I. Open Access Policy Microbiology China is a peer-reviewed, open access journal. We implement a full open access policy. All articles published in this journal are immediately and freely available to readers worldwide from the official publication date. Without any subscription or access fees, readers are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of all articles via the journal's official website (https://wswxtb.ijournals.cn/wswxtbcn/home).
II. Copyright and Licensing
(A) Copyright Ownership
For all manuscripts accepted for publication, all authors are required to sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement, thereby transferring the copyright of the article to the Editorial Office of Microbiology China. Upon publication, the copyright (excluding moral rights such as the right of attribution) is held by the Editorial Office. Authors retain the right to reproduce, distribute, and use their articles for non-commercial academic exchanges, in accordance with the license adopted by this journal. The specific scope of author rights is subject to the signed Copyright Transfer Agreement.
(B) License Agreement
This journal adopts the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Under this license, any user is free to share (copy and redistribute) the material in any medium or format, under the following terms:
Attribution: You must give appropriate credit to the original author(s), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
NonCommercial: You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
NoDerivatives: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
For more details, please visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
III. Archiving and Indexing
All articles published in this journal are permanently archived in PDF and HTML formats on the official website. Furthermore, the journal actively participates in national digital preservation initiatives. All published articles are fully indexed and archived by major Chinese and international databases, including but not limited to China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, and the Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP), ensuring the long-term preservation and broad dissemination of our published research.
IV. Redundant Publication and Academic Integrity Microbiology China adheres strictly to academic publishing standards and firmly opposes any form of academic misconduct. All articles submitted to this journal undergo rigorous peer review and checks for scholarly duplication and plagiarism. Authors must guarantee that their submitted work is original and has not been published previously in any language, in any other print or electronic publication.
V. Data Sharing Policy
To promote knowledge exchange and innovation, the journal encourages authors to share the research data (e.g., raw data, observational records, experimental results, software code, algorithms, protocols) that support their conclusions. Authors are encouraged to deposit their data in a public repository (e.g., Science Data Bank, ScienceDB) and to provide the data link or unique persistent identifier (e.g., DOI) within the article, preferably in a "Data Availability Statement" section.
VI. Statement Updates and Interpretation Microbiology China reserves the right to revise and update this Open Access Statement in accordance with the development of open science. Any revised version will be published on the official journal website and will take effect immediately upon publication. Continued submission of manuscripts by authors after the revision of this statement implies acceptance of the revised terms.
The final right of interpretation of this Open Access Statement belongs to the Editorial Office of Microbiology China. For any questions or suggestions, please contact the Editorial Office:
