Access Microbiology is an innovative Open Access, open research platform to members of our community, allowing the publication of replication studies, negative or null results, research proposals, data management plans, additions to established methods, and interdisciplinary work.

We believe that too many of these valuable research outputs have been lost because they are not seen as ‘high impact’, creating a situation in which research is re-done in multiple labs for no gain. Access Microbiology aims to reduce this kind of research waste, so our publication criteria are based on methodological rigour rather than novelty.


To further support this goal, the platform has an Open Data policy and so authors are required to make their supporting data publicly available through initiatives such as Figshare.

The platform’s scope covers:

•The full spectrum of microscopic life forms, from bacteria and viruses to fungi, protists, archaea, and algae.

•All approaches, from computational, biotechnology, and laboratory work, to environmental, clinical, and veterinary studies.

•In response to community requests, we will also publish pedagogy papers on microbiology education.

•Article types include Research Articles, Short Communications, Pedagogy articles, Technical Resources, and Case Reports.