required to follow BiO’s guidelines for Reviews (this will be sent with approval of the proposal).
• The final decision to publish rests with the BiO Editor-in-Chief.
• There is no charge for publishing Review articles in BiO.
• All articles will be published under a CC-BY license.