Journal profile
PLoS Biology
PLoS Biology is published by Public Library of Science under ISSN 1544-9173. It holds an h-index of 392 across 8,746 indexed works, with a two-year mean citedness of 7.02, and is open access. Its main subject areas are Neural dynamics and brain function, Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research, RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms.
Below: the full publication record, and one real article from the journal formatted in IEEE, APA, and BibTeX so you can match field order against a source you can check.
Publication record and impact metrics
| Publisher | Public Library of Science |
|---|---|
| ISSN-L | 1544-9173 |
| All ISSNs | 1544-9173, 1545-7885 |
| Indexed works | 8,746 |
| Total citations | 813,333 |
| h-index | 392 |
| 2-year mean citedness | 7.02 |
| Open access | Open access, listed in DOAJ |
| Main topics | Neural dynamics and brain function · Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research · RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms · Evolution and Genetic Dynamics · Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research |
Publication figures come from this journal's OpenAlex record, released under CC0, and are a dated snapshot rather than a live count. Check the publisher for current scope and submission requirements.
A worked example from this journal
The source
Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research
- Authors
- Carol Kilkenny, William J. Browne, Innes C. Cuthill, Michael Emerson, Douglas G. Altman
- Year
- 2010
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- e1000412
IEEE
C. Kilkenny, W. J. Browne, I. C. Cuthill, M. Emerson, D. G. Altman "Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research," PLoS Biology, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. e1000412, 2010, doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000412.
IEEE prints author initials before the surname and abbreviates the periodical title. Check the abbreviation for PLoS Biology against your target publication's reference list before submitting.
APA
Kilkenny, C., Browne, W. J., Cuthill, I. C., Emerson, M., & Altman, D. G. (2010). Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research. PLoS Biology, 8(6), e1000412. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000412
APA puts the year directly after the authors, keeps the full journal title in italics, and renders the DOI as a URL.
BibTeX
@article{kilkenny2010,
author = {Carol Kilkenny and William J. Browne and Innes C. Cuthill and Michael Emerson and Douglas G. Altman},
title = {Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research},
journal = {PLoS Biology},
volume = {8},
number = {6},
pages = {e1000412},
year = {2010},
issn = {1544-9173},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.1000412}
}The citation key is the first author's surname and the year. Keep it stable once it appears in a draft, because renaming it breaks every cite that used it.
What to verify before you submit
- The volume and page range. PLoS Biology records 8,746 works, and articles published online first can carry a different volume from the final issue. Cite the version you read.
- The abbreviated title. IEEE style uses standard periodical abbreviations, and registry metadata almost always returns the full name instead.
- Author name order. Registry records store full given names; IEEE and APA both want initials, formatted differently from each other.
- Whether the article is open access. This journal is open access and listed in DOAJ, which affects whether a reader can reach the version you cited.
- That the source supports your claim. A correctly formatted reference says nothing about whether the passage backs the sentence citing it.
How this journal sits in the record
PLoS Biology carries an h-index of 392, which is above 64% of the journals covered here, and its articles have accumulated 813,333 citations across 8,746 indexed works. Its two-year mean citedness is 7.02.
5 of the journals covered here are published by Public Library of Science. Reference style is set per title rather than per publisher, so do not carry a format across from a sibling journal without checking.
These are indexing figures describing how often work in this venue is cited. They say nothing about whether a particular article is sound, and they are not a substitute for reading it.
Questions about PLoS Biology
What is the ISSN of PLoS Biology?
The linking ISSN is 1544-9173. The journal also carries 1545-7885, which usually separate the print and electronic editions. Use the linking ISSN in a BibTeX issn field.
Who publishes PLoS Biology?
Public Library of Science publishes it. 5 journals covered here come from the same publisher, and they do not all share one reference style, so check the requirements for this title rather than the publisher.
Is PLoS Biology open access?
OpenAlex records it as open access and it is listed in DOAJ. An open-access article is reachable by any reader, so a reviewer can check the passage you cited without a subscription.
How do I cite an article from PLoS Biology in LaTeX?
Use the BibTeX entry above as the pattern. The entry type is article, the journal field holds the full title, and the citation key kilkenny2010 follows the first author's surname and the year. Brace any acronym in the title so your bibliography style does not lowercase it.
Does PLoS Biology use page numbers or article numbers?
The example article runs from page e1000412, so this journal used page ranges at least for that volume. Newer issues in many journals switched to article numbers, so check the version you are citing.
How influential is PLoS Biology?
Its h-index is 392, above 64% of the journals covered here, and its articles have been cited 813,333 times in total. Its two-year mean citedness is 7.02. These are indexing figures, not a judgement of whether a specific article is sound.
Does PLoS Biology have a Journal Impact Factor?
Not one shown here. The Journal Impact Factor is Clarivate's metric, published in Journal Citation Reports and readable only with a JCR subscription, so this page does not restate it. The figures above come from OpenAlex: an h-index of 392 and a two-year mean citedness of 7.02 across 8,746 indexed works, captured on 2026-09-18. Mean citedness averages citations per work over a two-year window, which makes it closer in construction to CiteScore than to the Impact Factor. The three are not interchangeable, so quote whichever one your target venue actually asks for.