We at BMC have been very excited about the growth of our new Biotechnology family of journals. The six journals represent a step forward in expanding the reach of Biotechnology research within Springer Nature by creating a unique community of researchers who provide cross-journal support. 

Because of the expanding utility of biotechnology, rather than having one or two general or catch-all Biotech journals, the six family journals take a closer and more nuanced look at the various fields within the biotechnology discipline. This provides researchers with greater opportunities to be recognized for their respective accomplishments and adds visibility to the expanding sub-fields of biotech research.  

The Biotech family was created around the two well established journals Microbial Cell Factories  and Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts. With the inclusion of Fungal Biology and Biotechnology, editorial board members of the three journals were recruited to help launch Blue Biotechnology, Biotechnology for the Environment, and Biotechnology for Sustainable Materials. The Editors-in-Chief of all three journals as well as members of their boards were and still are established and vital members of the three larger biotech journals.  

The Biotech family also creates more opportunities for cross-journal collaboration whether through cross-journal collections, like Engineering Microbiomes for Green Technologies, or allowing Editors-in-Chief to find suitable guest editors for new collections from within the greater biotechnology community (several of which launch this month and next!). 

The broad overlap of scopes between the journals is also providing an opportunity for the journals to test having a dedicated reviewer board. Currently, ‘trusted’ or dedicated reviewers are being recruited to support both Fungal Biology and Biotechnology as well as Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts. The goal is to eventually have a pool of reviewers able to support the peer review process across all six journals, to help build a sense of community between those working on the journal. 

Finally, we are happy to be able to announce the first publications in two of our newest journals: Biotechnology for the Environment and Biotechnology for Sustainable Materials. The respective Editors-in-Chief, Evangelos Topakas and Shashi Bhatia, have worked hard to attract high quality papers for the journals and it is exciting to see the first accepted papers be published. Take a look and explore the widening world of Biotechnology at BMC!